From Tragedy To Triumph

Some of the most productive initiatives are born in the dregs of discouragement. When you are very low, bare before God, that is the time you might gain new insight, make a life-changing decision, or resolve that you will climb out of your hole and make a new start.

Though David had been in that place before, yet here he was again. What could be more devastating than to have your loved ones carried away into captivity, and to have your men threaten to kill You? Could it get any worse?

In this crucial, pivotal time, David encouraged himself in the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6).

I remember a time when I thought my world was coming apart. The news came into our home one evening when the phone rang.

I was sitting in the living room on the couch, watching television. There was hushed conversation in the kitchen. When the conversation was over, I got the news. My dad had a stroke.

“Well, he’s beat everything else in life. He’ll beat this, too,” was my reaction.

My dad was almost 93 years old. His previous summer he had cut all of the hay for his herd of beef cattle. Now, on a Sunday afternoon, he went out to check his fence and he didn’t come back. My brother-in-law found him by the gate of one of his fences, just across the drainage ditch. He was lying on the early spring grass, his head pillowed on a small, soft mound.

The next morning, I drove the four hours to the hospital in Bemidji where I found my dad lying in the hospital bed, very much alert but unable to speak. Mom and Lois, my sister, were kneeling by his bed praying.

Dad was with us for a week, very much alert. When we sang worship choruses around his bed, his toe moved underneath the sheet in perfect time to the music. Then on a Saturday night, the quartet on Lawrence Welk sang Softly And Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling, and Dad went home.

For the next three months, each morning I went to Bunker Hills Reserve near my home in Coon Rapids and sat under “my listening tree” with my Bible and journal. Life had so dramatically changed. None of the projects I had been working on seemed important. Nothing seemed important.

How I missed my beloved father who had been my biggest hero in life. My dad was tough as nails. He never let any of the challenges of life defeat him. He was steady as a rock, always there, always positive, always moving forward.

Every afternoon I busied myself with whatever tasks my business demanded of me, going through the motions even though my heart was not in any of them. In time, I went back to Fort Wayne to work on the largest event our ministry would ever produce.

When the large crowd came forward at the invitation to accept Christ, I imagine my dad was singing with the angels over those who had entered God’s kingdom. Perhaps this very successful event was God’s way of putting an exclamation point on Dad’s life. Dad had always been my biggest cheerleader.

In the middle of a previous event that was also record-breaking and very large, Dad had said to me from his easy chair in the living room, “Maybe you’ll give Billy Graham a run for his money.”

That was my dad, the dreamer. There were no limits to what I could for the Lord. That was his prospective. In his mind, his beloved boy could win any battle, climb any mountain, arrive first at any finish line. No doubt, my success in bringing people to Christ through large events was largely due to his enthusiastic outlook and boundless belief in me.

David Inquired Of The Lord

When hard times hit, you must make a decision to move on, to climb out of your hole, to construct a positive course of action. If you languish in your pain, your pain may overtake you and paralyze you. You might find yourself trapped in your despondency indefinitely.

With the guidance of the Lord, encourage yourself. Say, “This is not the end. With God’s help I will go on to victory. God has never yet failed me. In this very painful sense of loss, He has a plan of redemption and I’m going to walk it through.”

David inquired of the Lord, whether he should pursue the Amalekites. The Lord said, “Go!” He promised David that he would be victorious, and he would recover all that the Amalekites had taken.

Redemption

How quickly can a situation turn around?

One day, David’s people were in despair threatening to stone David. Just a couple days later, they overwhelmingly won in battle . . . and recovered all that was taken from them and more.

Not only did David’s company recover all their loved ones, and all of their flocks, but in addition, they took the enemy’s flocks. So, the end condition of David’s company was better than the beginning. The Amalekites should have never messed with God’s kids. They really messed up when they did that because it led to their doom. The narrative says they were all killed except for 400 young men who escaped on camels.

God has a habit of bringing overwhelming victory out of the very lowest places in our lives. From tragedy to triumph! God seems to make a habit of that principle.

Let Justice Reign

I am struck with David’s sense of justice. After all, the Bible says that he was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).

A friend of mine was called to a rescue mission to young girls captured and used in human trafficking. He pointed out to me that the Bible is full of scriptures that proclaim justice. God is big on justice for His kids and for all mankind.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly: defend the right of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31:8-9 NIV

In David’s conquest over the wicked Amalekites, David’s army was split up. When the army came to the Brook Besor, two hundred men were too weary to cross the brook, so they stayed behind and guarded the supplies.

When the battle was over, and the army returned with the spoil, the “wicked and worthless men (verse 22)” who had fought in the battle turned on those two hundred who had stayed by the Brook Besor. They claimed that these two hundred should not receive any of the spoil taken from the Amalekites because they had stayed behind and did not fight in the battle.

David, in effect, said, “No, we are all in this together. These two hundred guarded our supplies. They will also receive a share in the spoil.”

David had a strong sense of justice and fairness. He treated all his men the same, with respect and honor.

When we go to bat for those weaker individuals in society, protecting them from the “wicked and the worthless,” we are acting like God would act.

God always has an eye out for the weaker ones in the life. One of my favorite verses is Matthew 12:20 NJKV:

A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory . . .

Such is the gentle and loving spirit of our Savior, and David had that same spirit.

There is so much in this passage, 1 Samuel 30. It is filled with gems that will help us navigate sticky situations in life that threaten to overwhelm us and render us hopeless and helpless.

Be sure to check out segment three of this series, Encourage Yourself, that will be posted here next week.

Photo taken by Lorraine