David has discovered a secret. A secret that can carry him through even the hardest times—war breaking out against him—with calm resolve and godly motivation. It seems to me that my resolve to live out godly character, with strong godly motivation is weakest when I am enduring a negative environment. When things begin to go “wrong”, when things get uncomfortable, when things are awkward and disorganised, I find myself less intensely focused on the Lord and His agenda in my life. As an example from daily routine, when the temperature drops below freezing, I feel less enthusiastic about getting out of my warm bed before sunrise to go outside to my office to spend time in the presence of the Lord. This less-than-pleasant environment definitely has an impact on my devotion to the Lord at that time.

On a more serious scale, if you have experienced the death of someone very close to you, your husband, wife, child, brother, sister, mother, father, close friend, you will know the impact that has had on your spiritual life. You’ve discovered that life is not what it used to be anymore and the joy is gone. The closeness is gone, the private memories exist only in your mind and no-one else’s. You feel alone in a harsh, cruel environment. What a struggle that is. It feels like a burden too hard to bear.

May I encourage you with these words? David was a man who experienced so many devastating events in his life. Yet one in particular shows how he had learned a principle by which he excelled in the face of tragedy rather than crumbling. I would like to speak about this principle from Psalm 27, but first, I would like to illustrate it from 1 Samuel 30.

There David has been following the Philistines to war, to fight with them against Israel. One the way the Philistine army commanders instruct him to turn back—they don’t trust him in this battle even though he has never given them any reason to do so. After that slap in the face, David and his men had been travelling for 3 days when they came upon the most terrible sight. In their absence, their city has been ransacked. There it lies, smouldering and deserted. That had been their home. That is where they had lived in peace and safety with their families. That is where they had enjoyed pleasant music and the laughter of their children. Yet at the moment they step away to go to war, their entire world they have built up around them is smashed to smithereens. Nothing is left!