Good morning, and welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.

Trisha, my blogger friend at Joy of Reading, and I decided on calling this post “His Encouragement” because our real source of peace, strength, and security can only come from Jesus Christ. He, and He alone, is our constant! We pray and hope that these Thursday posts become a real encouragement to you and help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you. God bless!

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Today’s Thursday Encouragement comes from:

1 Samuel 22:23 (ESV)

Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.

In 1 Samuel 22, Saul orders the murder of 85 Temple priests plus their family members. Doeg the Edomite actually carries out the dastardly dead, but it is done by order of the king of Israel. Why does Saul want these Israeli men, women, and children killed? Because Ahimelech the high priest helped David. He gave David and his men bread from the Temple, and gave David Goliath’s spear so he would have a weapon. Naturally, when Saul heard that Ahimelech helped David, he was greatly angered.

Doeg did a masterful job of murdering a whole slew of men, women, and children, but was not 100% successful in his slayings. One man, Abiathar, the son of the high priest, survived and fled to David. Abiathar told David all the atrocity he had witnessed, and was rightly terrified. David calms this man by saying, “Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.” How does David know Abiathar will be safe with him? Because David knows that God is with him. God is David’s true shield, and he trusts in God’s plan. Abiathar doesn’t need to be afraid because God’s got them.

I chose this verse because it’s beautiful. It reminds me of John 15:18 when Jesus says, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” Jesus elaborates on why the world hates Him, and ends by telling the disciples not to worry. Jesus is going to send His Helper to those He’s chosen from the beginning of time. In this moment, Jesus is comforting the disciples (and us) just as David comforted Abiathar. Jesus is essentially saying, “Do NOT be afraid. God’s on My side. You’re on My side. It’s all going to be OK. Don’t worry about the Sauls, the Doegs, and the worldly of this earth. God — My Father — He’s got us!”

I don’t know about you, but knowing Jesus is on our side brings me a great deal of comfort and peace today.

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NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!

WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?

Check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

Becca @ The Becca Files

Gina @ Stories by Gina

Rebecca @ Rev. Rebecca Writes

If you would like to join us: please contact Trisha or Nicole