Aren’t you glad the Bible has ancient stories with ancient truths we can draw from? You’re not the first person who ever had the wind knocked out of you with bad news… and this side of heaven, you won’t be the last.
David had it happen to him and we can learn much from how he handled an extremely difficult period in his life.
Even though David was already anointed by Samuel to be king, he fled from Saul because Saul was trying to kill him and he wouldn’t raise his hand against Saul. He hid in the caves and “all those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader.” 1 Sam 22:2
Twice David could have killed Saul, but he wouldn’t touch the Lord’s anointed. So to keep Saul from chasing him and his men, they fled to Philistine and the King of Gath gave him the town of Ziklag to settle in.
David and his men would raid the towns of the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites – all groups that God told Joshua to completely destroy – and he wouldn’t leave anyone alive. He told his overlord he was raiding in the Negev the towns of Judah and it’s allies. Achish was convinced David was making himself abhorrent to Saul.
There came a time when the Philistines were going to attack Israel and David was going to fight with Achish in the battle. The other Philistine kings weren’t so sure. They heard the songs “Saul has killed his thousands and David his Tens of thousands and they suspected if he’d turn on them in the thick of battle, he could earn favor back with Saul. So Achish reluctantly sent him back.
And when they returned to Ziklag and saw the smoke on the horizon. David and his men were at the end of the rope.
That gets us to 1 Samuel chapter 30 and now we can learn what we can about hope from David’s reaction to this situation.
He and his men lost everything – all of their possessions. They couldn’t see the bodies of their wives and children, so they could assume they were all taken as slaves. It was a unexpected situation that often comes to us with a surprise phone call or knock at the door. It leaves us breathless, in shock.
As we examine what David did, we’ll know how we can hope at the end of the rope. Ask some questions now and we’ll try to answer anything we haven’t already covered.
The journey through 1 Samuel 30 starts in the next post. There’s a lot to draw from this incredible saga. I’ve been amazed studying this portion of Scripture and expect you’ll get a lot from it as well.
our motto should be..”if David could do it, so can i….
I agree… how about “If the Spirit says it, I’ll do it”?
Rev Trev; Here is the end of my rope, since August my husband of twenty years and I have been swimming up stream against tremendous waves, first I lost my PERS account worth $167,000; then I won my disability but instead of using the original starting date July 2005, they used the date of the award and based my lump sum and subsequent payments on months when I was no longer able to work so instead of $1,325 per month I only get $727…that gives you the basic picture so we have been trying desperately to make up one and a half rent payments that we missed, it isn’t happening anytime soon. How do I keep praying my way through to the end?
Leah,
It’s never an easy thing to go through, but you need to know you’re an answer to my prayers. – Not your situation, but your comment and open-ness to share. I didn’t know if I should be blogging about hope before Christmas. I still have a bit of work to do on the book I’m writing on it and I’ll have a 10 session mini-course called “The Way of Hope” that I should have up after Christmas or early in the New Year. You’re question tells me I need to move ahead now.
Hope is a process that, when understood, empowers us to have a hope that won’t disappoint.
I’m praying for you – wish I could more but glad prayer can be powerful and effective.