1 Samuel 30:14-20: a reflection

14We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.” 15David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this troop?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and not deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.” 16When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread around over all the ground, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great plunder that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. 17David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped from there, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. 18David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. 19There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither plunder, nor anything that they had taken. David brought them all back. 20David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s plunder.”

When David returns to Ziklag to find it burned and his family and goods carried off by raiders, he does not resign himself to the loss as final. He pursues the raiders, and the account records the outcome: David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken. There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither plunder, nor anything that they had taken. David brought them all back. Rather than accepting the loss as beyond recovery, David pursued and recovered all that had been taken; what seemed lost was brought back.

Notice that David did not resign himself to the loss, but pursued its recovery. He might have looked at the burned city and the carried-off families and concluded that all was lost, beyond recovery; but instead he pursued the raiders, and recovered everything, nothing lacking, small or great. What seemed lost was not necessarily gone forever; David pursued it, and God gave him to recover all. He did not treat the loss as final, but sought its recovery, and recovered all that had been taken. The loss that looked final was, in fact, recoverable, and David recovered it by not resigning himself to it.

That is worth taking to heart, for we need not always treat our losses as final, but can seek the recovery of what has been taken. When we suffer loss, of things, of people, of what mattered to us, we can resign ourselves to it as final, beyond recovery, and give up; but David did not treat his loss as final, and recovered all that had been taken. Not every loss is beyond recovery; some can be sought and recovered rather than surrendered to. Do not always treat your losses as final and beyond recovery, giving up; there may be a recovery to be sought, as David pursued the raiders and recovered all. Where God may grant it, seek the recovery of what has been lost or taken rather than resigning yourself to the loss as final, as David pursued the Amalekites and brought back all that had been taken, nothing lacking; for not every loss is beyond recovery, and there is a place for pursuing the restoration of what was taken rather than surrendering it as gone forever.

Lord, when David returns to Ziklag to find it burned and his family and goods carried off by raiders, he does not resign himself to the loss as final. He pursues the raiders, and the account records the outcome: David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither plunder, nor anything that they had taken; David brought them all back. Rather than accepting the loss as beyond recovery, David pursued and recovered all that had been taken. Show me that David did not resign himself to the loss, but pursued its recovery. He might have looked at the burned city and the carried-off families and concluded that all was lost; but instead he pursued the raiders, and recovered everything, nothing lacking. What seemed lost was not necessarily gone forever; David pursued it, and you gave him to recover all. He did not treat the loss as final, but sought its recovery. Take that to my heart, for I need not always treat my losses as final, but can seek the recovery of what has been taken. When I suffer loss, of things, of people, of what mattered to me, I can resign myself to it as final, beyond recovery, and give up; but David did not treat his loss as final. Not every loss is beyond recovery. Keep me from always treating my losses as final and giving up; there may be a recovery to be sought, Lord, as David pursued the raiders and recovered all. Where you may grant it, help me seek the recovery of what has been lost or taken rather than resigning myself to the loss as final.