Sixty Miles To Disaster

Amos 5:19 gives an interesting picture: (Amos 5:19 “as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.”)

As we’ve traced the story of David’s life, particularly in the last half of the book, I wonder if he feels like the man in Amos’ story…out of the frying pan and into the fire…deliverance seeming to turn to disaster at nearly every turn in the bend.

Sixty miles…that was the distance from Aphek to Ziklag. A lot can happen in 60 miles. So, let’s turn our attention to the text.

God’s Servant: Overwhelmed

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Verses 1-6 are truly some of the most heartbreaking words in Scriptur e. We’re clued in a little earlier than David — reader’s advantage. Ziklag had been raided by the Amalekites, their families carted off, and the city burned to the ground. Even what seems like an initial mercy — the fact that they spared the women and children — isn’t as it first appears. It doesn’t take much imagination to know exactly how that tragedy would end. Sold into slavery would probably be the best option.

Verse 3 is when David and his men find out, and I want us to just pause and try and feel what David and his men would’ve felt.

It was a sixty mile trek from Aphek to Ziklag…sixty miles…

Sixty miles to rejoice in God’s deliverance…

Sixty miles to build excitement over returning home…

Sixty miles of trudgery (made that one up, apparently) to repent…

Sixty miles of “I can’t wait to get there…”

Sixty miles of carried and sped along by hope…by joy…

Sixty miles farther from grave mistakes…

Sixty miles to emotional destruction.

From deliverance to destruction in the billowing clouds of smoke just ahead on the horizon. We might be tempted to say, “Why David?” We might be tempted to believe, “This is God’s discipline for David’s actions.” I don’t think either is right. I don’t think that’s the point. Instead, 1 Samuel 30 paints for us a sobering truth: sometimes the last straw isn’t the last straw, sometimes rock bottom is just hardened clay that can be broken and send us spiraling farther down the hole of desperation.

We ended last week with Psalm 30:5 “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” and now it seems as if Scripture adds to it: “and disaster strikes in the afternoon.”

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I came across this story about a Christian woman who wrote to J.B. Philips, an English pastor who used his time in bomb bunkers during WW2 to translate the NT into a modern vernacular for young people in his church. The woman wanted to encourage Philips, so she described some of her woes to him because he struggled with a great deal of depression. She would tell him of an “terribly unhappy” childhood and several severe illnesses. She would relay her struggle with polio for the past seven years, though she was thankful for her caliper and elbow sticks. Lately, a systemic gangrene had set in, making life slow and cumbersome.

Her husband, when he saw the effects of her polio, had a psychotic break and took on a whole different personality before leaving her and fleeing for Canada. She was left to raise three kids alone with no source of income. The last straw came when her daughter’s fiance was killed by a car.

But then, she returned to Ziklag. Two years after the fiance’s death, the daughter was in an automobile accident and suffered a concussion that she told no one about. The concussion led to at least three attempts to take her own life, leading the woman to commit her daughter to a mental institution, leaving her daughter suffering but with no way to communicate and reach her.

Through it all, however, she wrote that “she never knew God to fail.”

Chapter 30 is the Bible in full-color realism. There is no hiding of truth, no spiritual platitudes, and no manufactured warm fuzzies or pastel colored pains. It’s real. It’s honest. There are no false advertisements. God absolutely will allow life to be more than you can bear, and when Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation,” He didn’t mean it as a side note or hide it in the small print.

God’s Strength: Sufficient

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On top of dealing with his own heartache and brokenness, David’s men now begin to discuss stoning him to death! Seriously, what’s a guy going to do in a situation like this?

David turns to God. The last part of verse 6 says that David strengthened himself in the Lord or “found strength in the Lord his God.” This idea is where I had to settle down and pray through and seek the Scripture, because it’s one of those things that is obviously the right answer…sounds super -spiritual…yet, I’m thinking, “How do you do that? What’s it even me to strengthen myself in the Lord?”

First, what does this NOT refer to?

Finding strength in God is not a magical quick fix whereby we reach rock bottom and turn to religion for an easy fix so that disaster will be spared and we can get back to living life the way we want.

Finding strength is not “therapeutic deism.” In case you’re like me when I first heard that, and you think I don’t even know what you’re talking about right now, let’s simplify it a little. Therapeutic — how to feel better and be a better you. Deism — the idea that the big man upstairs is watching, so let’s sprinkle in some spirituality and Jesus talk. In essence, God’s going to help you become a better you. But, finding strength in God isn’t about 7-steps to a new you.

Finding strength in God isn’t a mere trauma dump, where you get everything off your chest and out in the open, lightening your emotional load. Will prayers of lament be involved? Absolutely — check out verse 4 where everyone was weeping until they didn’t have any tear left to cry. But, finding strength in God is more than that.

So, how DO we find strength in God? This is not an exhaustive list, but at least this gets us on the right path.

First, notice that the text commends to us the need for a personal intimacy with God. Notice what David did: he found strength in the Lord his God. This comes when we learn the not-so-subtle difference between the fact that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11-18) and the Lord is my Shepherd who leads me beside still waters (Ps.23:1-2).

Second, God’s strength is fueled by our remembrance of His promises. Not too many chapters back Jonathan strengthened David’s hand in the Lord (23:16) as he reminds him that God has purposed to make him king. The promises of God matter.

Suffering has a purpose (James 1:2).

God wins (Ps.92:9, 110:1, etc.).

God gives good gifts (Luke 11:13).

God will see His work through (Phil.1:6).

Third, use our God-given access and means of grace. David uses what God has given him. He calls for Abiathar to bring the ephod. God has given us means by which we can seek Him out.

He has told us to come boldly into His presence through Christ (Heb.10:19, 22).

He has given us spiritual disciplines (1 Tim.4:7)…

Bible study

Prayer

Worship

Fellowship

He has given us practices like the Lord’s Supper and institutions like the family and the church to spur us on to love and good deeds.

Fourth, don’t force the situation but wait on the Lord (Isa.40:31). I believe this at least includes:

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our fatih (Heb.12:1-2).

Pursuing God through humility, prayer, and repentance (2 Chr.7:14).

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Don’t despise weakness. Paul learned this lesson through the thorn in his flesh that never went away: God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. Paul learned that God’s answer to his prayer was not the removal of weakness, but the provision of grace, and Christ’s grace empowers faithful ministry and endurance not in spite of our inadequacies, but through them. Though Paul’s request went unanswered, Jesus assured him that His work would continue, even — especially — through Paul’s frailty, reminding us that human weakness is not a hindrance to God’s power but the very setting in which it is most clearly displayed. When we rely on our own strength, success can obscure the work of God; but in seasons of temptation, trial, and limitation, Christ’s power stands out in sharp relief, proving sufficient for every believer who learns to depend on Him rather than themselves.

God’s Providence: Essential

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I feel like it comes up every nearly every week, and that’s because David’s story is really God’s story. This week? No different. Once again God’s providence is both splashed across the narrative and hidden in the crevices. Not only has God plainly told David what the outcome would be, He has also provided evidence of the assurance of his success.

1 Samuel 30:8 (“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.””) is then followed by 1 Samuel 30:11 (“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,”).

Up until verse 11 and the encounter with this Egyptian servant, we’re not even sure if David knows who’s responsible for the raid, only that God will all them to recover everything that was taken. Even still, if he were certain it was the Amalekites, how would he find them. They were nomads…roamers…moving from place to place.

All of this to point out — God’ providence was essential for David’s success. The discovery of this servant was key for David’s operation, and when they find him, the text gives us no theological highlights or sounding gongs of theology. God whispers quietly in the implications of the text, “Wherever I guide, there I will provide.”

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God doesn’t hand David a map. He doesn’t announce the next move with thunder. Instead, He places a half-dead Egyptian servant in an open field. No commentary. No explanation. Until that moment, David knows the outcome, but not the route. And yet, right where obedience meets uncertainty, God has already gone ahead of him.

And that’s the truth for us: God’s providence rarely shouts. More often, it whispers. It shows up as the phone call we didn’t expect, the conversation we almost missed, the strength that arrives just in time. When God guides, He provides—but usually in ways we only recognize after the fact. Walking forward on a promise, we trust that there will be light for the next step, because the God who determines the end also supplies the means along the way.

God’s Grace: Decisive

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David’s victory over the Amalekites is described in pretty emphatic terms. Notice what the Bible says in verses 17-19. A little brutal, maybe, but absolutely decisive, and everything that was lost is recovered. Taking the spoils, they head back to Besor, a spring where about 200 of David’s men had rested, to weary to continue on the journey.

When they get there, David’s men had a few troublemakers among them, and they were like “to the victors go the spoils!” but not these chumps who didn’t even fight. David’s handling of the situation was full of care:

Warmth (1 Samuel 30:23 “But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers…)

Persuasion (1 Samuel 30:23 “But David said, “…with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us.”)

The men’s unbelieveable-ness (1 Samuel 30:24 “Who would listen to you in this matter?””

And authority (1 Samuel 30:24 “…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.””) This actually becomes standard practice in Israel!

But, how did David get to this point? I think we find the clue sitting there for us to pick in verse 23: this is what YHWH had given them. David’s view of the situation is formed by his understanding of God. His actions are based in his theology. Orthodoxy leads to Orthopraxy. What I believe changes what I do.

And, David’s theology is rooted in God’s grace. Which, if you think about it, really does make sense. What did David do to deserve the throne? It wasn’t his by bloodline or birthright. It was God’s goodness to him.

The others? David’s crooked men? Their understanding is rooted in law — we did it, we deserve it. But David’s concept of truth? It’s rooted in grace — God gave. The first makes sense, that’s why so many of the world’s religions believe it. The second is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is life to those who believe. This first makes sense as long as we never look to the hills and ask, “Where does my help come from?”

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The implication between the two is huge: worship vs. idolatry. The person who has, as Joby Martin calls it, been run over by the grace train…been left flatten by the grace semi-truck as they were crossing HWY 98…cannot help but fall on their knees in humble adoration, thanksgiving, and praise. However, those that think it was their effort that earned their seat at the table walk around in the puffed-up pride of self-sufficiency, believing themselves worthy and falling for the idol of me.

So here’s the question: do you and I, do we have a habit of allowing the grace of God to dominate our being, our decisions, our view of and approach to life? Does grace not first and foremost rock us and leave us humble and asking along with Paul, “What do I have that I did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7 “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”)

Grace is more than just an entrance to the kingdom — it’s a way of life that informs every aspect of life. It’s spurs us to love and guards us from self-love. It truly is Amazing Grace.

God’s Victory: Reviving

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God’s promise in verse 8 (1 Samuel 30:8 “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.””) is met with a resounding “David recovered it “all” (v.18). “Nothing was missing” (v.19a). Further, David was wise in the victory. He sends a portion of the spoils ahead to the “elders of Judah… “a present for” them “from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.” Not only does God provide, but David’s (I believe) god-given wisdom says, “Saul’s about to fall, and I’m about to be king. I’d better start taking care of my people.” There is a beauty in how God has stirred David from the brink of disaster to walking in divine wisdom again.

Heart

It’s a fascinating story of God’s blessing reviving His servant, but if we get lost in the mere history of this part of the story, we might lose the point. It would be easy to say, “These are the Amalekites, and Israel seems to always be at war with them. But, an Amalekite invasion isn’t on my top ten fears list. I’m worried about my kids and the influence the world has on them. I’m worried about my job because my boss isn’t a believer. Or, you may simply be wondering, “What does this have to do with helping me in my struggle to be more like Jesus?”

David’s fight and victory against the Amalekites really is symbolic of a greater war: YHWH’s people and YHWH’s enemies. Augustine would call it the City of God and the City of Man, pointing to how these two “cities” would live in tension with one another until His final and forever victory. There are two lines: the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Here, YHWH’s enemies are utterly defeated. They’ve been taken to the woodshed. God is victorious! And when viewed as more than mere history, instead understood as a type of God’s victory over His enemies, then we have not just a story but a promise, and one that we see continually throughout Scripture.

Having this assurance, that the final victory belongs to the Lord, should give us a boldness in the face of opposition. As Davis notes, “YHWH will rule, this I know, for the Amalekites tell me so.” We can serve without fear. We can walk in unflinching boldness. We can stand against the opposition and proclaim the gospel and face tragedy and sorrow and even loose our lives for the sake of the gospel because we know who wins. It is our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace who is the conquering King.

Whenever we dread the world in which we live, let the certainty of the victory of Christ revive your heart, as it has done for David, in a passage that turns from tragedy to triumph, for isn’t that the message of the gospel for us: I once was lost in utter darkness, but You came and rescued me!