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The Skinny on Fasting (the Elusive Spiritual Discipline That I Avoid)

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2 Samuel 5:10 NIV

And he became more and more powerful, because the LORD God Almighty was with him.

It was many years before David realized God's purpose for him. And those years were difficult beyond our imagining. He lost his best friend, Jonathan. He had no real home. He lived in caves in the wilderness. He lived in the land of his enemies. A man he admired and looked up to spent most of his time trying to kill David. Everywhere he turned, David was met with opposition. Throughout the Psalms, we see David's frustration. We see the opposition that confronted him. We feel his fear and his anguish. We understand his torment. And we see how God strengthened him through it all.

David's experience is perhaps the greatest example of how God teaches someone to depend totally and solely on the Lord for everything - for physical needs, for comfort, for strength, for wisdom. God wanted a great king for Israel. And He knew that a great king must learn to be great through experience. The Lord wanted David to place everything in His hands, and David could learn to do this only through living a life where most things were totally out of David's control.

It's the same with you and me. We can't run five miles on the first outing. We have to build strength and stamina to do it. We are not spiritually strong without experience. We have to LEARN to trust. We have to LEARN to depend on God. We have to LEARN patience. We have to LEARN the source of our strength. When you are confronted with a trial (and most of us are every day), praise God for it, because He is teaching you faith, patience, and endurance. He is strengthening you.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear..." Psalm 46:1-2a NIV

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