I don't know why we do this, but when I woke up this morning, it seemed like I remembered every loss and every bad decision I've ever made. My grandparents are gone, many of my beloved pets, and seasons of happy memories, never to be repeated.
I was full of regret. I wish I hadn't ... then there was the time I ... Oh, why did I do that? All of it, one atop the other and mixed in with hurtful remarks I've seen lately, misled people consumed by anger and hate. How can they be so blind?
David came to the town of Ziklag and found it burnt to the ground. All the women and children had been taken captive, including his two wives. The Scripture says the people wept until they couldn't physically weep any longer.
Then they turned on him.
"And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God." (1 Samuel 30:6)
Sometimes, no, frequently, we have to encourage ourselves, especially, it feels like, this year - 2020. We must remember the good things God has done, how we aren't where we were, how this need was provided for, how our family is well, or how our friend had this breakthrough.
Sometimes, we can't find much to remember and must turn our gratitude toward the sun rising and having breath in our lungs. But no matter how small the item, finding gratitude is our effort to make. We can keep throwing a pity party or deliberately and on purpose choose to change.
David went to the priest and inquired of the Lord, "Do I go after the enemy or not?" He, in fact, made a habit of this before every battle.
God answered him, "Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." (1Sa 30:8)
It can come that quick. One minute, you're down in the dumps. The next, God has turned everything around. But know this, David could have lingered on the problem. He could have accepted the defeat.
He didn't, and neither should we.
"And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all." (1 Samuel 30:18-19)
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