A Little Too Tidy For Reality

1 Samuel 30 New International Version David Destroys the Amalekites 1David 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. 3When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.4So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6David 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.

There are few stories that resonate with me like this one in 1 Samuel 30. David's life is literally invaded by the enemy. His wives and children are taken. His town is destroyed. David is living his life and doing what God has called him to do finishing the work that Joshua started, and then boom--his worst fear happens. His town is invaded and burned and his family is taken. I know without a doubt that is my worst fear. But then the Scripture uses a phrase that makes David a man after God's own heart. It says that David strengthened himself in the Lord His God. He didn't panic, he didn't scheme, he just got into the presence of the Lord and let the Lord encourage his heart.

How does that happen? What does that look like when our worst fears are realized and we find ourselves right smack dab in the middle of our worst nightmare. What does faith look like then? I think it looks like the picture David gives us here. Our overcoming begins on our knees, in the presence of God before the throne of grace. It means that we don't trust people or circumstances to give us hope and help. We turn to and trust with all our heart the only one who is worthy of our trust: the God of Jacob. Psalm 146 says:

Do not trust in princes,
  In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.
4His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;

  In that very day his thoughts perish.
5How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
  

Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6Who made heaven and earth

God means to victory is always an outworking of an inner reality. He doesn't first give David victory, He didn't give back his family to him right away. He didn't keep him from that trauma. He took him through it.  When Jesus takes us into the valley of the shadow of death, He does it for one reason. He is teaching us not to be afraid. He is always in the process of showing us that we overcome, we walk through the valley of the shadow of death unafraid because He is with us. He wants to work into a knowledge into the inner most being of our beliefs this one truth: He is with us. And God with us means He will work it on our behalf to bring about good. He is working to show us the power of His might.

The outcome of this story is pretty awesome:

7Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, 8and 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.”

9David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.

11They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— 12part 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.

13David 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. 14We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.”

15David 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.”

16He 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. 17David 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. 18David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.

This story ends in victory for David. God allows him to take back everything the enemy had taken from him. So why did God put him through that? I think for the same reason He allows the enemy to invade our lives at times too. To convince us that no circumstances are ever too dire for His strength. He wants the roots of our confidence in Him to grow so deep that even if our worst fears are realized, we can strengthen ourselves in Him. And lest you find yourself discouraged by the fact that everything worked out so nicely for David when your story still seems a bit messy, remember one thing: His story has been written. It's played out. Ours hasn't yet; sometimes when Bible stories feel a bit too tidy in their resolution, like this one-- remember that we are getting to read his trial-- beginning, middle and end. Our feels messy and unfinished because it is. It's a story still being written. David strengthened Himself in the Lord His God because he reminded himself in the middle of his mess of God's faithfulness to His people in the past. We have to do the same thing when it looks like the enemy is winning and there is no hope. But God gives us this amazing book of finished stories so we can remind ourselves of what David did as he lived out his own trial: God is the Alpha and the Omega. As THE beginning and THE END, He is the end of all of our stories. And in Him all of our messiness becomes ordered.  The thing is, do you find that the cynic in you goes" "Yeah right, I'm sure that happens all the time. God gives us back everything He took away. That's a little too tidy for reality." Well friend, He does. Sometimes it takes awhile, and in some cases, it takes eternity, but He does. So when you aren't sure if there is any hope for your story and all the enemy has taken, flip to the end of your story. Its in Revelation 21. You might not know the middle of it, but you do know how it ends. God will wipe away every tear. Take heart today like David did. If God is for us who can be against us? N.O. O.N.E. End of story.