I Samuel 30:6: “And Dave was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him,  because the soul  of all the people was grieved every man for his sons and his daughters but David encouraged himself in the Lord.”

We all know  this story.  David returns with his few followers after trying to join the Philistine army. While away from  home the Amalekites overran David’s small community and took all their wives, children and possessions.  David’s loyal followers were not impressed.

David was distressed. The word in the Hebrew is yatsar. The word yatsar has the idea of mind and imagination.  David is suffering extreme mental distress.  Keep in mind it is more than just his own gizzard that has him down.  His own family is being held captive, not to mention that David is a leader and his people, his friends, those who were loyal to him when no one else would be are deeply grieved.  That is really a lot of weight to bear. This word yatsar also comes from an Akkadian word which means to squeeze or bind. Do you ever get in a stressful situation and it feels like you are caught in a vise grip, you feel a sense of pressure such that you cannot think or concentrate on anything else but the problems.  That was what David was feeling.  The problem was binding him.  In fact the root word starts with a Sade which in its shadow means to berate yourself for not living up to an impossible standard.  David was feeling like he had let his friends and servants down. He had this impossible standard and now it was all collapsing on him.

This had to be a real downer for David, you really can’t get much lower (ok, maybe a few years later when his son kicks him off the throne).  So what do you do?  Well, you pray, you cry out to God.  That is not what David did.  According to verse 6 he encouraged himself in the Lord.  That is an English word if there ever was an English word. I don’t think it is the best reflection of the Hebrew word.  I mean what did he do to encourage himself?  You know “pip pip and all that come now we shant be discouraged.”  I don’t think that would do it.    The Hebrew word for encourage is  yithechazeq. This is in a Hithpael form.  It is reflexive.  He took it upon himself to encourage himself – in Jehovah, his God.  This word is from the root chazeq which means to strengthen, but this is a strengthening like becoming a rock.  In its Semitic root it has the idea of binding. It is as if yatsar and chazeq are playing off of each other.  First David was binding himself to the enemy and got discouraged and then he started to bind  himself to God and became encouraged.

In a sense that is what David did he joined himself with God, began involved with God by consecrating himself to God.  The Cheth is the first letter of the word chazeq and means to bind yourself with god. The Qop  at the end of this word suggest something circular,  David’s imagination (yatsar)  was running wild. The more he thought on the tragedy the more he bound himself to it and the fears and discouragements that come with it.  He took hold of his imagination and directed it to God.  He let God encircle his imagination and he said: “No I am not going to dwell on this tragedy either.”

Here is something to think about.  David drew very close to God at that moment. He should have clearly heard God’s voice.  Yet, he used the ephod to inquire of the Lord. He did not yithechazeq himself with the Lord to get a solution to his problem.  He did it to find rest for his soul.

A real problem hits us and what do we do.  I usually go into my “O Lord, O Lord, O Lord” routine. My first thought is to resolve my problem and God seems to be the only one available to lend a hand. David just stood before God and rested in his presence.  He did not run to God to solve his problem, he ran to God to find His peace.   David’s first thought was God. My first thought is usually my own gizzard. Maybe next time the roof falls in I will try to first think of God, His love, His faithfulness and find my rest and peace in Him. In other words I will be chazaq and not yatsar.  I will be binding myself to the Lord and not to the enemy. Once I am chazaq, bound together with God,  then God and I can address the issue at hand.