1st Samuel 30 INQUIRE OF THE LORD When we have experienced God in our lives and have enjoyed His guidance and fellowship, if we allow anything to come in between us, there is a high price to pay. David's path of disobedience and association with the Philistines brought disaster instead of deliverance to him. It was a good thing that he was able to avoid going with the Philistines to battle against Israel. And it was a good thing to quickly leave the scene early in the morning to start the one hundred-mile three-day journey from Aphek to Ziklag. If we are stopped by our Lord on the path of self-will and disobedience, that is a good thing. But it does not mean we will escape the consequences of our actions of disobedience. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," is not just a verse in the Bible, but it is a principle of life.
Instead of a glad welcome from wives and children, David and his men saw nothing but ashes. The powers of darkness take advantage, when one, even a child of God, pursues their own path of self-interest, self- opinion and self-preservation rather than the path of faith. God allows the wall of defense around His people to be breeched in order to teach us needed lessons that we have not been willing to learn by reading His word and being led by the Holy Spirit. Gloom and defeat, disappointment and disaster may be needed to get our attention and bring us to face ourselves.
Often in such times of despair we look for someone to blame for that which has happened to us. If we criticize someone else and use them as a scapegoat for our mistakes instead of taking the blame for our own actions, it will only be a short time when the lesson will have to be learned again. Instead of avoiding our guilt, we should face it, repent of it to God and in faith, look for a solution to the problems we have caused by our willfulness. David's grief-stricken men turned on him to the extent they were willing to kill him. David wisely turned back to God, and finally came in humiliation and grief - but trust, to the only One who could aid him in his despair and bring about a true recovery. The recovery began with him "encouraging himself in the Lord his God." When everything that tied him to earth was gone, all he had was his God. The shock of his loss brought his unbelief to an end in which all he could do was "enquire of the Lord." There was no one to whom he could turn; there was nothing he could do by the force of his own will. He had nothing left but God.
How gracious it is of our God to remain within calling distance of a "wayfaring man." In our helplessness God can guide us when all other attractions and opinions have failed and been removed. It is in times like this that specific requests are in order and specific answers can be expected. The true and honest heart that seeks the Lord, will find the way open before us, even though it may lead to and through conflict and pain. Fellowship with others is sure to be a great encouragement even though their involvement in the work may be much different than that to which we are called. It is a principle that those who support the work and what is done by others are as much a part of that work as those who are publicly seen. To quietly bear the burdens and weight of support is as important as engaging in the public acts of leading, teaching and preaching.
In the outreach of the work of the Lord, we need to be careful to consider every person we contact as of equal value. Children are as important as adults. The poor are as important as the rich and should be treated equally. The simple man and the intellectual are both precious to God. The illiterate and the educated are each of value in the kingdom of God. The Egyptian slave of the hard-hearted Amalekite was spared and served to guide David and the four hundred men with him to the place where they could defeat the Amalekites. When we minister with grace and mercy to the needs of others, we will find God ministering with grace and mercy to us.
David had learned from his own servitude to Saul and Achish, both hard kings, how to act in kindness to those who were in a similar condition to the one in which he was found. God is a God of restoration and His grace abounds much more where sin abounds. What joy there was when God gave them the great victory over the Amalekite raiders. David and the four hundred men with him defeated them all and the remaining survivors, four hundred young men, escaped on camels. Everything was recovered that was lost and great plunder as well was taken. God completely reversed the effects of David's unbelief, and David gave God all the glory.
Even more than that, David showed his appreciation to those who had sheltered him in the past when he was being chased by Saul, by giving them part of what had been taken from the Amalekites. When he said to them, "Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord," he was again acting as a shepherd of God's people. Acts of kindness done to others as a demonstration of our appreciation for who they are or what they have done, is never out of date. All we are and have, we have received from the Lord.
We owe everything to our Lord and we serve Him when we meet the needs of others. Ministering to the needs of the weak brother or needy sister who is in difficult situations, is acting as our Lord Jesus did when He was here on earth among the people. He has left us an example that "we should follow in His steps."
At Ziklag where David's loss of faith and his failure to walk as God's anointed king should took place, was also the place of his recovery. Where everything is taken away from us is the place to which we should return and in faith return to our faithful Lord. God's faithfulness to us and His unchanging purposes for us, often is demonstrated there, and we return to living by faith. To inquire of the Lord when we sense a cooling of our interest in spiritual things, and an embarrassment when we are marked out as a servant of the Lord, is a wise first step to stop a downward drift in our lives. When we have called a halt and identified problem areas that we know are potentially damaging to our testimony, then real repentance to God and a real commitment to live by faith is the challenge to which we must give heed.