It was David’s worst day ever.
The sweet psalmist of Israel had been forced to live on the run for a long time, fleeing for his life from the king. He may have thought, Oh, to just be home tending the sheep again! It wasn’t his fault that Samuel anointed him to be Saul’s successor to the throne. He didn’t ask for that! He was minding his own business when his father asked him to go check on his brothers who were fighting on the frontline. What was he supposed to do? Just stand by and let that arrogant brute bully the army of the Most High?
Now here he was. He had even tried to make friends with those same enemies—the Philistines—hoping to find refuge among them. But now, rejected by his “friends” as well as by his own people, he returned to his temporary home in Ziklag only to find everything burned to the ground by the Amalekites. His family—his wives and children—and all the loved ones of his men were gone. In their grief, his motley band of soldiers turned ugly and threatened to stone him.
David was down to NOTHING. NO ONE. He had no one to give him an encouraging word. Though in a free fall of misery, David refused to hit bottom. Instead, he looked UP … and he encouraged himself in the LORD.
I believe that was David’s turning point on the path to the palace. In the darkest hour of his life, as he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, the road suddenly turned. The final stretch toward victory began.
Yes, he and his men did recover everything and everyone that had been taken, and they ultimately triumphed over the Amalekites. More importantly, though, from that miserable moment forward, David began moving steadily toward his rightful place on the throne—where he, in time, became the “gold standard” of Israel’s kings.
On the worst day of his life, his faith did not fail him. His heart turned after God’s own heart and remained steadfast. That determination made all the difference.
Hold that thought.
With all the garbage circulating through the channels of social media, you never know what little gem will pop up suddenly, and you’ll say, I’m so glad I saw that! Such was a short video clip I saw recently.
It was of singer and songwriter Andraé Crouch sharing an emotional memory in his life. The man whom Billy Graham later described as “the greatest hymn writer of our age” had the opportunity to visit the little church where it all began. He told, with tears streaming, of how God long ago had come down to “a little church nobody wanted to go to” and touched “a little boy … who stuttered” giving him the gift of song.
Andraé Crouch. For those of us who grew up in church in the ’60s and ’70s, he quite literally wrote the soundtrack of our lives. Yet even years later, when he looked back on that first life-changing encounter with God, the memory moved him so deeply that he could hardly talk about it.
“How can I say thanks for the good You have done for me?”
You could feel it in his voice. That spot at the altar—or maybe the piano—in that little nothing/nobody church in Val Verde, California, was Andraé’s turning point. The power of that moment propelled him toward blessing the world over with his incomparable music.
When we’re down to nothing—struggling, stuttering, failing—writing a note of encouragement to ourselves—maybe that’s where God wants to meet us. When He’s all we’ve got, He’s all we need. Where we are looking at Him and no one else, it’s there that He’ll turn our feet toward the glory He’s already prepared for us.
It makes me think of another turning point. The town of Seward, Alaska was built on a narrow alluvial plain slap up against the side of a mountain—Mt. Marathon. You can see the top of the mountain from almost anywhere in town. Every Fourth of July—for well over 100 years—racers have run from downtown Seward, up to the top of Mt. Marathon and back, hoping to do it in less than an hour.
The interesting thing is that what looks like “the top” of the mountain from below is not really the summit of Mt. Marathon. The point the racers climb toward is marked by a giant five-foot boulder called “Race Point.” The ascent is grueling all the way up—a 34-degree incline, reaching as much as 60 degrees at its steepest. But once the runners reach Race Point and circle that boulder, the course turns. From there, it’s downhill all the way.
That doesn’t mean it gets easy—not by any stretch. In fact, the descent can be even more dangerous than the climb. But from that turning point on, they are moving in the direction of the finish line—and perhaps the prize.
Turning points can happen on the worst days ever. In the midst of pain, and loneliness, and defeat. They may be at your lowest point or after you’ve expended all your strength. But wherever, it’s the point at which God says, This far. No more. It’s where you turn around and start moving toward the destiny God has planned. It doesn’t mean that the going will suddenly get easy, for it won’t. But the challenge is worth it because your direction has changed—and the direction makes all the difference.
“Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus …”
David’s … and Andraé’s … “worst day ever” turned out to be perhaps their BEST day, for it became not just a turning point, but their launching pad. It was the first step toward their own stellar place in history.
Are you at the bottom? Are you done trying … done struggling? Fed up with feeling that things could not get worse? Look up—find your faith—this may be YOUR turning point.
