Finding Spark in the Grey
Hello everyone. It is a joy to share some thoughts with you today. Living here in Wythenshawe, we are quite used to those grey, drizzly mornings where everything feels a bit flat. It is easy to let the weather, or perhaps a difficult bit of news, dictate the temperature of our souls. But I have been reflecting on a moment in the life of King David that changes everything about how we view an ordinary, or even a disastrous, day.
The Scripture
“David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.”
In the passage above, David is at his absolute lowest. He had returned to his base at Ziklag only to find it burned to the ground. His family was gone, and his own loyal soldiers were so overcome with grief that they wanted to stone him. It was a crisis of leadership and a crisis of the heart. Most of us will not face a literal stoning, but we certainly know what it feels like when the "bits and bobs" of life fall apart at once.
The beauty of this text lies in that small, pivotal word: "But." While everyone else was looking for someone to blame, David looked for Someone to trust. The Hebrew word used for "found strength" or "encouraged himself" is hazaq. It is the same word God used when He told Joshua to "be strong and courageous." It implies a deliberate, firm grasping of a resource. David did not wait for a happy feeling to find him. He went and found his strength in the Lord.
In my own studies, I have often been struck by a definition of peace provided by the old preacher George Morrison. He described peace as "the possession of adequate resources." Think about that for a moment. To have an extraordinary day, we do not need a life free of trouble. We need a life full of resources. When we rely on other people to be our source of joy, we are essentially giving them the remote control to our happiness. If they are having a bad day, we have a bad day.
However, Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that He came so that we might have life to the full. This "abundant life" is not about having a bigger car or a perfect house. It is about the quality of life, what the Greeks called zoē. It is a life that is so well-connected to the Vine that it can stay green even in a drought.
Taking responsibility for our joy means waking up and deciding that today is a gift. It means looking at the grey sky and remembering that the Sun of Righteousness is still shining above the clouds. We can choose to encourage ourselves by remembering God’s past faithfulness. We can remind ourselves that if He looked after us last fortnight, He will look after us today.
Let’s stop waiting for the "perfect" circumstances to be happy. Let’s be like David. When the world is bitter, let us find our strength in the Lord. That is how we turn a mundane Wednesday into a brilliant adventure.
Prayer:
Lord God, thank You for the gift of this new day. When our hearts feel heavy or the world seems a bit much, help us to be like David and find our strength in You. Remind us that Your resources are more than enough for whatever we face. Teach us to take hold of Your joy and to live this day to the full. In Jesus’ name, Amen.