
David’s Wives Are Captured
As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.
Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.
1 Samuel 30:11-15
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.”
David, on a rescue mission to retrieve (hopefully) the wives and children of his soldiers, and his own loved ones, stops to feed a stranger.
Now get the picture in your head of David and his four hundred men marching on a mission of reclaiming their loved ones. Focused, broken hearted and yet hopeful, David and his army were on mission from God. A mission on which God specifically promised they would overtake those who took their loved ones.
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.”
So what is the effect of this promise? Were they full of anxious activity, moving about without concern of others, finding every advantage in gaining on the enemy? Were they considering the promise of God as being contingent on marching “double time”, getting to the enemies camp without delay?
It seems not.
Of course I imagine if there were no “distractions”, I am sure David and his men would continue on the hunt for those they were after, but at one point, they found a stranger, an Egyptian. They stopped their pursuit for the sake of a single poor man, dying in the way.
They could have dropped off a portion of sustenance to the man and continued on their march, but David and his men stopped and showed kindness to this stranger.
- They gave him bread.
- They gave him water
- They gave him figs
- They gave him raisins
It seems that this act of kindness and generosity was not dependent on retrieving information from the starved man, since he had not informed the group of his identity, or of his past until after the food had been provided.
Yes, it seems David had come back to the Lord and was walking in the steps of kindness and generosity, simply out of obedience to his God.
And out of this obedience, God provided information that strengthened David and his army. God provided to David a treasure trove of information that would eventually enable him to find the Amalekites straightway, even to their very camp, having been given information from this stranger.
Two great lessons can be found in this passage.
a Loss of Anxiety
God’s promise, if received and accepted by the believer, does not produce anxiety but a confidence in seeing it come about. Yes, we are involved in cooperating with the Lord in working out the plan He has, but He is the One who provides, guides and gives us the freedom to show mercy to others in the midst of a mission.
the time for mercy
Let us not forget that in the midst of the big picture, in the midst of large projects or missions, we as believers are never to consider showing mercy as an act of rebellion to God.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
To take time to show mercy in the midst of an important project, possibly a time sensitive project, or even a mission provided by God Himself, will not find God’s displeasure.
He seems to find joy in the midst of us providing mercy to others.
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