Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 22-24; Luke 16: 1-18.
Memory Verse: “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.” 1 Samuel 22:2 (KJV)
When most people are in distress, they tend to be irritable such that others cannot easily approach them with their issues. They wear their challenges such that it becomes difficult for them to see the opportunities in their situation talk less of being in a position to help others. However in our Bible reading today, we saw how David reacted when the king of the land, King Saul was after his life. The Bible says people who had different challenges went to him for succour! 1 Samuel 22:2 (KJV) says “And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.”
He did not only provide for them, he inspired them such that they became a strong army for him. These are the people who followed him to fight off the challenges thrown at him by King Saul. It’s important, you learn from this passage, that you need to continuously be impacting lives of people around you positively no matter what you are going through. In fact, your divine helpers that you often pray for are those around you with one challenge or the other and all you need to do is try and solve their challenges and you will be amazed how your own challenge would be solved through them. As you celebrate Easter today, you need to remember that Christ is love and being a disciple of Christ implies showing unconditional love to everyone!
The essence of Christianity is love. Show love to others irrespective of what you are going through and it will amaze you how you would pass through your challenges victoriously. You must remember that the fact that you helped people in the past does not mean they will help you. In fact, they may hand you over to your enemies when you need them most. This is what happened to David in 1 Samuel 23:1-12. The people of Keilah were to be annihilated by the Philistines and David delivered them from their enemies but when Saul wanted to come and fight them, they were willing to hand over David to Saul! Similarly, Jesus Christ was crucified by the same people he came to the world to save!
This is why it is important that while you are going through your challenges, you should put God first. Always seek the face of God on every key issue at stake and fellowship with Him regularly and He will come through for you at every time of need. David was cornered by Saul and his men and he would have been killed. But suddenly he got a message that he needed to go back because his land was being attacked by the Philistines! ( 1 Samuel 23:19-29 ). He left David and went to chase away the Philistines. By the time he came back, David had escaped. Every enemy of yours who appears to have captured you will get a message this day that will cause him to leave you and by the time he would be back, God would have made a way for you in Jesus name.
Prayer point: God, please give me the grace to inspire others always with my actions even when I am having my challenges in Jesus Christ’s name.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero