But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. 1 Samuel 30:6.
And the LORD said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done in any nation in all the world. All the people among whom you live will see the LORD’s work, for it is an awesome thing that I am doing with you. Exodus 34:10.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Never give up. Do not be discouraged. Encourage yourself in My Word. I never change. Your friends, your family, the people you thought loved you may forsake you at one negative comment from another, but I will never leave you or forsake you. You may be disappointed now in how those you thought were with you turned against you, but that may not be the case. It may be that one of them started negative talk and made the others see you in a different light than the light they saw you in before. But it does not mean I cannot make all work out for you.
I want to take you back to Ziklag to teach you what to do when those dear to you turn against you. You may know this event in David’s life but I want you to look at it with new eyes, knowing that I am showing you how David’s ministry with the men who had chosen to follow him as an outcast from his beloved Israel, being hunted like an outlaw by Saul, suddenly turned against him, even joining to stone him to death! But he encouraged himself in Me and I restored all, including the loyalty of those who later became his mighty men. And he never mentioned it again or held it against them.
It all started with a pressured decision David made to do something he really did not intend to carry out. He agreed to fight Saul and the Israelites on the side of the Philistines who had given him refuge and a city of his own due to Saul’s pursuit of David with the army of Israel to kill him. But in his heart, he intended to fight the Philistines by joining forces with Israel in the battle. He thus left the town of Ziklag given to him by a Philistine leader who favored David despite his history of fighting the Philistines, where he lived with his men and all their families and goods, leaving only the women and children in the town to go off to join the battle. But even though David had favor with the one leader of the Philistines who had given him refuge, the other leaders had no confidence in his loyalty and sent him and all his men back home.
And that is where all the trouble started.
When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, 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. When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the men who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. But suddenly the unity changed. There began a grumbling that David as the leader should have known better than to leave the city unguarded and to go off to fight Israel among the Philistines. And his men began to talk against David among themselves. And David was greatly distressed because the men spoke of stoning him, for all were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. 1 Samuel 30:1-5.
So did David give up, apologize and run for cover? Not My David. He knew what to do. He turned to Me and encouraged and strengthened himself in Me. He remembered all I was to him and all I had done for him up to that very day. 1 Samuel 30: 6. And then he sought My counsel on what to do. He knew Me too well to give up. He knew that I would restore to him what was taken away.
So David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. David inquired of Me, saying, “Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?” And I said to him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely rescue all.” So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those men who were too worn out to keep going remained. But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor remained behind. 1 Samuel 30:7-10.
They then came upon an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they provided him water to drink. They gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; then his spirit revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. David, who always was gracious to others, said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” And he said, “I am a young man of Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind when I fell sick three days ago. We made a raid on the Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” At the mention of Ziklag, David knew this was from Me. So David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.” 1 Samuel 30:11-15. David knew he had found the divine direction by stopping to act with compassion for one in need.
When the boy had brought him down, behold, the raiding band was spread over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. David smote them from the twilight even until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and rescued his two wives. And nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought it all back. So David had captured all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of the other livestock, and they said, “This is David’s spoil.” 1 Samuel 30:16-20. When I restore it is better and more than before.
When David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David, who had also been left at the brook Besor, they went out to meet David and to meet the men who were with him, then David approached the people and greeted them. Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.” Then David said, “You must not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us, who has kept us and delivered into our hand the band that came against us. And who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.” So it has been from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. 1 Samuel 30:20-25.
David held no grudge, no rancor, no bitterness against his men. He shared the extra booty with them. But he could have harbored bitterness against them in his heart that they had so quickly turned against him and spoke of stoning him. Each man forgot David was their leader and had taken the role of “sergeant of arms” against him.
Do not ever give up your ministry. Take heed to the ministry which you have received from Me, that you may fulfill it. Colossians 4:17. What if David had given up and run away leaving the men on their own? They never would have recovered all and more.
Please know and believe in the love I have for you and it will keep you from giving up. It will keep you have resenting other’s behavior. I am love. All is not lost. In Christ, all is gain. You have acquired a new life and inheritance. You are now a hero.
When trouble comes from friends or foes, draw close to Me. It is the wisest place to be. Perfect protection, direction, and perfection, but best of all fullness of joy in My presence, the delights at My right hand forever. We can be as One in Christ My Son. Leave vindication and restoration to Me. Be kind to one another.
I told you I would give you My Son and He would be “God with you” and He would draw all men to Me with human cords and bands of love. And I told you His Name would be called Wonderful, Counselor, God Hero, Father Forever, Prince of Peace! There will be NO END to the increase of His government or of peace. And My zeal, the zeal of the LORD of Hosts, will do it. Angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man—sent out as ministering spirits to render service for the sake of those who inherit salvation. Hebrews 1:14.
And there is salvation in NO one else, for there is NO other name under heaven that has been given among men by which you MUST be saved. Acts 4:12. You have confidence before Me when you come in My Son. For in Him, I remember your sins and offenses no more. So realize I don’t. So let go of the past. It’s gone as a watch in the night. And go forward to a new day.
Behold! I make all things new. And new can be better than the old if you walk with Me in newness of life.
And I would like to tell you the full ending to David’s “bad day,” now he had everything back but Ziklag had still been burned to the ground, so where were they to stay? Well, Saul and his sons were killed in that very battle that David did not join, and that was sad for Saul because David would have rescued him if he had not driven him out of Israel. And Saul could no longer hear My voice for direction, he had refused to listen to Me for too long. But then the very people who had allowed Saul to chase David to kill him, now came to David and asked him to take his rightful place for which Samuel had anointed him thirteen years earlier, as the king of Judah, and later of Judah and Israel. And now he and his men and families went to live in the beautiful city of Hebron where he reigned for seven years and then in Jerusalem, in Zion, where he rained for 33 years as king of the united Israel. And it was the golden period of the Israelite nation, never again would there be a time equal to the reign of David. And David never held it against anyone that they had chased him to kill him under Saul for about 13 long years. Not even Saul’s family, for the sake of Jonathan. But that is another story.
In Jesus, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your Salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him by Me with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of your inheritance with a view to the redemption of possession, to the praise of My glory. Ephesians 1:13.
I love you. I have given you the Name that I call “Wonderful.” What is wonderful? Filled with wonders. I will do wonders among you like have never been seen before. Greater works. That is Covenant, your new and everlasting Covenant you enter in Him. Exodus 34:10. Never give up. David would never give up and would never quit, no matter what anyone did, even himself. He was a man after My own heart. He loved Me and knew I was on his side. He wrote, “For even if my father and my mother forsake me, the LORD will take me up.” Psalm 27:10.