Have you ever felt like life was burning down around you? That’s exactly where David found himself in 1 Samuel 30.
David and his men returned to Ziklag to discover the city in ashes. Their wives and children had been carried away. To make matters worse, the very men who had followed him were now speaking of stoning him. David was at rock bottom—he had lost his family, his home, his reputation, and his following.
Yet Scripture records a turning point: “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved… but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” (1 Samuel 30:6)
This moment teaches us a vital lesson: we must learn to encourage ourselves in the Lord.
In the Psalms David prays: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” (Psalm 42:5)
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his classic work Spiritual Depression, observed that much of our unhappiness stems from listening to ourselves instead of speaking to ourselves. The cure, he said, is to stop listening to our doubts and start preaching God’s truth to our own souls.
So how do we do that? Let’s take a closer look.
1. The Reality of Distress
The Bible does not sugarcoat David’s condition: “David was greatly distressed.” His home was destroyed, his family was taken, and his friends had turned against him.
Sometimes we think that being Christians means we should never feel distressed. But Scripture shows us that even the choicest saints walk through valleys of darkness. Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it this way: “Some whom I greatly love and esteem, who are, in my judgment, among the very choicest of God’s people, nevertheless travel most of the way to heaven by night.”
Psalm 42 echoes this reality: “My tears have been my meat day and night” (v.3). Trouble is part of life in a fallen world. The question is not whether distress will come, but what we do when it does.
2. The Danger of Listening to Yourself
The psalmist voices his despair: “Where is thy God?” (Psalm 42:3). He was listening to his feelings, his circumstances, even his enemies.
One of our greatest problems is that we spend too much time listening to ourselves. When you wake up in the morning, your thoughts are already talking: “You’re tired. You’ve failed. God has forgotten you. Things will never change…”
David could have listened to those voices—the grief of his men, the guilt of his past, the weight of his losses. But if he had, despair would have destroyed him.
3. The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself
Instead, “David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” He didn’t find strength in his men—they wanted to kill him. He didn’t find strength in circumstances—those were against him. He found strength in the Lord.
Psalm 42:5 gives the secret: the psalmist stops listening to himself and starts speaking to himself: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? … hope thou in God.”
Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote in his book on spiritual depression: “The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.”
David reminded himself of God’s promises, His faithfulness, His past deliverances. He lifted his eyes from the ashes of Ziklag to the throne of heaven.
It’s like a coach on the sidelines shouting encouragement to his weary players. David coached his own soul with the truth of the Word of God.
4. The Reward of Hoping in God
Psalm 42 ends in hope: “For I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”
John Butler notes that to strengthen yourself in the Lord involves:
- Recalling God’s past blessings
- Contemplating God’s great power
- Meditating on God’s promises
And the result? David sought the Lord, obeyed His word, and Scripture tells us:
“David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away… 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)
Distress will come. Listening to yourself will only deepen your own despair. But if you learn the discipline of preaching God’s truth to your own heart, you will find hope and strength.
As Lloyd-Jones said: “You have to take yourself in hand, address yourself, preach to yourself, and remind yourself of God, of who God is, and of what God has done and what God has pledged Himself to do.”
So when the enemy whispers, “God has forsaken you,” you preach back: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). When your heart says, “It’s hopeless,” you preach back: “Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him!” (Psalm 42:5).
Like David, may we learn to “encourage ourselves in the Lord our God.”