Work Principles: Part 2 | Hard Times

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Friday, March 16, 2007 - Work Principles From King David – Part 2

If I asked you what was King David’s greatest moment for God, you might first think of how he killed Goliath. But I would propose to you that the way David handled his years of running from Saul and living in caves were truly his shining moments, and that brings us to the final principle.

Principle # 10: Hard times offer opportunities for great growth.

For all those years that David had to live like a fugitive, he must have wondered if he would even survive, let alone rise to the throne. It would have been easy enough for David to doubt God’s promise to him then. That ceremony when Samuel anointed him as king—that must have seemed like a dream during those cave years.

I think David’s greatest moments are those times when he had an easy opportunity to kill King Saul, who was trying to kill him, and he refused to do so because he knew it was wrong to touch the Lord’s anointed king, and Saul was still the king. His soldiers urged him to take advantage of his opportunities to kill Saul; they even suggested that God had set it up for him. But David would not violate his conscience and do something that went against his principles. To me, those are David’s greatest moments for God.

It was those cave years that shaped David’s character and built into him a strong commitment to do what was right. It was those cave years that produced some of his most powerful psalms, words that have comforted millions through the ages. It was during those cave years that David learned a lot about leadership and motivation, as his small army of misfits had to be made into a fighting force.

If you are in the midst of some hard times right now, have you asked God what He wants you to learn through these difficult days? Paul wrote to the Galatians: "Have you suffered so much for nothing–if it really was for nothing?" Everybody has hard times, but not everybody learns from them and grows through them. That is our choice–will we become bitter or better?

I pray that your hard times will produce great growth in your life, and you’ll see your ashes turned into beauty.