Context No. 3467 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

1 Samuel 30:1-7: in context

1When David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the South and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire, 2and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They didn’t kill any, but carried them off and went their way. 3When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters were taken captive. 4Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. 5David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. 7David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

David returns to find Ziklag burned and everyone's families carried off; he and his men weep until they have no more strength to weep. And then it gets worse: his own men, embittered by grief, begin to talk of stoning him. David is at a low point, everything lost, his followers turned against him, no comfort anywhere.

And in that moment comes one of the quietly heroic lines in Scripture: but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. Instead of despairing or lashing out, he found his strength in God. When there was no comfort anywhere else, no one to encourage him, his own men against him, David turned to God and drew strength from him alone. This is a lesson for our own hard moments. When everything seems lost and no human comfort remains, when even those around us turn away, we can still, like David, strengthen ourselves in the LORD our God, and then, as David did next, seek his direction for what to do.

When comfort fails and even those around me turn against me, do I strengthen myself in the LORD my God, as David did?

Sources

1 Samuel 30:6: "David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him... but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God."
1 Samuel 30:4: "David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep."
Psalm 42:5: "Why are you in despair, my soul?... Hope in God! For I shall still praise him."