The Unexpected Blessing

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, ²and 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 30:1-25

Want to listen instead?

When David fled for his life from King Saul, he took refuge in Ziklag, (city given to him from the Philistines). One day, the Amalekites, his enemies, took all the women and children of the city captive, including David’s 2 wives and the widow Abigail. David was furious, but he still prayed to God about how he should address this situation.

In 1 Samuel 30:8, God told him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” See how seeking God first, no matter how difficult the trial, can bring you reassurance and direction.

David was determined to fight for what belonged to, not only him, but his people. Are you willing to stand your ground, make sure your family is protected, not only physically, but spiritually, through prayer?

They end up finding an Egyptian in the field, who was a servant of an Amalekite, but although he worked for the enemy, they didn’t kill him. Instead they showed compassion toward him, giving him food and drink, but what’s the point of that? This compassion softened this servant to help David find the enemy camp.

The master of this servant left him behind, because he became sick – big mistake! David and his troops received an “unexpected blessing”, because David never changed who he was, just because he was going through horrible circumstances, he kept his godly character.

The Egyptian showed them the camp and opened the door for victory. They got back the women and children and even more than what was taken from them – abundant deliverance. This is what God can do, not only for David, but also for you!

Finally, some of the men, who went with David the bible calls, “wicked and of the Devil” (1 Samuel 30:22), because they did not want to share the spoils with those men who had stayed behind to watch the supplies and guard what David’s people had left.

Nevertheless, David made them equal, because you can’t have one without the other. What good would it be to go fight for what they lost, only to come back find out all the rest of their possessions were take too! In this case, those who protect and those who fight are equal. In fact, David gave those who stayed behind an “unexpected blessing” of equal reward and made it a law for his future kingdom.

Those who protected the supplies, were weary and that’s all they could do, so they probably didn’t expect anything and thought they weren’t worthy to receive a reward, but David had the heart of God. You may not be a pastor, you may not be a missionary, you may have a prestigious title, but God sees what you do when you serve Him, and His reward is great, not only on earth, but you have rewards stored up in heaven.

Even when you are weary you serve God with all you have left and pray. He will strengthen you and keep you and bless you. Be who God has called you to be, in Christ, no matter what you may be going through. God is on your side!

I hope you enjoyed this blog. God bless you.

We love you,

Randomnestfamily