I have been making my way through 1 Samuel, usually doing one sermon per chapter. But this week I took a bit of detour to focus on one of my hobby-horses, namely a biblical-theology of strength. But I do not apologize for riding this horse because I think the topic is incredibly important – and one reason it’s important is because it is so badly misunderstood.
The church today has been heavily feminized. We have pathologized strength (e.g., traditional and biblical expressions of masculinity are often considered “toxic” even by Christians; the music and communication styles of many churches have been female coded; etc.). Feminine norms have been imposed on everyone, including boys and men. Female preferences and expectations are privileged. We have demonized male strength, ambition, and even success. The church, like much of the culture, all too often glories in weakness as if it were good and virtuous in itself. Think about the so-called poverty gospel, the way many on social media glamorize their “mental illness” diagnoses, the way trauma-informed language like “brokenness” has replaced more responsibility-focused language like “sin” and “rebellion,” etc. Think about the way the concept of “servant-leadership” is used to neuter real leadership. Think about how public schools have done away with honors classes and “talented and gifted” programs because they do not fit with an egalitarian ideology – this is like lowering the basket instead of teaching people how to jump higher. Think about participation trophy culture in which no one wins because no one is allowed to lose. Think about how much preaching encourages a kind of antinomian passivity in the Christian life, or how much preaching lacks any kind of application that would call on the congregation to display strength, courage, etc. Think about how much the evangelical church has tried to accommodate itself to the world (wokeness, feminism, socialism, COVID safetyism, etc.) in order to avoid conflict with the culture. Think about how the softer, more feminine virtues, like empathy, have been weaponized against the hard virtues, like courage and truthspeaking. And so on.
All Christians need strength. We need strength to obey, to serve, to forgive, to endure persecution while standing firm, and for so many other reasons. For example: The weak person grows bitter when wronged; the strong person can forgive. Another example: the weak Christian will often cave in to cultural peer pressure on controversial topics (think of wokeness, LGBTQ+, etc.), instead of boldly proclaiming the truth because he is afraid of conflict with the world. The Christian life is hard. It takes strength to fight the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Of course, we must not make an idol of strength either. While we have an obligation to strengthen ourselves, we must do so in the Lord – in the Lord’s way and in accord with the Lord’s truth. The kind of strength David sought in 1 Samuel 30:6 was not for the sake of personal vanity or pride. It was for the sake of mission.
The sermon was basically on one verse – 1 Samuel 30:6. Actually it was on less than half of that verse, the sentence in the second half of the verse: “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” This is one of my favorite sentences in the whole Bible. It contains an entire biblical-theology of strength.
Every word in this sentence is important. The “but” indicates a contrast – not only a contrast between David and his men, but between David before and after strengthening himself. David’s men had lost control of their emotions; they let their grief and rage overwhelm them to to point of almost doing something incredibly stupid and wicked (killing David). By contrast, David got control of himself; he subdued his emotions, and was then able to lead others because he had led himself. He got control of his emotions so he could focus on his mission – namely, ruling his army and rescuing his family. David’s men were panicked and ready to replace him with another leader. David could have run away. He could have made excuses. Instead, he got to work. Having strengthened himself in God, he was able to forgive his men for turning on him. Having strengthened himself in God, David was a like a calm, confident quarterback coming into the huddle on 4th-and-long with seconds left in the game. His strength ultimately strengthened his men. His confidence was contagious. David strengthened himself in God, then led his men to a smashing victory over the Amalekites. He moved from strength to strength.
“David strengthened himself.” This does not mean David’s strength came from himself. This story is not a Disney movie. It’s not that we all have an innate strength within. Rather, the point is that in order to gain God’s strength, we have to seek it. We have to do those things that open us up to being strengthened by God. We have to use means of grace to gain strength. We have to aim at becoming stronger. Only those who seek strength find it. Think of physical strength as an analogy for spiritual strength: If I want to be strong, I have to seek strength by going to the gym and lifting weights. Likewise, if I want spiritual strength, I have to seek it by going to church, hearing God’s Word, and eating God’s food. I have to put myself in places where God promises to give his people strength.
“In the Lord his God.” Strength, like wisdom, love, and every other virtue, comes from God. These are his gifts of sovereign grace. But we are still responsible to do what we can to pursue the virtues that only God can give. We make choices and we are responsible for those choices. David’s men chose to let their grief and anger get out of hand. David took control of himself and sought after God’s strength and wisdom. David steadied himself so he could steady others. Peter is another good example of this: Jesus prophesied that in a moment of weakness, Peter would deny Jesus three times, but he would repent; and then, having strengthened himself, he was to strengthen his brothers (Luke 22:32). When David got strength from God, that strength spread to others. The line of strength is clear: God has ultimate strength, and shared that strength with David; David in turn could share that strength with his men.
“But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” This sentence as a whole is really a summation of everything God has been teaching David and doing in his life since even before he was plucked from the sheepfolds of Jesse to be Israel’s future king. And it’s what God aims to do in our lives. Through hard trials and through biblical truth, God aims to make us strong. God is training us to make us strong. He wants us to exercise our spiritual muscles. Growing in godliness – Godlikeness – is growing in strength because God is strong. God wants us strong, wise, and mature. God wants us to be glorious. God’s glory is not a zero sum game. It’s not as if God is threatened by his people being strong and wise (being glorious). God, like any great king, wants to surround himself with glory, including glorious subjects. And so we are called to pursue glory (cf. Romans 2:7, 10).
Thus, we should not ask, “Why would God let his anointed one suffer like this?” Nor we should ask, “Why would God let me, his child, suffer in this way?” We already know what God is doing. God brings hardships into our lives so we can learn to strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God. He does not want us weak. He does not want us wallowing in immaturity. He wants us to strong. And the only way to get strong is to go through hard times and do hard things.
—
There is a kind of humanistic strength that even non-believers can tap into. A good example of this secular strength is found in 1 Samuel 4:9 – the Philistines were afraid when the Israelites brought the ark of the covenant onto the battlefield. They know the story of the exodus (the Philistines are related to Egyptians, per Genesis 10), and they remembered the plagues. They feared the Israelites would enslave them as they had once enslaved the Israelites. But they called on one another to be courageous and to fight like men. Yes, the Philistines won the battle that day, as their strength prevailed over Israel’s strength, but YHWH still got the last laugh (see chapters 6-7).
—
The two key points in the sermon.
You have obligation to make yourself strong so you can fulfill your obligations. You have a duty to be strong so you can perform your duties.
God gives us strength especially through his means of grace (which can be thought of as means of strength) – the Word, prayer, the communion of the saints, the sacraments.
—
We can only help others from a position of strength. If we have no strength, we have nothing to share, nothing to give, nothing to offer. Think of what passengers on an airplane are told in the event of an emergency: Put your own oxygen mask on first. If you don’t have oxygen, you can’t get oxygen for others. Before you can be strong for others, you have to strengthen yourself.
—
David found strength to take initiative, to lead, to fight, even in agonizing circumstances. David found stregth to forgive his men for their mutiny and quickly reorganize them for battle. He found strength to act decisively in adverses circumstances.
All too often, we are slothful in the face of hard providences. We wilt in the face of hardship. We panic in the midst of trial. We become like the sluggard in Proverbs, unwilling to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.
Instead of strengthening ourselves with God’s truth, we do things that weaken ourselves. We tell ourselves lies. We go therapists or “friends” who lie to us instead of telling us what we need to hear. We refuse to face reality, we refuse to take responsibility.
Instead of strengthening ourselves to do our duty, we fall into self-sabotage.
We can weaken ourselves by giving our strength to the wrong things (e.g., Prov. 31:3). We our strength ourselves for evil rather than for good – which results in weakness. We weaken ourselves by listening to the wrong voices instead of God’s voice. We seek out worldly lies rather than God’s wisdom. We can weaken ourselves by continually shying away from doing hard things.
Every trial is an opportunity to grow in strength. Every trial is like a trip the gym – an opportunity to strengthen our spiritual muscles.
The Christian life is a matter of virtue, of godliness. But in Scripture ,godliness is like a skill or habit. We can (and must) train ourselves in godliness, analogous to how we train for an athletic competition.
—
Therapy culture is a source of weakness. Therapy culture keeps people weak. See, eg., Jon Haidt’s The Coddling of the American Mind, Friendman’s Failure of Nerve, Abigail Shrier’s Bad Therapy, etc. Therapy, especially secular therapy, but often so-called Christian counseling as well, rarely aims at strength. It aims at feeling better rather than becoming stronger.
—
Charles Spurgeon, speaking to pastors in training, in how they should learn to use their bodies as tools or instruments of righteousness:
“EVERY workman knows the necessity of keeping his tools in a good state of repair, for “if the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength.” If the workman lose the edge from his adze, he knows that there will be a greater draught upon his energies, or his work will be badly done.
Michael Angelo, the elect of the fine arts, understood so well the importance of his tools, that he always made his own brushes with his own hands, and in this he gives us an illustration of the God of grace, who with special care fashions for himself all true ministers. It is true that the Lord, like Quintin Matsys in the story of the Antwerp well-cover, can work with the faultiest kind of instrumentality, as he does when he occasionally makes very foolish preaching to be useful in conversion; and he can even work without agents, as he does when he saves men without a preacher at all, applying the word directly by his Holy Spirit; but we cannot regard God’s absolutely sovereign acts as a rule for our action. He may, in His own absoluteness, do as pleases Him best, but we must act as His plainer dispensations instruct us; and one of the facts which is clear enough is this, that the Lord usually adapts means to ends, from which the plain lesson is, that we shall be likely to accomplish most when we are in the best spiritual condition; or in other words, we shall usually do our Lord’s work best when our gifts and graces are in good order, and we shall do worst when they are most out of trim. This is a practical truth for our guidance. When the Lord makes exceptions, they do but prove the rule.
We are, in a certain sense, our own tools, and therefore we must keep ourselves in order. If I want to preach the gospel, I can only use my own voice; therefore I must train my vocal powers. I can only think with my own brains, and feel with my own heart, and therefore I must educate my intellectual and emotional faculties. I can only weep and agonize for souls in my own renewed nature, therefore must I watchfully maintain the tenderness which was in Christ Jesus.
It will be in vain for me to stock my library, or organize societies, or project schemes, if I neglect the culture of myself; for books, and agencies, and systems, are only remotely the instruments of my holy calling; my own spirit, soul, and body, are my nearest machinery for sacred service; my spiritual faculties, and my inner life, are my battle axe and weapons of war.
M’Cheyne, writing to a ministerial friend, who was traveling with a view to perfecting himself in the German tongue, used language identical with our own: “I know you will apply hard to German, but do not forget the culture of the inner man—I mean of the heart. How diligently the cavalry officer keeps his saber clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care. Remember you are God’s sword, His instrument—a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name. In great measure, according to the purity and perfection of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”
—
In 1 Samuel 30, David is a good illustration of C. S. Lewis’ glorious vision of kingship in The Horse and His Boy:
“For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there’s hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land.”
David chose strength over weakness, duty over complaint, forgiveness over bitterness, truth over lies, joy over despair, mission over depression.
No, David is not yet king. And his circumstances do not look very kingly at this point. But David is carrying himself as a king. He is acting in a kingly way.
Of course, we are a nation of priestly kings (1 Peter 2), so we must do the same.
—
Wisdom is a key form of strength. See Proverbs 8:12-18.
—
If you look up “strong” and “strength” in a biblical concordance, you will see just how prevalent this theme is in Scripture, which makes the modern evangelical obsession with weakness all the more strange and concerning. I fear this preocculation with weakness is actually a form of false humility and irresponsibility. It is a way to escape maturity. Some texts to consider:
Psalm 144:1-2; 18:1-2, 34; 68:35; 29:11; 73:26; 105;4; 118:14
Daniel 10:19
2 Tim. 2:1
Hebrews 11:34
1 Samuel 2:4, 10
2 Samuel 22:3, 33, 40
Isaiah 40
Judges 1:28
Ephesians 6:10
Etc.
I mentioned several more texts in the sermon, especially from the NT.
God does not intend to keep all his strength to himself. He wants to share it with us, so we can image his strength in how we live. We can only love God with all our strength if we have strength – and the stronger we are, the stronger our love for God can be. Good kings do not glorify themselves by surrounding themselves with glory-less, drab, weak subjects. True kings show their glory by surrounding themselves with glory. This is what Christ does – he glorifies us, thus further manifesting his own glory.
—
Those who trust in their own strength will be made weak and brought low. But those who strengthen themselves in the Lord God will be strong indeed.
—
To encourage someone is, quite literally, to en-stregthen, or em-power, them. It’s to put courage into them. Strength and courage, like cowardice and fear, are contagious.
—
“Jesus is not your personal pain reliever to get you on top of life’s aches.”
— Ralph Davis
Davis’s section on 30:6b in his commentary (p. 170ff) is quite good and amakes many salient points I did not go into in the sermon. He quotes Maclaren on David’s trial: “David could no longer say, ‘My house,’ ‘my city,’ or ‘my possessions,’ but he could say, ‘My God.” David points to the promise of help through our High Priest in Hebrews 4; in Jesus, we have a greater priest than Abiathar. “We may not get precise answers to our question but we will find ‘grace to help,’ which we usually need more than answers. I don’t need to know something – I only need to stay on my feet. Use your Priest; use your access; it’s part of strengthening yourself in YHWH your God.”
—
Both Saul and David were in distress in chapters 28 and 30. Saul did not strengthen himself in the Lord; thus he was left with no strength in 28:20. By contrast David, found strength in the Lord.
The contrast between David and Saul is growing sharper and sharper. Both seek guidance but in very different ways (ephod vs witch). Both needed strength, but Saul tried to strengthen himself by eating a communion meal with a witch. David sought strength in God’s means of grace.
—
I have dealt more fully with 2 Corinthians 12 here. In short, that passage is not a counterpoint to my sermon; in fact, it reinforces the point of my sermon. Paul did not revel in his weakness – and his weakness is really that of a creature who cannot control his circumstances, not some kind of moral weakness. Paul desired strength to rise above his painful circumstances. Paul was strong enough to keep preaching the gospel, even in chains. Not even prison would stop Paul’s strong gospel ministry.
—
While all Christians are called to strength, strength is especially a masculine trait in that men are judged on the basis of strength. This strength comes in many forms. It certainly includes physical strength. We are not Gnostics. The physical does matter, and is often celebrated in the Bible. But physical strength is not the deepest or most important form of strength. A man’s physical strength, like a woman’s physical beauty is vaporous, so there must be a more lasting form of strength to which we are called.
Men need strength to do what they are called to do, as leaders, protectors, and providers. Men should cultivate every form of strength. Physical strength, yes – Paul says it has value. Financial strength, mechanical strength, intellectual strength, and other forms of “skill strength” are important, since men must be oriented to dominion and it takes strength to rule and subdue the earth. But men especially need spiritual strength – strength to do what is right, strength to live a disciplined life, strength to stand for truth, strength to lead their households in righteousness, strength to live for God’s glory.
Women are called to be strong too (cf. Proverbs 31). But masculine strength and feminine strength really are different because their tasks are different. If there is just this thing called “strength” that both men and women share in, then men must be considered superior. Period. I do not know a single woman who could beat her husband in an arm wrestling match. One of the reasons feminism has brought so much discontentedness amongst women is because it forces women to judge themselves by a masculine standard instead of a feminine standard.
—
An X post:
I sometimes wonder if Rudyard Kipling wrote his poem “If” about David’s period in exile (1 Samuel 18-30 and accompanying psalms). The poem is an almost perfect fit with that period of David’s life. Every line of it meshes with David’s experience and eventual triumph. And by the time David’s period in the wilderness is over, there’s no doubt he’s a man – a man ready to take charge of the kingdom and rule his nation.
—
A wonderful summation of masculine strength (as exemplified by David) is Kipling’s magnificent poem “If.”
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
David basically lives out the “If” poem during his time in exile. Take the poem line by line….
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
Several times, he keeps his head when his men lose theirs – not just in chapter 30, but earlier, such as those occasions when his men were trying to get him to kill Saul. And note that in chapter 30, his men certainly blamed him for their tragic losses.
Several times, lesser men would have their heads (and their cool), but David stays poised and composed. Despite being hunted by Saul, despite all his hardships, he continued to cling to God and his promises. When Achish was about to imprison him chapter 21, he was quick on his feet. The psalms from this period of his life bear this out.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
Again, David was a man of supreme confidence, but he also sought guidance, at times from the priests, but always from the Lord. David was a perfect mix of confidence and humility, decisiveness and seeking counsel.
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
David waited patiently for God to give him the promised kingdom.
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
Saul and his men slandered David. They hated David without cause. But he did not hate them back.
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
Certainly, at times during his outlaw/exile period, David dreamt of returning to his home of the past, or even of his promised kingdom in the future. But he did not let those dreams master him. He remained grounded, practical and prudent.
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
David certainly did a lot of thinking and meditating, but always with the goal of action. Thoughts alone were not the aim; obedient living was his aim. David was not just a thinker, he was a doer. He was a man of wide-ranging competence. he knew what to do if you put a scroll in his hand, or a sword, or a harp. He was a Swiss-Army knife kind of man.
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
He certainly met with triumph and disaster, but remained even keeled. His successes (e.g., defeating Goliath, the Amalekites, etc.) did not make him arrogant, and at times when he could have despaired (such as when he went to Gath in chapter 21, or when he ended up at the cave all alone), he did not give up.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
No doubt, David’s words were twisted by many (a point he makes in his psalms). At times, he must have felt like he was surrounded by fools, not only when he was in Saul’s house, but among his band of 600 men in the wilderness.
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;
Think of coming back to his home away from home in Ziklag and finding it in a smoking rubble, with his family kidnapped. But what does David do? After a brief period of grief, he gets right back to work – and he doesn’t rebuild his lost home, he begins building a kingdom.
David had given his life to serving and fighting for Saul and Israel, laying his life on the line again and again for the people of God, but what kind of thanks did he get? He got a king that hated him, a people who would not defend him, and even his own friends (Jonathan excepted) turned on him.
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
David took risks (e.g., going into Saul’s camp with Abishai, outnumbered 3000 to 2; going to Gath and becoming a double agent) and experienced loss (e.g., loss of his home in Israel and in Ziklag). But he never let it overwhelm him.
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
No doubt, David felt like giving up many times. But he persevered. He is a model of endurance, courage, and strength. He kept fighting, literally and figuratively, long after others would have broken down.
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
David was Israel’s hero. He was anointed. He had walked with kings and prophets. But he also associated with the down and out riff raff, the blue collar red necks who came out to join him in the wildlands. He was an aristocrat with never lost the common touch. He hung around questionable characters but never lost his virtue.
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
This is precisely what we see David doing – he had to deal with both friends and foes who caused him trouble. He was a self-differentiated leader who never had a failure of nerve.
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
David had indeed grown into a man by the time his exile was complete. And his desire was to pass along this same manly virtue to his son, Solomon (cf. 1 Kings 2:2f).
The connections between “If” and David’s outlaw period need to be more fully developed (particularly integrating the “cave psalms”) – I’ve run out of time to deal with this right now, but perhaps I can revisit it at some point.
TPC Pastor's Page 