Daily Devotional

UNFRUITFUL EMOTIONS

18th May 2024

Scripture Reading: 1 SAMUEL 30: 1-20

Focus

“Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” (1 Samuel 30: 4)

Our Focal Scripture speaks of that moment when David and his men lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power in them to weep. Their wives and children had just been taken away and their city burnt, and naturally, they wept, but then they continued weeping until they had no more power to weep. They exhausted themselves whilst weeping for their situation. They wasted their strength to weep for the situation.

Notice that in subsequent verses, when the Lord would give David a nod to pursue and overtake and recover all, the same men who wept eventually rose to the occasion and fought back and regained their wives and children. So they had capacity to recover, but they were initially invested in just weeping. Weeping did not rescue the situation, but when they arose and pursued, they overtook and eventually recovered all.

Friend, when faced with challenges that need to be solved, resist the urge to expend your energy in unfruitful emotions. Resist the urge to invest your energy weeping on account of issues you should be praying about. Resist the urge to feel bad about things that you can invest your energy to change. Resist the urge to engage in emotional displays that will not change anything. Resist the urge to put up unfruitful emotions.

Ordinarily, it is natural to weep, but weeping was not going to bring back the wives and children of David and his men. Weeping simply wasted the energy they needed to fight back. If you choose to weep, always remember that you just might be wasting the energy you need for recovery. If there is a chance to recover, then chase the recovery and leave weeping. Chase your goals and leave emotional outbursts that won’t take you far.

Remember, there was a chance for recovery, and there was no sense in expending all the energy in unfruitful emotions. Don’t allow your emotions to stop you from hitting your targets.

Declaration

My emotions will not stop me, in Jesus’ name!

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Further Reading

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Memory Verse

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1: 7)

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