2 Samuel 16:14
“And the king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted, and he refreshed himself there.”
This has been quite a day. David and the people learned that Absalom is in the process of overthrowing the government. They decide the best plan isn't to defend themselves in the city, but to flee. They do so. The last entry here in Samuel dealt with the great difficulty of this day. Today's verse has them reaching their destination. They are exhausted. The end of the verse says that "he refreshed himself there".
Refreshing oneself is an important skill. It may simply mean that he got cleaned up and ate something. It could be more. We have things that wear on us. I Peter 2:11 says, "Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul." This is all within us. There is plenty without us that afflicts us. We also have things within that do so. We aren't refreshed when we give into the desires of the flesh. Some disagree. They think that giving into all that we want frees us. While I see the logic, the bible says otherwise.
There are other enemies of our souls, the world and the devil. James 3:15 references the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh and the devil, "This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Earthly references the world. The world's value system fills social media, advertising and movies. The way of Jesus is very different. He says in Matthew 16:24, 'Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."' The world says, "me first", Jesus says, "others first". The world says, "do what you want", Jesus says, "follow the bible's morals and guides", and so on.
To follow the world is not refreshing. It's waging war on our souls. That is if you've been born. We have a new nature that is of God. If not in Christ, one has only the fleshly nature. It has no problem with the world. The way of Jesus brings rest. Matthew 11:28, 29 says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is comfortable, and My burden is light." That is refreshing.
The third enemy of our soul is the devil. He is actively trying to hurt and beat God. We are God's children. He seeks to destroy us. Ephesians 6:16 says, "besides all, having taken up the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one." He is shooting flaming arrows at us. What are they? Usually they are tempting and troubling thoughts he inserts in our minds. They can also be spoken by others or through computer ads, etcetera. He tries to disrupt our relationship with God. He can tempt us, condemn us, get us upset with others and so on. The shield of faith is our knowledge that all of this is or may be from the devil and that we aren't to fall for his tricks. We can be at peace, even in this battle. We will be weary, we can be refreshed.
Lord, thank You that You want to refresh us and for us to be at peace. Help us to avoid the world, the flesh and the devil.