Not Yet Time For A Pity Party! -Babatunde Olugboji
When David and his men suffered the indignity of their abode in Ziklag being invaded, the manner of David’s reaction to the destruction was instructive. After the weeping, and the disappointment of David’s men even thinking of attacking him, the Bible in 1 Sam. 30 tells us that David took some steps which eventually led him to the point where he recovered all the raiding Amalekites had stolen from him.
The first thing David did was to encourage himself in the Lord (1 Sam. 30:6). The Bible didn’t go into a whole lot of details on how he did this, but I believe he had a conversation with himself and remembered those times God had helped him to overcome adversity. He must have recalled with thankfulness, how God saved him from the murderous intentions of Saul, and how God used him to kill Goliath. He didn’t just rush after the Amalekites, he first sought strength from God.
Mentally, David was ready to do battle, but he knew he had to get himself together and find his spiritual equilibrium before proceeding to the theater of war.
When you are down, you’ve got to have a conversation with yourself, encourage yourself in the Lord, tell yourself to get up, make it clear to yourself that you are more than a conqueror through Christ who strengthens you.
David refused to be despondent, discouraged, disappointed, or depressed. He didn’t throw a pity party.
Do you know that the issue is often not about what you are going through, not what people are saying about you, or who betrayed you? It may be about how you respond when life turns upside down on you. You don’t have to respond to people the same way they act towards you. When people go off the rail, it doesn’t mean you have to mirror their behavior.
You don’t have to respond to the situation but respond in spite of the situation. The enemy wants you to cry, whine, leave the church, quit the choir, give up and not participate in God’s work, and when you respond the way they expect you to, you are behaving exactly how the devil wants you to.
When you give up, you are not quitting on your local church, but on God. When you respond in spite of your situation, you confuse the devil, he can’t understand how you are still able to praise God with bills you can’t pay staring at you on the coffee table, how you are still able to pay your tithe when the electricity company is trying to cut your power off.
When people don’t reply your text, or email, learn how to grab yourself by the bootstraps, look yourself in the mirror and encourage yourself in the Lord. You’ve got to tell yourself, ‘self, get up, self you will not die in mediocrity; self, you will make it; self you are coming out, it is not over. Even though I lost my job, the Lord is still able to supply of my needs through his riches in Christ Jesus, until he gives me another job.’
Have a great week!
Kingdom Dynamics, a weekly column is written by Dr. Babatunde Olugboji, the President, Kingdom House, a non-profit organization in New Jersey, USA.
