As we contemplate the coming week and New Year, my mind has a recurring theme that I would like to share: encouragement. Over this past year many of my friends and family have stated, “2019 has been one of the worst years that I have had”. In retrospect, 2019 has been a year of growth in overcoming some hard obstacles and allowing God to work in us. I have personally experienced sickness of children, death of close friends and family (expected and unexpected), challenges in relationships, and sickness and trials of loved ones. The main methods that I have coped have been through the encouragement from loved ones, songs & hymns, and scripture.
Vocabulary.com defines encouragement in parts. Within the word encouragement we see the word “courage,” which means the ability to face danger and deal with it. To encourage, then, is to help develop that ability in someone, while the “ment” at the end makes that development into a noun, the act of giving courage or support to another. www.vocalbulary.com
The root word of encourage is courage. Lexico defines courage as the ability to do something that frightens one or the strength in the face of grief and pain. Lexico also has the origin of the word courage: Middle English (denoting the heart, as the seat of feelings): from Old French corage, from Latin cor ‘heart’.
So encouragement is using your internal feelings that are: fear, grief, and pain and transforming the inconceivable into something that is extraordinary. This transformation is not something that is innate, but something that has to be cultivated and practiced. You must find individuals that will be encouraging and allow the Spirit of God to encourage your heart and spirit.
One individual that embodies encouragement is David. In the books of I & II Samuel, you are given a brief glimpse into the life of David from youth through death. In these scriptures, it is evident that David shows courage and encourages the Israelites to stand up to the Philistines and he use his final words to encourage the people of Israel to continue to trust in God.
I Samuel 17:32-37
And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
II Samuel 23: 2-4
“The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me;
his word is on my tongue.
3 The God of Israel has spoken;
the Rock of Israel has said to me:
When one rules justly over men,
ruling in the fear of God,
4 he dawns on them like the morning light,
like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning,
like rain[b] that makes grass to sprout from the earth.
These two passages from Samuel show that the nature of David was encouragement. In the face of unspeakable and unimaginable danger, his spirit was aligned with the Spirit of God. When you read the full story of David and understand the highs and lows of his life. He was not a perfect man, but he was a man that understood that even when his steps where not completely in step with God’s plan and purpose, he would recognize the misstep and correct the actions. The story of David is a true story of encouragement that despite all of the afflictions and turmoil and strife that we are witness to God’s divine and awesome plan for our lives and us. Let us greet this New Year and remember the past year with a spirit of encouragement.