1 Samuel 30:1-8 ESV Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way.
And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.
The captors took David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
And David was distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in the soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord, his God.
And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.”
But David strengthened himself in the Lord, his God.
To put David’s experience in a context we might picture in our day, imagine you live in the same neighborhood with your team of employees that report to you where you all work. You all return home after a full day’s work to learn that every one of your wives and children are gone. You find your homes ransacked and the symbol of a rival company spray painted on each house. None of you know your family’s condition. Have they harmed your loved ones? Where have they taken them? What conditions are they placed in? Do they have food and water? A million questions are running through your heads, and none of them are good.
Now, add to that stress the fact that your co-workers are fully blaming you for losing their families and are so angry they are plotting to kill you as you desperately work together hoping to find someone, anyone.
BUT…
Rather than letting all this unimaginable stress, fear, and worry overload your heart and emotions, with untold nightmarish scenarios playing out in your head trying to get the best of you, no doubt…
Rather than fearing the credible threat of your own employees plotting to kill you, not knowing how or when, but the look on their face and tone of their voices shows their seriousness…
You stand in confidence from years of discipline, trusting God, with memory after memory of Him being there for you in times past in circumstances that felt equally serious. Alone in an environment of overwhelming demonic oppression and dominance running full reign in everyone else’s minds, where none of you know anything of the magnitude of the dangers that just became reality.
You don’t require anyone else at that moment. True, their support would be extremely helpful, but it’s obvious that’s gone.
You draw on every prior experience you have sought God for guidance, provision, protection, etc. Each of them has built one on top of the other, strengthening you to the place this unimaginable place you are in now will require. But you have them, the memories of His Power and Grace in every former need being there now collectively assuring you, “GOD’S GOT THIS ONE TOO!” Your reality is the Word, the faithfulness of a Heavenly Father that never fails. It is not anything that you hear or feel in this situation today. Nothing can overcome the trust and confidence you have that your Heavenly Father will once again shield and protect, as you continue to humbly live in servitude to His Will and Word.
David’s Verse 6 – And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
Your Verse 6 – And you were greatly distressed, for your friends and employees spoke of killing you, because all of them were bitter in soul, each for their sons and daughters. But you strengthened yourself in the Lord your God.
May we all strive to have this level of trust in the Lord our God as the example David has given us here in scripture. The key to this trust is “…as you continue to humbly live in servitude to His Will and Word.”