1 Samuel 30:8 – And 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.”
There is an account given of a time in David’s life when he was so overcome with grief that he lost all strength; an account where he and his men felt like all hope was gone. This account is the story of the capture of the wives and children of David and his mighty men found in 1 Samuel 30.
The story begins with the men finally arriving home, after 3 days traveling. Home for them was Ziklag, a town in the south country of Judah that was in the possession of the Philistines, but given to David and his men as their place of residence. The men, already exhausted from the 3-day journey, met a devastating sight upon their arrival. Their hometown was burned with fire and all the people (young and old), their wives, sons and daughters were gone, carried away captive.
The shock of what they were seeing reduced this army of mighty men to a crowd of weeping men. The Bible says that all the men, 600 of them, wept aloud until they had no strength left in them to weep. As they lay in despair and distress, bitterness rose up in the men and they began to speak of stoning David to death.
So he asked God, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” (1 Samuel 30:8 NIV) God’s response to David was, “Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.” (1 Samuel 30:9 KJV) This was all David needed to hear. God’s answer spoke this to David: they may have been taken but they are still alive, so there is hope. First, strength was renewed, strength to seek God for directions. Now hope was renewed; hope to follow through on that which he desired in his heart – the rescue of his family.
David, too, found himself drowning in distress and despair, but instead of allowing bitterness to weave its way into his soul, he reminded himself of the lyrics of one his songs, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Psalms 56:3). The Bible says, “But David found strength in the Lord His God” (1 Samuel 30:6c – NIV). David inquired of the Lord about what he should do concerning this situation, the captivity of their wives and children.
David was not sure of the outcome. He was not sure if there was still hope in his being able to catch up with and overtake the raiding party. For all he knew, they could be long gone and their wives and children could have been separated or already sold as slaves.
Friends, the strategy that the enemy used against David and his men is one of the same strategies that he uses on us today: cause things to look so bad that we think that it is irreparable or recovery is an impossibility. He wants this thought to so distress us that we become without strength to fight. But we ought to do like David: find strength in God’s words so that we can be empowered for the fight. Then seek Him in prayer for the strategy needed for the warfare.
Even when we have the strategy, we will need to walk by faith and not by sight. Verses 19-20 shows us that when David left Ziklag, he did so by faith. He did not know the exact location of the Amalekites’ (the enemy) camp. But he had a word from God. God told him, “Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.” The Lord provided a guide who knew where the camp was situated. When David and his army got there, he found his family and all of his possessions there waiting on him, intact.
My friends, be encouraged! No matter how bad the circumstances look, it is NOT too late. Encourage yourself in the Lord. Find and receive strength in and from the Lord and seek his directions. You too will overtake your enemy and recover all that he took from you.
DIG DEEPER:
1. Blog Post: You are Not Too Late! It’s Not Over!
2. Prayer Room: Warfare for Your Children