David hit rock bottom when he returned to Ziklag and found his home city burned down and everything taken away, including their families.
• This was by far the greatest tragedy he had encountered, ever since he ran from Saul as a fugitive.
He faced the rejection of Saul, the rejection of Israel, the rejection of the Philistines rulers at Aphek and now the rejection of his closest men, who thought of stoning him.
• It brought him to the end of himself, and forced him to return to God. It was the turning point in his life.
• Be wise. We do not want to reach the end of ourselves, only then to realise our need of God.
1 Sam 30:6b “BUT David found strength in the Lord his God.”
1 Sam 30:7-8 “THEN David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, 8and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?"
"Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."
This was the first time we read of David seeking God since he stepped into the land of the Philistine. The Lord wasn’t mentioned since 1 Sam 26 when he left Israel.
• But now David knew he needed the Lord’s help. He asked for the ephod! He is going to PRAY! The crisis brought him to his knees.
It reminds me of a comment that a famous mountain climber George Adam Clark made. When he was young his dream was to climb the Swiss Alps. On his first climb, he was accompanied by two strong guides – one in front and one behind him.
As they reached the top, the guide in front of him stepped aside so he would be the first one to see the majestic view. Just as the young climber stood up, a strong wind suddenly picked up and almost thrown him off.
The guide nearest him pulled him down and shouted, “On your knees, now, sir. You are not safe here unless you are on your knees.”
Don’t get blown away. Get down on your knees! That’s what David did.
• We have something that the world cannot match and does not understand – that’s PRAYER. We have the living God on our side when we pray!
• In adversity, that’s where our true strength lies. We pray and let God take charge. We seek Him and let God leads the way.
• Especially so in recent days, when we read of senseless killings almost every week - when everything seems to be out-of-control, we cling on to the ONE who is in control.
Winston Churchill puts it this way: “If you are going through hell, keep going.”
• By the grace of God, we will get through it. Keep going, and we will see the light that God shines!
• God will do His work. God will judge the wicked and redeem the righteous.
David WEPT but he did not just CRY. Ultimately he cried TO GOD.
• Don’t just CRY. Cry to God! Don’t just LAMENT. Lament to God, like the Psalmists in the Psalms. Pour out your heart to God.
• David prayed and God spoke. David turned to God and God stepped in. We are going to see in this chapter one of David’s finest hour.
David asked God, “Shall I pursue them?” and “Will I be able to overtake them?”
• God says YES to both! One is a command, the other is His promise. David will succeed in the rescue.
My first impression of this is, “Do you really need to ask permission for this? I thought this is plain common sense. Of course, we should pursue them.”
• It’s like asking, “I am hungry. Should I eat? I am tired. Should I sleep?” Why not?
• But to David, in this context, it’s different. It is likely he has NOT been talking to God for a long while.
• In the light of all that has happened, David has been doing a lot of things on his own, since he left Israel. He has actually drifted from God. And his own decisions have led him to where he is right now.
David is not going to depend on his “common sense”. He saw this GREATER need now to SEEK and CONSULT God.
• He is putting the Lord back to His rightful place in his life. He is Lord, not David.
• When this is set right, everything else will turn out right. The result is what we are going to see here in this chapter.
Let’s read 1 Samuel 30:9-20.
1. SEE THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD in response to prayer
David obeyed the Lord and took his 600 men in pursuit of the enemy.
• They had just returned from Aphek (North 100km) and so the men were tired.
• When they reached Besor Ravine, a third of the men could not carry on any more. They might have the heart to but they have no strength to do it.
• David did the next best thing – let them stay and look after the stuff, which serves also to lighten the load of the 400 who needs to pursue the enemy.
David has a difficult mission at hand. He does not know WHO the raiders are. We know because the author tells us in verse 1.
• Not knowing WHO they are means it is more difficult to guess WHERE they have returned to.
• But God provided a means. David “happened” to find an Egyptian slave left behind in the field. He was abandoned by his master because he was very sick.
David nursed him back to health and got to know that he was from the Amalekite raiding party.
• When we invite God to step in, we can expect to see the PROVIDENCE of God. God acts in response to our prayers.
• He provided David with a guide that he would need. This is divine GPS. Anne/Roland were just talking about this a few weeks ago, that God provides us with a GPS – God’s Perfect System. He send someone into David’s party to lead him right to the enemy’s camp.
If the slave had been dumped 3 days ago, then the Amalekites would have been at least 3-days away, if they had been on the move.
• But it doesn’t matter now. They no longer need to track them down. By the providence of God, David would be led to them.
• When he arrived, David saw them “scattered over the country side, eating, drinking and revelling…” (30:16).
• They were scattered and unprepared, because they probably thought that the Philistines were way up North (Aphek) fighting a battle.
David routed them, even though he was greatly outnumbered.
• We know because David had only 400 men and the enemies fleeing on camels alone was already 400. The Amalekite army must be much larger.
• And they fought a long time, from dusk until the evening of the next day (30:17).
Yet they won, even though they are outnumbered and tired. They won because the Lord said so. He promised, in response to David’s prayer.
• They recovered everything that was taken, and rescued everyone that was captured.
• The author is very specific. David “recovered everything” (30:18); “Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.” (30:19).
They were successful because God was in it. David prayed and the Lord responded.
• You cannot ask for a more successful mission than this.
• Expect to see the providence of God when we pray.
In fact, this wasn’t just a RECOVERY operation. David and his men returned with a whole lot more – more than what was lost in Ziklag.
• They came back with the rest of the spoils that the Amalekites took from the rest of the other towns.
• “This is David’s plunder,” the men says (30:20). They came back with BONUSES.
2. SEE THE GRACE OF GOD in response to prayer
Listen to what happened on their return – 1 Samuel 30:21-31.
A group of evil men and troublemakers demanded that they share the plunder among themselves, and not with the other 200 who did not fight the war.
• David stepped in and set them straight: “No, my brothers, you must not do that with WHAT THE LORD HAS GIVEN US. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us.” (30:23)
• Don’t take credit for what God has done. You did not earn these spoils. The victory was from God, and these spoils are given to us freely by the grace of God.
We work as a team. David made this a principle for Israel to abide by.
• The same principle Paul set in 1 Cor 12 when he talks about the different members of the Body of Christ.
• We are gifted differently by God and we play different roles, but no member is more important than the others.
• Every role is important and we are all necessary. We need one another and no one is unimportant.
The 200 who stayed behind to watch over the belongings actually lighten the load of the 400 who fights the war. Forcing the tired ones to come along would hinder the progress of the whole group.
• If the victory comes from God, then the extras are blessings from God. And if they are blessings, then we share them with everyone else, David says.
And that “everyone” includes the surrounding towns that the Amalekites have raided.
• David distributed them back to the towns, and gave some to the elders and friends. His generosity is the result of God’s blessings.
Such an ending was the result of David’s RETURN to God, specifically in PRAYER.
• His inquiring of the Lord brought about this success. We can expect to see His providence and His grace when we pray.
HYMN: What a Friend We Have in Jesus
