David and his band of soilders had just returned home to Ziklag, only to find that it had been burned with fire, and their wives and childres carried off by the Amalekites. "Discouraged" is not a big enough word to describe the state of emotion and morale among the brothers. The Bible says they wept bitter tears until their physical strength was completly gone. For David, it was even worse for they wanted to stone him - and he was their leader! He was in distress, and it might have destroyed him and those he led unless he took some step forward to defeat the emotional burden he was under at that moment. As the crew grew more helpless, a definitive resolve surfaced in the heart of David - an inner conversaion began to erupt under his breath: "I will encourage myself in the Lord! No one else a journey for David that not only allowed him to recover what had been lost, but it empowered those around him to rise up and together, bring restoration of all that was taken in violence.