Reflections
Ziklag
And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either
great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. (I Sam. 30:1-2)
David had been told he would be king, and yet he had spent years in the desert fleeing from Saul. But he had been given the city of Ziklag. Ziklag was the last refuge of David. Everything he had was at Ziklag.
David and his army had left Ziklag to fight with the Philistines, but David was sent home to Ziklag. When he got there he found that Ziklag was burned – and all of their families and all of their possessions were taken captive. David and his men, “lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” David Himself was, “greatly distressed,” because added to all of this, his own people, “spoke of stoning him.” It would have been easy for David to accuse God, or to assume God had forsaken him. Ziklag was everything David had. Now it was gone.
Where would David go from here? It says, “David encouraged himself in the LORD.” Thus, despite the present distress,
we can step outside of it and put our faith in God. Once David did, it says, “David recovered all….there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great….David recovered all.” And little did he know that within three days Saul would be dead and he would finally take his place as king.
There are many lesson in this – the chief one pertaining to spiritual life in Christ. When all that we are – and all that we have – is burned to the ground, there is still the Lord. He is not moved. God may, in fact, allow us to suffer the loss of everything about ourselves in which we have put faith – so that we might learn the Truth of faith in Christ.