Scripture Reference
Let’s read the story of how David stayed upbeat, refusing to leave the faith clinic until he strenghtened up to solve his problem. Read and apply the principles of self-encouragement in your own life.
1 Samuel 30:1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it,
1 Samuel 30:2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.
1 Samuel 30:3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
1 Samuel 30:4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.
1 Samuel 30:5 David’s two wives had been captured —Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
1 Samuel 30:6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
1 Samuel 30:7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him,
1 Samuel 30:8 and David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”
1 Samuel 30:9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind.
1 Samuel 30:10 Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.
1 Samuel 30:11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat —
1 Samuel 30:12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.
1 Samuel 30:13 David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?” He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago.
1 Samuel 30:14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.”
1 Samuel 30:15 David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?” He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”
1 Samuel 30:16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah.
1 Samuel 30:17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.
1 Samuel 30:18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives.
1 Samuel 30:19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.
1 Samuel 30:20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”
1 Samuel 30:21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were.
1 Samuel 30:22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”
1 Samuel 30:23 David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.
1 Samuel 30:24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.”
1 Samuel 30:25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.
1 Samuel 30:26 When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.”
Lesson
Did the sriptures we just read bless you?
1. David was a man like us.
2. He faced a VERY distressing situation.
3. Instead of surrendering to hopelessness and despair, he retreated within himself and found strength in God. PRAYER!
4. He set out with the positive energy and wisdom he got from God’s presence.
5. On the way, in spite of his problems, he was kind to the weak.
6. He stayed focused and fought till he recovered all.
7. He was not greedy. He shared the goodness of God with others.