Westserve

Strengthening himself in the Lord

I know this feeling from before.

The decision is made.
The new job/change of church is locked in.
The removalist is about to be booked.
The house we will be moving to has been checked out.
The discussions about the implications of the move at the current church are underway.

And I feel exhausted.

I probably should not be surprised, but it catches me every time we do this. Surely this should be a time of feeling energised and excited at the new challenges that lay ahead – albeit tempered by some sadness at leaving friends and ministry partners at the ‘old’ church?
Well, I am excited by those things, but energised? Not yet.

These are the days when I go to bed with my mind buzzing with all the things that need to get done before January 22nd (moving day) – and I wake up with my mind buzzing with the same things.
It’s probably worse at the moment, because it’s too early to actually do most of these things, and we have to be content with sorting/clearing/tossing out of all the dross we’ve collected in the last 5+ years. Actually, worse than that – there were boxes of stuff in the garage that we haven’t touched since moving in in 2001! They’re gone!

I’m also thinking ahead to that last week in January.
Going from having so many moving boxes stacked here around the house that we can barely move around, to… having so many moving boxes stacked up that we can’t move around the new house!
It’ll be another wedding anniversary spent living out of cardboard boxes (I’ve lost count of how many that will make!).
Of struggling to sort out my office so that I can find the essential things – like the sermon for my last day here at Toongabbie.
And that’s the other thing: Having just moved house and church (physically, mentally and emotionally), we will come back here for our last day, expected to be bright and cheery, and say all the right things. And given the flat response when we announced our move, I really don’t know what that will be like (there are still people whom I have worked with fairly closely for the last five years here who still haven’t even acknowledged to me that I’m leaving. What’s with that?).

All of which leads to much tiredness – and to
In this chapter, David continues to be on run from Saul. David knows that he is God’s choice as King of Israel. Saul also knows it, but won’t surrender to the will of God and is seeking to destroy David.
In chapter 30 David’s two wives (amongst others) have been taken captive by the Amalekites, and the others with him were unhappy with David, blaming him for the raid, and threatening to stone him.
David is despairing. He has trusted God to keep him safe for the time when he will be King, but his family has been decimated by the Amalekite raid, and tiredness and anguish close in. What does he do?
v6: “And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul,? each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.“ (ESV – emphasis mine)
David didn’t try and manipulate the situation to ease his distress and frustration. He didn’t stamp his feet and throw and tantrum (well, not that we know of!). He didn’t allow himself to wallow in self pity.

‘He strengthened himself in the Lord his God.’

It’s a lovely phrase that is full of significance for us – for me – today. It speaks of David’s underlying nature in a time of crisis, it speaks of a man who’s response to a time of crisis and challenge was to seek strength (physical, emotional and spiritual) in the Lord his God, rather than seeking to take matters into his own hands.
God was the one who had chosen David for the task of King. God was one who had all of this in hand. God was the one who would always see His plans worked out.

Nothing has changed. You or I may not be King David, but like David, I can say that God has placed me where I have been to serve him. So whatever that may entail, I know (like David), that God will work things out to suit His purposes, and if I seek to align my purposes with God’s, then I can’t go too far wrong.

Now, that can sound a little pious, but it truth it’s not.
In amongst all my mixed emotions and feelings about moving, God is my anchor. It’s out of a desire to serve Him that we have initiated this move in the first place.
He knows all the hassles, all the work, all the upheaval. He knows what Rob needs to tackle this with all her health problems. He knows what Joel and Simon will/should do about accommodation. He knows what a shift in gears it will be to finish here on January 28th and start at SWAC on January 29th. And so on.

So I am strengthened in the Lord my God.

He will care for us, he will lead us where He will have us serve. Everything else is subservient to that.

Amen.