THE ENEMY ATTACKS

1 SAMUEL 30:1-31

1 Samuel 30:6 ESV

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.

A man with a missing index finger tells his story how a snake bit him when the stick broke. He kept a 6 foot rattlesnake in a cage for a pet. One day, however, he took it into the living room and released it just to tease his wife. As she fled in terror, he quickly took a stick and placed it behind the reptiles head, holding it firmly to the floor. As the irritated snake twisted the man pushed harder to maintain control. Suddenly the stick gave way with a loud crack. As quick as lightning, the rattler arched its back, with its deadly fangs filled with venom, struck the man on the hand. Medical treatment saved his life, but his finger had to be amputated. Sin is like that rattlesnake. You can tease or play with it, but it will never be satisfied until its poison is injected into your soul. (Source Unknown).

1-ZIKLAG IS BURNING

1 Samuel 30:1–10 ESV

1 Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire 2 and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. 3 And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. 5 David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 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. 7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.” 9 So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.

The turning point comes so quickly that we may miss it. First Samuel 30:6 says that “David found strength in the LORD his God.” David found strength. That means he is no longer relying on his own strength. David’s number one problem from the beginning was that he was so gifted that he could operate very successfully apart from God. We know he was handsome and strong, we know he was a gifted musician and a mighty warrior, we know that women were attracted to him, we know he was a born leader. David had it all. He was every woman’s dream and every man’s hero. In later years, those qualities would make him Israel’s greatest king. But one reason God put David through ten years of obscurity in the desert was to teach him not to rely on his own abilities but in the Lord alone. That’s a hard lesson for all of us to learn and doubly hard for those with great natural gifts.

As long as David leaned on the Lord, those enormous gifts could be used to accomplish great ends. We have seen it already and we will see it again as he leads his people to the greatest era of prosperity they will ever know. But every time David leaned on his own strength to get the job done, he got in trouble. And he hurt a lot of people in the process.

What lesson should we take from this story? Primarily the one mentioned in I Corinthians 10:12, “So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” What happened to David can happen to any of us.

Beyond that, we can sum up three clear warning statements and one positive application:

1) Discouragement is inevitable when we attempt to face the problems of life in our own strength. 2) Compromise with the world offers only a temporary solution to our problems. 3) God’s punishment is usually to let us face the consequence s of our own wrong decisions. 4) Discouragement is not meant to throw us on our back, but to bring us to our knees.

Where is the grace of God in this story? To paraphrase a famous hymn, this story is all about the “love that will not let us go.” God loves us too much to let us stay forever in our sin. The Lord knows his own, he puts his seal upon us, and he watches every move we make. When we decide to live in our own strength, God lets us go our own way in order that when we fail (and we will fail eventually), we will turn to him with a new resolve and a firm commitment to walk in the light. Because we are little children, we have to fall in order to learn how to walk. There is a warning here and also great hope based on a God whose love is so strong that even when we sin, that same love keeps calling us back home.

Some of us have done exactly what David did. Some of us are still doing it. There’s a lesson to be

learned and a warning to be taken. The good news is this—whenever we’re ready, truly ready, we can turn things around. That’s what the grace of God is all about. The question is, how far will we have to go before that moment comes?

2-DAVID PURSUES THE AMALEKITES

1 Samuel 30:11–20 ESV

11 They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink, 12 and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. 13 And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. 14 We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” 15 And David said to him, “Will you take 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 take you down to this band.” 16 And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. 18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all. 20 David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

Treat those you meet with respect and dignity no matter how insignificant they may seem. You never know how God will use them to help you or haunt you, depending upon your response to them. (Life Application Study Bible - borrow)

3-DAVID SHARES THE SPOILS OF WAR

1 Samuel 30:21–31 ESV

21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he greeted them. 22 Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.” 23 But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. 24 Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.” 25 And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day. 26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.” 27 It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir, 28 in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa, 29 in Racal, in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites, 30 in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach, 31 in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.

THE MARK OF A GODLY LEADER IS NOT TO JUST GO FORWARD WITH THOSE WHO HELPED YOU ALONG THE WAY BUT TO LIFT UP THOSE WHO ARE STRUGGLING ALONG THE WAY AND TAKE THEM FORWARD.