1 Samuel 30:9-10 says, “So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.”
Once David got his heart right and his direction from God, now it was time to move. No hesitation.
Two hundred of the six hundred couldn’t make it. They were too exhausted to cross the brook. David didn’t force them. He left them with the supplies and pressed forward with 400.
This is what obedience looks like after prayer. You don’t sit around waiting for a second confirmation. God said pursue, so David pursued.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”
1 Timothy 6:12 says, “Fight the good fight of faith.”
Once God gives the direction, the time for waiting is over. It’s time to pursue.
But David had a big problem. He didn’t know where to go!
He had the command from God and he had the men. He was willing. But the Amalekites could have been anywhere. The area he was looking at was a massive stretch of wilderness. David was going to need God once again.
David encouraged himself, he prayed and now he’s pursuing, unsure of his direction. I am sure if you have been following Christ for any amount of time, you have experienced this type of situation.
1 Samuel 30:11-15 says, “And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.”
In the middle of a field, David stumbles onto an Egyptian slave who had been left for dead by his Amalekite master. The man was sick, so his master threw him away like garbage. No food or water for three days and three nights.
Three days and three nights. That’s the same timeframe Jonah spent in the belly of the whale (Jonah 1:17). It’s the same time Jesus spent in the grave (Matthew 12:40). And here it shows up again. A man left for dead, given up on, thrown away, and after three days someone shows him mercy and his spirit comes back to him.
David feeds, gives him water, figs, and raisins. And this throwaway slave becomes the key to everything. He leads David straight to the Amalekite camp.
Without this man, David has no direction. God’s instrument of deliverance was a dying slave in a ditch.
David attacked the Amalekites, fought them from twilight to the evening of the next day, and recovered everything. Verse 19 says, “And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.”
Every wife, child and possession: nothing was missing. Exactly what God promised! But God had much bigger plans for David!
The Throne Was Being Cleared While the Ashes Were Still Burning
Here is the part that ties it all together.
While David was weeping over the ruins of Ziklag, while his men were threatening to stone him, while he was gripping onto God with everything he had, something was happening on the other side of the country that David knew nothing about.
Saul was dying.
1 Samuel 31:4-6 says, “Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.”
At the same time David was at his lowest point, God was removing the very obstacle that had been standing between David and the throne for over a decade. David didn’t know it and was standing in the ashes thinking his life was over.
But God was working on both ends at the same time. He was clearing the path forward while David was still dealing with the wreckage behind him.
It is easy to see that David was reduced to his lowest point just before God gave him everything. Things are sometimes at the worst just before they begin to mend.
David had been anointed king by Samuel years earlier (1 Samuel 16:13). God had made a promise. But between the anointing and the throne, David went through the cave, the wilderness, the lies, the Philistines, Ziklag, and the fire. Every one of those trials looked like the end. But they were all leading somewhere.
This was David’s last great test before the crown and he almost didn’t know it was a test at all.
Within days of recovering everything at Ziklag, David would receive word that Saul was dead. Within weeks, he would be anointed king over Judah in Hebron (2 Samuel 2:4). The worst day of his life and the doorway to the throne were separated by nothing more than a few days.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
When everything around you is burning, when the people closest to you turn against you, when you can’t see any way forward, remember the order.
Encourage yourself in the Lord. Get your heart right first. Pray for direction. Don’t just do the obvious thing, ask God. Then pursue and fight with everything you’ve got.
And trust that while you’re standing in the ashes, God might be clearing the path to something you can’t see yet. Because the worst day of your life might just be the setup for the best one.
