Keep Going

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” Romans 15:13, Holman Christian Standard Bible.

In reading through the life of David, we learn in 1 Samuel 30 how David and his 600 men lived amongst the Philistines. They had settled their wives and children in the town of Ziklag. They were away for seven years, running from Saul and living with the Philistines. They are exhausted when they come back to Ziklag, to their homes and families. Mentally and physically. And they return to find the rug pulled out from beneath them. Another nation has raided the town, burned it to the ground, and taken everything (women, children, their possessions, everything). Isn’t that just like Satan?! If he can’t discourage you or make you forget who you are in Jesus, he will run you ragged and then pull the rug out from underneath you.

And so David and his men, exhausted to their bones, weep until no tears are left to cry. I’ve been there a time or two. Then the men look for someone to blame and, naturally, turn against David. But David consults God; he remembers His faithfulness and asks God what to do. And God’s answer? Go after them. Get up and move. It’s through this movement, tired and just running ragged, that when we push through, we can have the biggest breakthroughs sometimes. So David takes his men, and they set out. Two hundred of them give up. They cannot make it another step further. David and the other 400 push on, and they are able to recover not only their family and the treasures that were rightfully theirs but even more than they thought!

When you come to God in your exhaustion, crying until there are no tears left to cry, and you seek His guidance and wisdom in the situation, sometimes He tells you to get up and move. It’s probably the last thing you want to do, but if you can push through just a little more, just a little longer, if you can just focus on doing the next right thing and taking that next right step, sometimes the spoils are so much that there are leftovers.

The spoils are yours to fill you with faith, hope, and love, but those leftovers are for everyone else. Those leftovers that overflow you spill onto everyone around you, and you become a blessing to others. From the overflow comes the filling of someone else’s cup and someone else’s blessing.

Prayer: Father God, help me keep going and take the next right step. Through the tears and exhaustion, through the hopeless feelings and grief, help me keep going, Father. You have spoils for me just around the corner, waiting to fill me and bless someone else. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

By Allison McKenna Bland, DOTK Writing Community