I love the story in the Bible of David when he returns to his home in Ziklag and finds it burned down and all their wives and children taken hostage. That might seem like a strange story to like, but it isn’t because of what happened there, but rather what David did in response. If you need a refresher here is the passage:
1 Samuel 30:1-8 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, and had taken captive the women who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David's two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David 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. Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, and 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."
It is hard to imagine what it would have been like for David and his men; try to imagine coming home to your house one day after work and finding it burned to the ground and your family taken captive. As hard as it is to get into that space try just sit and imagine that for a minute or two. What would you feel? What would you do if there were no police or anyone to help? Often in times of unexpected disaster the feelings of overwhelm are so strong they can lead to emotional and physical paralysis. We find that David and his men just collapse and weep for hours. We have seen images from around the world in recent weeks of communities faced with death and devastation and overwhelm from Covid-19. Pictures and stories of people weeping and being in a state of grief and paralysis. This is a normal human emotion in such circumstances. Fortunately, we in Australia have been spared such scenes. What follows next in the story is pretty normal in the grief cycle; grief turns quickly to anger. The men are so angry about what has happened to their families, and that anger has to go somewhere. Ridiculously they turn on their trusted leader David who has actually been the man who has led them and given them hope and a future. Many of these men had been on the run and in trouble before David took them in. Yet it times of grief, anger is blind and illogical; it is just so raw and overwhelming that it has to go somewhere. In this pandemic we have seen illogical and ugly racism and anger poured out on innocent and undeserving people; especially Chinese and Asian folk. The rhetoric of blame from Political leaders and the rapid discussion of lawsuits has also been unhelpful and added fuel to the fire.
David is at his lowest and weakest and most vulnerable point here. He has lost his home, his possession’s, his wives and kids, and now his men have turned on him and want to stone him to death. What he does next is inspiring and is a wonderful example of not only good leadership but also humility and faith. We read that rather than give up or run away or argue with his men, David turns to prayer and seeks God, and in doing so incredibly finds strength in God in his darkest hour. He calls the priest and begins to inquire of God and seek his face and his direction for the situation. I am very challenged by that response. How often when we are falling apart or angry or fearful and grief stricken do do we turn wholly and fully to God? The temptation is to do things in our own strength or just remain in paralysis or run away. Maybe in this current crisis you have had your own moments of distress, or despair or anger or paralysis. Have you turned to God? Have you inquired of him? Have you sought his face and found strength in him? Like David there are things we can do in a time of crisis rather than just do nothing and blaming others. God still wants to engage with us and show us how he wants to use us to help, not only us, but those around us.
David asks God some very open and specific questions. Should I pursue them? Will I overtake them? Will we be successful? God says yes! Get off the ground and go chase after them and fight them and I will give you success. In their tiredness they were obedient and David rallied himself and led his men on an exhausting rescue mission that was successful. Was it all clean and neat and tidy? No! I am sure some of their family members were mistreated and abused in those days they were in captivity – but God did enable them to pull off the rescue and everyone was saved. In that situation, like now, we can ask questions like: if God is so loving to David why didn’t he protect their families in the first place rather than letting them go through this ordeal and then rescue them? We may ask why God has allowed this pandemic to happen if he cares about his people, rather than just wanting to help us to get through it? Like with David we have no answers to these questions and I don’t think we can neatly tie it all up. But there are some key take home points from David that we can learn and apply today.
1 – God is always with us and he never leaves us even though really difficult situations occur in our lives
2 – We can either turn away from God in our grief and anger or we can turn to him and find strength and help
3 – Although the outcome may be messy and involve suffering, God still works miraculously in the mess through ordinary tired and weary people
4 – Ultimately when our own strength and abilities and ideas give out there is only one place left to go for help
So it may not be now, but next time you find yourself at the end of the road and perhaps facing grief and anger and even criticism from those around you; turn to God for strength like David did. Seek his face and spend some time in his presence. Ask him for help and for practical strength and wisdom about what actions to take. God didn’t deliver the families back to David and his men all gift wrapped on a cloud. They still had to chase them down, fight a battle and then bring them home and rebuild their town. That whole process was exhausting and took effort and time. But in all of that God was with them and they could not have done it without him. Not one person was lost, and that was a God thing. Some of them no doubt suffered, but not one person was lost. In fact, they got more plunder and livestock out of the whole thing than they had before, but that is beside the point.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble as David wrote in Psalm 46. Perhaps as he penned those words he was remembering the story of Ziklag. Today take time to remember this truth and find your strength in God. Ask him what he wants you to do at this time and how he wants you to act to help not only yourself or your family, but also those who are struggling around you. It won’t be pretty, and there are often not neat tidy answers. But God has a way forward and he needs us to act and partner with him to bring about his restoration and Kingdom purposes in our broken world.
Grace and Peace - Garry