Good morning guys. Be a blessing today!
1st Samuel chapter 30.
David and his men return to their Homeland after being told they could not fight with the Philistines. Upon their return they found their cities burned and their wives and children taken captive along with their animals and valuables taken. This is a DISASTER!!! It was a seemingly hopeless situation.
When disaster hits us we get to make a decision: do I give up or do I keep fighting forward?
For David and his men, they did the following:
- They wept.
- They wanted to Stone David to death.
- David turned to the Lord.
- If something horrible happens with our marriage or with a close friendship, we can lash out which makes things worse, we can give up, or we can fight to revive it.
- If something offends us at work or at church in a Ministry, we can give up, or we can quit, or we can gossip about it in order to break down the leadership and break down unity, or we can fight to revive it.
God tests us A lot to see how we will handle situations in order to help us mature and help us become more like him.
My suggestions when disaster comes to us:
- Don't quit or give up. It's too easy to try and run away from our problems verses facing them and overcoming them.
- Don't lash out. That's our tendency which results in saying things you wished you didn't. It causes more hurt and more division.
- Don't gossip for gossip is the evidence of hate. It's best to meet one-on-one and deal with the situation versus spreading gossip and rumors that result again in greater division.
- Do turn to the Lord!! When disasters come we need God's help and intervention and strength. So turn to God as David did. And when you turn to God be ready for his intervention and it will be evident:
- Sometimes with added disasters which make the situation seem more hopeless but it only gives an opportunity for God to be glorified all the more. Just as David started with 600 men to defeat an army, he then lost 200 who were too tired to move on.
- Also get ready for “coincidences.” “Coincidences” will occur which is God at work.
David and his men came up on an Egyptian slave to the enemies King. He was abandoned because he was too sick to move on. What a coincidence because he just happened to be the person needed in order to lead David to the enemy.
The enemy, when David came up on them, we're partying at night. So by morning David fought them, which means they were at their weakest point after the party. A “coincidence!”
It says, “God gave the enemy into their hands.” When victory comes we must give glory to God.
Here is what my son-in-law, the farmer, had to say about today's chapter which he shared with me so I'm sharing it with you!
“They talk about God delivering everything into there hands so I decided to try it out this morning. I had a cow have a calf on pasture for a week now and I can't catch the calf the mother hides it somewhere then comes to milk so this morning I said Lord deliver this calf into my hands so I got cows in and the cow and calf didn't come to the barn so I went out and looked didn't see anything went back and started milking and I looked at the back of the barn and there's the cow and calf walked right in. I've only seen this calf one time in all week and it was from a distance and this morning he walked right in with the mother.
The enemy wants to attack us and our families. How many times are we distracted by letting our guard down or preparing to go fight in the wrong battle? That’s what I think we just saw with David. He had reached a real low point.
He’s been living like a refugee in enemy territory, staying at a safe distance away from Saul.
He’s been living a fake life under King Achish, not wanting him to find out what he’s really been doing.
The place where he’s been living in Ziklag has just been burned down and left in ashes.
His two wives have been captured along with all the wives and children of his men. (I’m thinking that they probably didn’t even know for certain that their families were still alive, at least not until they helped revive the Egyptian slave and maybe received more details from him.)
I think to say that David was feeling down and rejected, would probably be an understatement.
This is what we read in 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.”
It’s good to know that even when nothing seems to be going right, we can be strengthened in the Lord at any point in our lives because He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. (See Hebrews 13:5.)
Things got turned around for David. As Pastor Blair pointed out, God allowed some “coincidences” to happen and gave victory to David.
I believe that David was a good leader because he had a heart after God. We get a glimpse of David’s kind heart when he wanted to share the spoils with all of his men, not just the 400 who were able to go beyond the brook Besor. He cared about the other 200 who were too exhausted to go any further. This may not have seemed fair to the 400, but it reminds me of a parable that Jesus told in Matthew 20:1-16.
I shared 1 Thessalonians 5:9-13 yesterday and as I thought today about how David took care of all his men, I was reminded of the verses that continue on after that passage.
Verses 14-18: “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
May we put the words of this passage into practice by taking action as we let God remove us from the wrong battles. May He give us victory as we give Him glory for the battles that He fights and wins for us! That could be things such as being protected from some dangerous situation, bringing in a calf with the mother cow or opening up some new opportunity to share the gospel. There is no limit to what God can do!
David’s heart (one that God loved) was full of kindness and appreciation for the men that remained behind in the battle. Although they were too weak to fight, they played an important role in staying with the supplies. He made sure they got an equal share of the bounty.
We need to make sure we treat those in supporting roles today with kindness and respect. Too often we look up to those on the front lines of ministry and forget about all the people in service behind the scenes. If you’re keeping the supply lines going by praying faithfully, giving financially, or serving humbly, the Lord has an equal share of the reward waiting for you in heaven. That’s God’s economy. Hallelujah!
In this chapter I think about how David’s men were very quick to turn on him when things got bad. Where they had just followed him as their leader, now they wanted to stone him because of their missing wives and children.
We can’t allow the bad circumstances of our day to control how we react or how we treat others. Blair I really liked how you mentioned gossiping because this is a huge issue for me and others. When someone does something that is hurtful or even just out of their character and our solution is to negatively gossip about them, We are just like those who wanted to stone David. We have to bring our trials to God and He Will bless us for it. I hope we can all bring it before the Lord before turning to gossiping with others.