The Pursuit - When it’s all gone - 1Samuel 30
“Things left in their natural order will go from bad to worse”
Murphy’s Law
Life is hard and gets harder
Who you really are comes out when you are under pressure**
Life in Jesus is a test and a trust….
In this world you will have troubles!. Fear not for a I have overcome the world.
Jesus
Trials are circumstances to grow you.
Test are lessons to teach you.
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son…
Romans 8:29
God whispers to us in our comfort, but He shouts to us in our pain…
C.S. Lewis
1. It is a no good, dirty rotten, very bad day…..
Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had mad a raid into the Negev and Ziklag and burned it to the ground. They had carried off the women and children and everyone else without killing anyone. When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, they wept until they could not weep any more. David had two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabel from Carmel, they were among the captured. David was now in great danger because all of his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began talking about stoning him….
1 Samuel 30:1-6
2. When it all gone is a great opportunity to self examine…
But David kept thinking to himself, “someday Saul is going to get me. The best thing I can do is to escape to the Pillistines. Then Saul will stop hunting for me in Israelite territory, and I will finally be safe.
1 Samuel 27:1
So David and his men headed back into the land of the Philistines, while the Philistine army went to Jezreel.
1 Samule 29:11
What are you doing…what should you be doing?
An unexamined life is a dangerous life!
3. David found personal renewal in his troubles…
But David found strength in the Lord his God. Then he said to Abiathar the priest, “bring me the ephod!” So Abiathar brought it. Then David asked the Lord, “should I chase after this band of Raiders? Will I catch them?” And the Lord told him “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!”
1 Samuel 30: 6-8
4. When you fail to obey God others will suffer….
5. God is the restorer….
David got everything back that the Amalekites had taken, he rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, small or great, son or daughter, nor anything else that had been taken. David broth everything back. He also recovered all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock. “This plunder belongs to David”, they said.
1 Samuel 30:18-20
What have the “Amalekites” taken from you?
6. Gratitude produces generosity…..
Then David returned to the brook Besor, and met up with the 200 men who had been left behind because they were too exhausted to go with him. They went out to meet David and his men, and David greeted them joyfully. But some evil troublemakers among David’s men said, “They didn’t go with us, so they can’t have any of the plunder we recovered. Give them their wives and their children and tell them to be gone!” But David said, “No, my brothers! Don’t be selfish with what the a Lord has given us. He has kept us safe and helped us defeat the band of Raiders that attacked us. Who will listen when you talk like this? We share and share alike, those who go to battle and those who watched the equipment!”
1 Samuel 30: 21-24
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