"When it rains..."

David and his men have been spared battle by the Philistines and are now headed back to their Philistine home, Ziklag.

They arrive just in time to find Ziklag destroyed and their families gone.

We, the readers, know this before David does:

1 Samuel 30:1–2 NIV

1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

You’ve heard the expression: “When it rains, it pours.” Some, if not most of you, have lived that. It’s one thing after the other.

We know people with chronic illnesses who have surgery after surgery. And then more surgeries. And then some new health concern pops up. And then there’s more. One thing right after the other. “When it rains, it pours.”

There are people who have lost their jobs and are worried about how to pay the rent. They wonder how they’re going to make their car payment. And then when they open the mail, what do they find but more bills? “When it rains, it pours.”

Like Lloyd Christmas, we can lament: “We’ve got no food! We’ve got no jobs! Our pets’ heads are falling off!”

“When it rains, it pours.”

This week’s weather was a pretty good illustration of that. When it started raining it barely let up. Just when you thought we were done with it, there it goes again.

Think about what David has been through:

He’s had to dodge Saul’s spear, hide from Saul, run from Saul, hide in Nob, hide in Gath (Goliath’s hometown), hide in the wilderness, find a stronghold, hide in a cave, run to Philistia and live there for fear of Saul.

And that’s just a brief summary. If you’ve been along for the journey, you know it’s been a lot for David. Part of him might long to be back taking care of his father’s sheep.

If David were alive today and had access to our platitudes, I think he would agree: “When it rains, it pours.”

I think David knows this and feels this. David’s not oblivious, out-of-touch with reality. David is a real person in real time, living in a real place with real issues. He knows what it is to struggle, to suffer.

David isn’t much different from me and you.

David is not oblivious or aloof. David’s been living in the downpour. He’s probably not all that surprised to find what he finds.

For David, this is par for the course. More of the same. “Of course my home is burnt to the ground and my family’s missing…why not?”

1 Samuel 30:3–6 NIV

3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

Intense Suffering...

Imagine the scene. Walking up to the town to find it torched, burnt to the ground, not a loved one in sight. At least they weren’t found dead, but then the mind starts to reel.

“What are they going to do to my family?”

It was common practice in that day to sell captives for profit. Like Joseph’s brothers selling him to the merchants passing by, David wives, the families and children of the other men. What’s happened to them?

This is some of most intense suffering I can imagine. If something happened to my wife or my children, I would respond the same way David and his men did; they wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.

David’s men move from the initial sorrow and shock to the next stage of grief: anger. They are angry at David, so angry they were talking about stoning him. This is David’s fault (blame-shifting is another popular tack of the grief-stricken).

The men are bitter, understandably, because their families had been taken from them.

Let us not forget that even though David is the main character in this story arch, the 600 men with him have been through most of this, too. They’ve been right there with him for a long while, for a couple of years at least.

They were, most recently, marching with David into battle against the Israelites. These men, along with David, were a Philistine mercenary force.

They had to be so relieved when Achish sent them back to Ziklag. Imagine how excited they were at the thought of seeing their wives and kids, and then they come back to find their families taken and their homes destroyed.

What intense suffering they’ve faced! One thing right after the next. “When it rains, it pours.” Isn’t that the truth?

Sometimes, we can’t imagine it getting any worse.

1 Samuel 30 says, “Actually, it can get worse. Take a look...”

If this was a cartoon, David and his men would be looking around for the anvil or the grand piano that’s going to come crashing down upon them. If this was a cartoon...

But this isn’t a cartoon. This is real life, very much like yours and mine. It’s one punch to the gut after the other. It’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back and then another few straws piled on for good measure.

Our friend Job lost his oxen and donkeys and sheep and camels, his servants, and his sons and daughters, in the same day. One blow after the other. In the same day.

For me, there was a stretch of a little more than a year in which my father was diagnosed with cancer, I lost my job, and my hometown was destroyed by a tornado. Not nearly as rough as Job had it, but it was enough for me.

There are people in this room who have dealt with tragedy, sickness, and family drama—all of it at the same time.

“Sometimes you might be tempted to add another line to Psalm 30:5 “...weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning,” and disaster strikes the next afternoon.” -DRD

This is a disturbing passage in the Bible. Here’s God’s special servant, David, the anointed- and would-be-king overwhelmed with trouble. Suffering as intensely as we can imagine.

We understand this could be the case for any of God’s servants. This passage says your distresses and troubles could get worse.

The Bible is very, very real. It’s not hiding the truth. It’s not covering-up the bad. There’s no false advertising in these pages (regardless of what junk theology pedaling prosperity teachers try to feed you).

As the Lord’s servant you might be overwhelmed with troubles. You may (and likely will) receive more than you can handle.

But God tells you this in His Word. You can trust a God like that!

Suffering and struggle are not hidden in a footnote or put in the small print in some addendum. It’s right here. There are entire chapters, even entire books, about the suffering of God’s people.

You, Christian, will suffer in this life. It’s a red-letter promise (John 16:33) from our Savior who also suffered as a man walking this sin-scorched planet.

Intense Suffering meets Sufficient Strength,

David, in the midst of his own weariness and his own sorrow, was dealing with his own men who wanted to kill him.

How many of his men do you think wanted to stone him? Enough to cause him great distress.

David has to be tired. Exhausted. We know he is as sad as he’s been. And now his life is on the line—again!—at the hands of his own men.

And yet, we read this at the end of verse 6. Look with me. Do you see it, the last sentence of verse 6: “But David found strength in the Lord his God.”

David has been beaten down over and over. And yet, somehow, he has found strength in the Lord his God.

How?

It’s not magic. There’s no formula. It’s not “Abracadabra, bippity, boppity, boo.” It’s not a quick fix. It’s not a nice genuflect, an incantation, even a prayer. There’s no magic pill, a spoonful of sugar, or anything of the sort.

It’s not pop-psychology, take a deep breath, let it all out. That might help (and often does), but it’s not how one strengthens themselves in the Lord.

How did David, how can you, strengthen yourself in the Lord your God? It’s a good question.

It starts where David started, with a personal God. David found strength in the Lord HIS God.

David’s is a personal faith. He would say in his most popular praise song, “The Lord is MY shepherd.”

You might refer to Jesus as “the Son of God”, but can you say, along with Paul (Galatians 2:20) that Jesus is “the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself for me”???

Alexander Maclaren has said, at this point in David’s life “David could no longer say, ‘my house,’ ‘my city,’ ‘my possessions,’ or even ‘my family.’ Those things were gone, taken from him. But David could still say, ‘My God’.

A personal relationship with the personal God is where strengthening must start.

You strengthen yourself by remembering the promises of His Word.

David was, in 1 Samuel 23 strengthened by his good friend, Jonathan, who came and recounted the promise the Lord had made, and assured David that his father wouldn’t lay a hand on him.

Here, we can rightly assume, that David remembered the promises of God and found strength in Him.

Another way to strengthen ourselves in the Lord is by using our access to His presence. After verse 6—David finding strength in the Lord his God—we read:

1 Samuel 30:7–8 NIV

7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, 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.”

David strengthens himself by using his access to the Lord and the Lord’s presence.

We don’t have Abiathar. We don’t have an ephod, unless you have one lying around somewhere. We probably have one in the attic.

The good news is, though, that we don’t need a human priest. We don’t need an ephod.

We have a High Priest, greater far than any Abiathar or mere man sitting in a confessional booth.

Hebrews 4:14 NIV

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

We have Jesus, the true and only Priest and mediator between God and man. We have His presence. We can, at anytime, “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Don’t count on receiving the precise answer to your question the way David does here, but we will receive mercy and find grace.

The strength David found, the strength we will find in the Lord OUR God is sufficient—more than enough—to meet us in our suffering. The Lord is my shepherd; I don’t need a thing apart from Him.

1 Samuel 30:9–16 NIV

9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10 Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit. 11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat—12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?” He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.” 15 David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?” He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.” 16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah.

Intense Suffering meets Sufficient Strength, God’s Providence,

Something we see throughout the story of David’s life is the providence of God. I’ve shared this definition no less than a dozen times, and I’m going to share it again:

“Providence is the unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory.” - J.I. Packer

We meet providence everywhere. We don’t really even have to look for it.

I mean, what are the odds that David and his (now) 400 men just happen upon this discarded, ill, Egyptian servant of the Amalekites who knows everything about the Amalekites and is able to lead David right to the Amalekites?

The odds of this just happening are incredibly low. But, God in His providence, does stuff like this all the time.

Another way to look at the providence of God is to phrase it this way: God does everything on purpose and with purpose.

There’s no way David and his men find the Amalekites without the help of this Egyptian. God put his man here on purpose for David to find, so that David and his men could find their families and possessions.

It might seem a small matter, happening upon this Egyptian, but it’s crucial to the rest of the story and to the purpose and plan that God has for David.

There is no small coincidence, no stroke of luck, no “that really worked out” in God’s economy.

Our God is unceasingly active, working out all things for His purpose.

Christian, this is true in your life. Believe it. Look for it. Depend on it. And praise God for it, even in the midst of your suffering.

1 Samuel 30:17–25 NIV

17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.” 21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. 22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.” 23 David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. 24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” 25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.

Intense Suffering meets Sufficient Strength, God’s Providence, and Abundant Grace

David is victorious. He and the 400 men with him fight the Amalekites and they recover everything.

When the author of 1 Samuel writes in verse 18 that David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken…nothing was missing…David brought everything back…this is significant.

This shows the Lord was with David, graciously and in abundant measure.

What’s more, David prefigures Christ who fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy and brought freedom to the prisoners and set the captives free. Jesus quoted this in Luke’s gospel:

Luke 4:18–19 NIV

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

This is a display of the abundant grace of God on David’s life. The Lord has been good to David and to his men.

But the 400 men who are with David don’t want to share the spoils with the 200 who stayed behind. “They didn’t fight for it. Why should they enjoy it? They can’t have any of the plunder, but they can take their wives and children and hit the road.”

David steps in and stops this foolishness.

1 Samuel 30:23 NIV

23 David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.

Notice David’s recognition of God’s grace to them here. He highlights all they have as “what the Lord has given us.”

It’s the Lord who has protected them.

It’s the Lord who delivered the Amalekites to them.

All of this is from the Lord! Who gets to hoard it and keep it from others as if they earned it all on their own?!?

David has a theology of grace that keeps his eyes on all of this as a gift from the gracious God.

If we don’t grasp grace, like the evil men and troublemakers with David fail to, we walk around talking and thinking that what we have is ours because of what we have done.

That is a ridiculous notion.

Grace is not a mere theological concept, but it applies to every moment of our lives.

What the Lord has given and done for David dominates David’s thinking and behavior.

God’s abundant grace expressed to us must overflow to the way we think and live and treat one another.

We asked ourselves Wednesday night at Bible Study, “What do we have that we haven’t received from Him?”

That’s right. Nothing.

Therefore, we must not only believe, but also live-out the truth of God’s abundant grace.

For David, that meant giving to others some of what they had received from the Lord.

1 Samuel 30:26–31 NIV

26 When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.” 27 David sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir; 28 to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa 29 and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; 30 to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak 31 and Hebron; and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.

David gave and shared from the plunder they had received. Grace is like that. It’s abundant and should overflow from our lives into action.

We could say of God’s grace shown to us, “When it rains, it pours.”

Intense Suffering meets Sufficient Strength, God’s Providence, and Abundant Grace

When you suffer and struggle, when it’s all too much, when you can’t take it anymore, find in the Lord strength for the moment, sufficient for your troubles (and then some). Realize He is there with you.

And trust His providential purpose in your life. He’s working something out, whatever you’re facing. Of this, you can stake your life.

In your suffering and struggle, remember and call to mind the grace of God, abundant and free, that flows to you from the precious Savior’s side.

When intense suffering meets the strength God gives, the providence of God, and the grace of God, our suffering starts to look smaller and smaller.

Our suffering and struggle is no match for the God who strengthens us and providentially upholds us and lavishes grace upon us.