20240501

when we need answers

1 Samuel 30:1-17 (JDV)

1 Samuel 30:1 David and his men arrived in Ziklag on the third day. The Amalekites had raided the Negev and attacked and burned Ziklag.
1 Samuel 30:2 They also had kidnapped the women and everyone in it from youngest to oldest. They had killed no one but had abducted them as they went on their way.
1 Samuel 30:3 When David and his men arrived at the town, they noticed that it had burned by fire. Their wives, sons, and daughters had been kidnapped.
1 Samuel 30:4 David and the troops with him wept loudly until they had no strength left to weep.
1 Samuel 30:5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had also been kidnapped.
1 Samuel 30:6 David was in an extremely difficult position because the troops talked about stoning him, since they were all very bitter over the loss of their sons and daughters. But David found strength in Yahveh his God.
1 Samuel 30:7 David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought it to him,
1 Samuel 30:8 and David asked Yahveh: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?” Yahveh replied to him, “Pursue them, because you will certainly overtake them and rescue the people.”
1 Samuel 30:9 So David and the six hundred men with him went. They came to the Wadi Besor, where some stayed behind.
1 Samuel 30:10 David and four hundred of the men continued the pursuit, while two hundred stopped because they were too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor.
1 Samuel 30:11 David’s men found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. They gave him some bread to eat and water to drink.
1 Samuel 30:12 Then they gave him some pressed figs and two clusters of raisins. After he ate his breath returned, for he hadn’t eaten food or drunk water for three days and three nights.
1 Samuel 30:13 Then David said to him, “Who do you belong to? Where are you from?” “I’m an Egyptian, the boy of an Amalekite man,” he said. “My master abandoned me when I got sick three days ago.
1 Samuel 30:14 We raided the south country of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the south country of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag.”
1 Samuel 30:15 David then asked him, “Will you lead me to these raiders?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you won’t kill me or turn me over to my master, and I will lead you to them.”
1 Samuel 30:16 So he led him, and noticed the Amalekites, spread out over the entire area, eating, drinking, and celebrating because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah.
1 Samuel 30:17 David slaughtered them from twilight until the evening of the next day. None of them escaped, except four hundred boys who got on camels and fled.

when we need answers

There are times of change in our lives that force us to make decisions when we have little past experience upon which to base those decisions. David finds himself in one of those times. His time among the Philistines is over, and he can only pack up and leave. Then, his base camp is raided and the families and property are all taken. David enquires of the LORD.

LORD, when we need answers, we will bring our prayers to you.