1Samuel 30:3-9
At this particular moment in David’s life, he is facing a truly perplexing and difficult situation. David and his companions arrived at a city that had been ravaged by fire, and to their shock, they discovered that their wives, sons, and daughters had been kidnapped and taken away. It’s a heartbreaking and distressing time for David and his loved ones.
David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. That kind of grief where you run out of tears. David was greatly distressed. Just because you are a leader does not mean you do not feel. Just because you got a degree does not mean you do not feel.
The people spoke of stoning him because the souls of all the people were in grief. Every man for his sons and daughters, and the grief turned to anger. Emotions will switch on you. That’s why people change on you. They were ready to kill David. When things go wrong for you, you always need somebody to blame.
When David saw the men who returned with him turned on him and decided they were ready to take him out, David encouraged himself.
Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him,
And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”
David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind.
Psalm 91:4, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”
This note serves as a reminder to trust in your wings and embrace the challenges ahead.
1) Be aware that branches will break, but you’ve got your wings intact
My wife and I moved to Fort Worth, where we found a place with a nice back porch. It was very cozy and allowed me to chill out and gather my thoughts. When we arrived, we noticed a family of hawks in the area. These hawks have been fruitful over the years, and until now, they have not moved. They fly through the trees and launch into the branches.
There are a couple of things I want you to understand about the way hawks operate. Very much like eagles, they can fly very high: As high as 15,000 feet. They can soar and look down with keen eyes, so keen that they can see a rodent in the field at 15,000 feet and dive down and attack that rodent.
They also rest on branches all the time. The only bad thing about resting on branches is that, occasionally, branches break. And when you watch a branch break that any bird is sitting on, the bird never screams, shouts, or is frustrated in spite of the fact that what it was standing on is broken.
And occasionally, in your life, things will break. The reason why the hawk does not get upset when he finds himself in a critical situation is because he knows he can trust his wings.
Branches break, and I assure you that before you finish reading this note, you will light up with the glory of God and surrender everything to Him. But that does not mean that your family has surrendered, your environment has surrendered, your spouse has surrendered, or your co-workers have surrendered to God.
That does not mean that you do not have to pay taxes. That does not mean that your bills aren’t due. I do not want you to have that expectation that just because God has revitalized you and sent you on a new trajectory in life means that your branches won’t break.
That is why we have to begin to understand this from the perspective that things will change in your life at such a rapid pace that you can not keep up with it. You cannot always tell your friends from your enemies.
2) Stay focus on God and always remember him as your wings
Just because somebody says something that you do not like does not necessarily make them an enemy. In a moment of pain and grief, people will still attack you or blame you. We cannot be so sensitive that we are not successful because if we are not careful, we may become so sensitive that we won’t be successful at what God called us to do.
You may stop arguing with somebody and straighten out somebody and think that is a victory when the enemy is just distracting you from your assignment. The enemy would not be distracting you if you did not have an assignment.
One of the great things I’ve learned about life is to distinguish the distraction from the assignment. You will land on the branches, and they will surely break, and if you do not remember your wings, you will fall. In the presence of God, there is fullness of joy, and in the presence of God, you have power. Many depressions in our lives arise because we have forgotten that we have ever-present wings.
3) Keep going forward
People are so busy looking at the breaking of the branch, and the pain that it calls, and the fear that it brings. Keep going forward. I know you have plans, ideas, and things to accomplish in life. But if everything does not come together exactly the way you wanted, always remember that you have wings.
There is a moment in David’s life when David has seen a series of breaking branches. In fact, David’s whole life was full of branches that broke. He was born into a family that really did not like him, was not a good fit, and was not a good match. They were not really excited about him.
Some theologians and scholars stated that his father did not really pick him out, point him out, or appreciate him because he suspected that David was not his. He was a reject. He was ostracized in the family and was more comfortable with sheep than with family. Sometimes, what you do is what was pushed on you, and because of what you are trying to avoid, you end up catering to sheep.
He went through all sorts of challenges, and yet God had a plan for his life. And it’s far beyond what it looks like right now because in this season, he’s taking care of sheep, but in the next season, he is going to be a great leader.
Life is not a television show. It does not happen that fast. It takes time. It takes enduring hardship. It takes branches breaking for you to really understand not only that you have wings but to trust your wings. It is one thing to have it, and it is another thing to trust your wings. Listening to the specificity of the realm that God is saying to you. You will encounter challenges, and when you do, you have to be able to trust your wings.
4) Do not run from your fears; face it. You’ve got the wings
David was sent on a menial task to bring some lunch to his brothers, who were more mature and in the army. David was just an errand boy until he met Goliath. Goliath introduced David to the world. Goliath was a great thing. I know he was intimidating, but the massiveness of the challenge before him was how David got discovered.
When God gets ready to really introduce you to the world, he will often use a giant problem in your life to bring you to the stage you need to be in. So, God used Goliath to create a platform for David to stand on, and David discovered himself in the fight.
If you run from every battle, hide from every breaking branch, or are scared to land on something because you are so intimidated, you may miss the very usher that may usher you into the next stage of your life.
He fought Goliath, who was a Philistine warrior, and all of a sudden, the king discovers him in the fight.
There is a fight that you have been in that God ordered. And even though you prayed, he did not move it. Even though you spoke in tongues, he did not move it. If God does not move the fight, that means God is going to use the fight to become a platform for you to discover what you can do, what you can endure, what you can stand, and what’s next in your life.
And all of a sudden, King Saul liked him and invited him into the palace. And David had to make the transition from being a shepherd boy into the king’s vineyard. And all of a sudden, he was catapulted into the palace, where there was protocol, order, structure, and where there was ambiance. David had nothing in his background that had prepared him for the platform that he was about to stand on.
David was fluid enough to adapt to different situations rapidly. God uses Jonathan to aid and protect David. God will send somebody who loves you enough to school you and get you ready for what he is about to do in your life. After you have discovered your Goliath, you have got to find your Jonathan. When you find your Jonathan, they will dress you and change places with you.
5) Believe in what the Bible teaches about you
Jesus is trading places with us. I see him giving us his righteousness and us giving him our sins. Jonathan dressed David as a prince and gave him authority that he neither worked for nor earned. Through relationship there was a conveyance that brought him into a power that he never would have had if he had not been favored by God. Protect your relationships because God often will dress you through the relationships that you have if you protect them.
He killed thousands of Philistine soldiers, brought their four skins, and threw them down at the king’s feet. David was so good at what he did that he created jealousy.
Saul was good with David as long as they were singing about Saul. But when they changed their song and started singing, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his tens of thousands’ and all of a sudden, the branch broke. Some people only like you in one dimension of your life. When God finally brings you into the next dimension of your life, do not be surprised if they hate you because everybody cannot handle role reversal, ‘The first should be last, and the last should be first.’
We shout about it. But when it happens, everybody can not handle it. So, David ended up having to leave the palace. He ended up running from the very person that he was fighting for.
6) Be fluid enough to fit where God plants you
The reason David was running from Saul was because Soul threw javelins at him to kill him. Every Christian is under attack because the enemy only tries to take you out because of your destiny. The devil is trying to stop you before you get there. And you do not understand why the challenges keep happening: it is because he sees things that you do not see.
Why would the king throw a javelin at a boy? God knew what David was going to be, and Saul knew what David was going to be, and it got on his nerves.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivered them out of them all. And all of a sudden, David found himself in a situation of transition. David was hiding amongst the people he was fighting. Look at how fluid he was. He was now hiding amongst the Philistines from the people he was fighting for.
Sometimes, people shut doors prematurely while they do not understand how the branch will break and the situation will change, and they end up finding themselves on the opposite side–the side they rejected.
David hid amongst the Philistines, framing himself to be mad and finally ending up with 600 men and their families in Ziklag. And he was in Ziklag because he was too much an Israelite to fit in with the Philistines.
Just like David, there are people whose situation has dealt with them severely, and currently, they are not quite this or that, and they are not here or there, and they cannot really explain where they are headed. Sometimes, you have to create your own camp and settle.
David had just come back from a mission with his 600 men and came to Ziklag, just to realize that their wives, children, and cattle had been looted.
When you come back from a mission, sometimes you come back weary and tired. We have been in a series of battles this year. Many people, as soon as they get out of one thing, another one pops up. And as soon as they survive this, they get another. They finally got the house paid off, and now their body is acting up. They finally got their therapy, and sooner, their credit is tracked up.
After enduring numerous battles, it’s natural to feel fatigued. Regardless of your strength, temperament, or talents, the toll of battle is undeniable. Many people have not been diagnosed, and they walk around like everything is alright. People are numb because of the many battles they have gone through and are trying to find a place just to perch.
David comes home from battle with 600 men to Ziklag. There should be dancing and singing. There should be women and children running out to meet them in shouts of joy, but there was no whisper.
There was no sound of laughter from the children. There was no smell of the breaking of the baked bread. He smelled smoke, and smoke is the first indication that something is wrong.
When he got back to the camp, having survived being in Israel and having been with the Philistines, he ran into the fact that while they were gone, the Amalekites had come in and abducted all the women and the children and burned the camp, and they were devastated. Sometimes, you just have to admit, ‘I am devastated.’
7) Admit before God all your weaknesses and be encouraged in the Lord
I know you have been taught positive confession, ‘Just name it or just claim it and just quote the word.’ But sometimes you have to open up your mouth and say, ‘God, I am devastated.’ Until you get that pain out, you can not get that direction in. You have to open your mouth and howl before God your devastation.
You cannot deny this hurt, ‘This is painful. The branch broke, and I do not know what to do.’ David found himself in a yet more perplexing situation. The people that he could count on have stopped weeping with him and decided they were going to blame him, and they turned on him.
And the Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord. And we often preach this kind of stuff, but we do not tell people how to encourage themselves in the Lord.
Branch breaks and relationship changes, and voice ceases to be in your ear, but people forget that they have the power inside their spirit to encourage themselves. I know it looks stupid, but sometimes you have to lay hands on your own head and speak deliverance to yourself.
You have to ignore all the ugly stuff and look for something that is lovely, true, and real and decide what you are going to worry about and what you are not going to worry about. Make it up in your mind, ‘I am going to trust my wings even if the branch breaks.’
You are in a season where you have to trust your wings. You have to trust what God gave you is enough to handle whatever life throws at you. You have to trust that he that has begun a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. You have got to trust that God is not just alpha but omega.
God is with you always. If the branch breaks, he is with you. If the marriage fails, he is with you. If your body gets sick, he is with you.
The power you possess comes not only from reading your Bible but from allowing your Bible to read you. The words you absorb from the Bible will manifest in your life, and you don’t have the privilege of choosing how they will manifest.
8) Always Remember that you are capable through Christ
I am fascinated with how David handles conflict. All conflict is not bad. If you go on social media, you see all kinds of conflict. Things that people would never say to your face, they would lash out, and you may get wounded by somebody who is sleeping up under a bridge.
And you end up losing your happiness fighting with a virtual person. I have never seen anybody make a page and post the worst part of themselves on the page. They all look important. They all look like journalists and talk like they know you even though they never met you. And if you are not careful, you will mishandle conflict.
In the workplace, you do not want to be surrounded by people who just say yes. You need some people in your life that will challenge your ideas and reshape your thinking.
All conflict is not bad. We are living in a conflict drought. Either we are extremely full of conflict or we just have a life-avoiding destructive conflict.
We have people who just say yes to everything. We are not growing because we have not created an atmosphere that allows our ideas to be challenged. As long as you are in total control, you are completely comfortable.
In situations where you must include people with different perspectives and your ideas are challenged, you will bring out the best in yourself to engage with them. This is the challenge of great leadership: to be at ease with other intelligent individuals in the room.
When establishing your own domain, you may find yourself to be the most knowledgeable individual present. However, when preparing to assert authority over what has been designated for you, it is imperative to engage with other knowledgeable individuals. One must be prepared to interact with other astute individuals and operate outside of their established domain.
You have to get out of the camp to get the victory. You can not stay in your circle and expect miracles. You can not stay in your click and expect a change in your life. You can’t stay around people who always salute and celebrate you. You have to deal with other people, and how you handle conflict determines whether you will become king or not.
This was a tremendous moment in David’s life only because of how he dealt with conflict. We are in a drought of conflict. Despite all the stuff you see going on in the world and on social media, you can choose the news you want. Just trust your wings.
