Working Out Frustration

 

    Frustration gets a person wound up, tied up, anxious, and emotional all at once.  It works as a blocker in life that will drive people to become creative or defeated.  It is defined as being made ineffective.  It is where all efforts are in vain leaving a person baffled.  Everyone has been here occasionally.  There are healthy ways to deal with it.  You can work out, strategize, write it out, make art, or anything that is not harmful to yourself or anyone else.

    I believe David was frustrated with his life.  I think he felt torn to help Israel in the big battle and keeping his loyalty to the king that had protected him and his men.  Being sent home was a merciful gift, but David was a man of action.  Being idol would have been frustrating for him, so God provided a task.

    It took David and his men three days to get back to where they were living in Ziklag.  When they got there they discovered that the Amalekites had raided in their absence.  The Amalekites had burned the town and took all the women, but had not killed anyone.  David now had purpose and way to work out his frustration.  He had a way to focus it.

    God gave David the strength to pursue an enemy.  I almost feel sorry for the Amalekites.  David only had 400 men to chase after them.  The other  200 were too exhausted to pursue a fight.  We all deal with and handle frustration and hardships differently.  We can't judge people for how it affects them. 

    God provided an Egyptian to lead them to the Amalekites.  They recovered all their plundered stuff and their women.  They took all their stuff too.  Then, they returned to Ziklag.  The 400 that pursued did not want to share the plunder with the 200 that had stayed.  David however was able to see that just because they stayed did not make them weak or scared.  

    David declared that the plunder would all be shared equally.  He was such a good leader that he even sent some of his plunder back to Judah to friends that had taken care of him in his time of need.  He understood that things are just things that God has provided.  We need to be grateful, but it is our actions and how we treat people that matter.  It helped him to do right by the people who had helped him along the way.  That is how David dealt with his frustration.

1 Samuel 30

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