Sideswiped
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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 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. 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. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 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.
How many of you have ever been in a sideswiped?
Years ago, I was driving to church on a Sunday morning. It was a 4-lane road, and I had driven up next to a church bus (from some other church).
Suddenly, that bus decided to get into my lane, with me in it!
I had nowhere to go. They pushed me right off the road, tearing up the side of my car.
The motor was also damaged. The car was totaled.
Life can be just like that.
Here you are, just living life, trying to do what God has called you to do.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a situation comes up and just slams into you.
An illness.
The death of a loved one.
You lose your house in a fire.
Someone you care about suddenly turns against you and decides to make your life miserable.
And you are just standing there, like a deer in the headlights, not knowing exactly what to do next!
In our passage today, we read about King David.
Here is the guy whom God anointed to be king of Israel, and he has had one problem after another.
King Saul has become insanely jealous and is trying to kill him.
All of Israel’s armies are hunting him down.
He has been forced to seek refuge among the Philistines—Israel’s enemies who blaspheme God.
Now, along the way, God has watched over David.
He has always managed to stay one step ahead of his enemies.
He convinced the Philistine king that he was loyal, while he secretly fought against the Philistines.
God brought him loyal men to fight with him.
So things seem to be going a bit better for David.
And then the Amalekites happened!
David and his men were based out of the area known as Ziklag.
While they were away fighting, Amalekites came in, burned down the villages, and took all their families captive.
To come home and find that you have literally lost everything!!!
On top of this, suddenly, David’s loyal men are blaming David for all this, and they want to stone him!
Talk about getting sideswiped!!!
He didn’t see it coming!
When something like this happens, how do you react?
The initial reaction is shock, maybe denial.
But despair usually kicks in really fast.
What am I going to do now?
There’s a wave of emotions.
Tears
Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.
Anger
Looking for someone to blame.
You want to hurt someone.
30:6 … the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul
When times like these come, we call out to the Lord to help us.
We take this passive approach, asking God to fix everything.
We ask God to “give us peace.”
But what did David do at Ziklag?
Verse 6 says that David STRENGTHENED himself in the Lord his God.
David strengthened HIMSELF in the Lord.
That’s powerful!
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Where does our help come from? The Lord.
But how does this verse start? I lift my eyes.
That is action on my part.
When the problem comes, we turn our eyes to the One who can help.
And we look with confidence.
The verse does not say, “My help MIGHT come from the Lord.”
My help COMES from the LORD who made heaven and earth.
God will help us. And he is the source of help.
So when those problems come—when we get sideswiped—we don’t have to panic and give in to despair.
We can strengthen ourselves in the Lord.
How do we strengthen ourselves in the Lord?
First, when we get sideswiped, we turn our eyes to the Lord.
We already said we have confidence that He is our help.
But we do more than look to him for his help.
We focus on God’s amazing qualities.
He is majestic
He is all-powerful
He is eternal
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
He made everything
He knows everything
Literally, everything!
He sustains an entire universe, and yet he is aware of exactly what is going on in my life.
He is good
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
We remember how much God loves us!
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
We remember that this situation we’re in is just temporary. This LIFE on earth is only temporary.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
When we are sideswiped, we take our eyes off the problem, and put them on God.
We remember that he is our source of help.
We remember his amazing qualities and his love for us.
As we focus our attention on God, we are able to get a better perspective on our situation.
No matter how big our problem is, it is still nothing compared to the greatness of our God.
Earlier this week, I was going through something. Several things, actually.
I felt so down.
But I came into this building, and I began to sing praises to God.
I took all that frustration I felt and turned it into passion for Jesus.
I sang. I cried out.
But I wasn’t crying out about my problem. I chose to cry out praises.
And you know what? I found strength.
I left that time with a determination that I would simply to His will.
And I found confidence that, as I follow Christ, He will take care of things.
I have realized that, while I can’t control everything that happens in my life, I CAN control how I react.
When King David and his men discovered that their families had been taken, they were understandably upset. But David turned to the Lord.
He strengthened himself
He asked the Lord what his next step should be.
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.”
David didn’t ask God to bring back the families.
He asked God what HE should do.
And then David took action.
He and 600 men went after the Amalekites.
200 men stayed with in one place to care for others who had been left behind.
David continued with 400 men.
God provided an Egyptian slave of an Amalekite soldier who had been left for dead after the raid on Ziklag.
That slave led David right to the Amalekite camp.
David and is 400 men attacked the camp and slaughtered all their enemies, except for a few who ran away.
David and his men got back EVERYTHING that had been taken.
No person had been harmed.
Not a piece of property was damaged or missing. There was even property from other raids, and David and his men got all that too!
