Finding Strength

In this season of Advent which brings about hope, joy, peace and love. It's easy to get caught in the hustle and bustle of this season without slowing down to take in what the COMING of Christ means TODAY in 2012. I've had a few Advent seasons where I felt completely overwhelmed like I was drowning in all the "stuff".  In that mindset, it was so easy to overlook the hope and expectancy I was supposed to be feeling while awaiting the coming of the Messiah.  I was beginning to feel like this a few days ago until I was reminded of a passage this morning.

In 1 Samuel 30, David and his men were coming home from war. They were caught up in a grand homecoming, feeling powerful and on top of the world. They were wanting AND waiting to be applauded and revered as war heroes upon their arrival to Ziklag, where their families were. They came home to the city to find that it had been destroyed and burned, children and wives had been captured and taken away. Scripture says the "men wept until they had no strength left to weep." The people and things they prized most and were gone and taken away. Imagine that.

THEN, imagine this:  because David was the leader and had led these men to war and home to utter defeat and so much hurt, they wanted to kill David. They were so angry, hurt and confused that they wanted to stone their leader because HE was the one who led them to this bitterness and pain.

In spite of David himself loosing his two wives and family and having a whole army of men talk about stoning him, this is what scripture says:

"David found strength in the Lord his God".


In the midst of chaos, loss, pain, busyness David STILL found His strength in the Lord. STILL! I think on how I would handle my family being taken captive. (I would not be able to function) Then, I would want to turn to "my people", my communtiy. Oh, but wait. They were plotting on how to kill me. Talk about loneliness and betrayal. BUT, David FOUND STRENGTH in His Lord.

I have trouble doing that on a normal day- without the threat of someone killing me. What would it look like for YOU to be defined as "finding your strength in the Lord?" In this season of celebrating Christ's birth AND waiting expectantly for His second coming- what does it look like for our source of strength to belong ONLY to the Lord.

What if we didn't need to wait for those words of encouragement, the pats on the back, the great sermons that guide you, the time spent with family OR physical rest (the rest one is hard for me).

What if OUR complete strength and reliance was upon the Lord? We can say until we are blue in the face "I am totally reliant upon the Lord, definitely." But, do the things you consume your life with  align with that statement? Do the things you worry about day- to- day align with that statement? I'm challenged with that hour by hour. With my money, with my lifestyle, with my actions, even the words I speak-- do I find MY strength in the Lord?

Do you?