1 Samuel 30:1-6 - God is our strength in trouble

In God’s providential care for David, He shielded him from what was coming. It was not a coincidence that the Philistines commanders should demand that David and his men returned to Ziklag. It was a divine design to save David from a needless involvement. Remember, God had already revealed that He was going to give Israel into the hand of the Philistines and that Saul and his sons would die in that battle that night. All would soon come to pass that night. If David had been in the battle, he would be caught in an embroil that was going to see his people defeated and fallen into the hands of the Philistines. So unknown to David, God had graciously removed him from the needless entanglement. Hence, the only way to see it is that the commanders not wanting David’s involvement was by divine design. Isn’t this the experience of many believers too? How often we have heard of believers missing a disaster because they were taken out of an assignment for no justifiable reason. They were disappointed at first because they thought they were being by-passed. Later they were glad that they were removed because if not they would have been caught in that disaster. This is the goodness of God.

So David and his men hurried back to Ziklag, while the army of the Philistines and their lords set their face toward Jezreel valley for a showdown with Saul and his army. First Samuel 30:1-6 describe for us what happened when David and his men returned home to Ziklag. It took them two days, so verses 1 and 2 said that “…David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire; and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, without killing anyone, and carried them off and went their way.” David and his men returned home to discover what the Amalekites had done to their homes. Besides attacking the Negev, the Amalekites also raided Ziklag. They had plundered the possessions of David and his men and carried away their women and children, killing none but set fire to Ziklag. Remember David and his men had been troubling the Amalekites. So this could be a retaliation from them.

The first reaction from David and his men when they saw their city razed, was to lift up … their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. David did not see this coming. He didn’t know who did this to his people and the city. But from his activities, he would certainly have suspected that the Geshurites, the Girzites or the Amalekites had done this. For in his earlier activities in 1 Samuel 27, David and his men had been giving trouble to these people. David must have also deduced from what he saw that there was no bloodshed for no one was killed. The Amalekites probably plundered for economic reasons. They could make a tidy sum from the booty and also from selling the people they had taken captives into slavery. David was in deep distress for his two wives Abigail and Ahinaom were taken captives, and he was being blamed for what had happened. Furthermore, he was in danger of being stoned by his own people. For everyone had lost their family and were embittered toward David.

But David was a different man. When troubles besieged him, he knew who to go to. Of course, it was his God whom he would run to. Verse 6 tells us that he strengthened and encouraged himself in the Lord his God. It is easy to seek a scapegoat to pin blame in times of trouble. But David’s action here has set for us an example. The first person we should go to in times like these is God. He alone can give us the strength to face what’s ahead. Paul knew this. So he boldly declared, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” No matter how draining it can be from what we are facing now, we need to know that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Seek shelter in Him for He had promised us, saying, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” And so we rest in Him and trust Him for the next step to take.