When Everything Burned

The Story

David and his six hundred men had been away for three days. When they came home to the town of Ziklag, where they had been living, they found it burned to the ground. The Amalekites had raided it while they were gone and carried off every wife, son, and daughter, including David’s own two wives.

These hardened soldiers sat down and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

Then their grief turned to anger, and it turned toward David. His own men started talking about stoning him. David had lost his family too. Now he was about to lose his men.

In that moment, with no one to encourage him, the Bible says, “David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”

Then he asked God a simple question: “Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them?” God answered, “Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.”

On the way, David’s men found an Egyptian lying in a field, half dead from hunger. He had been a servant of the Amalekites, and they had left him behind when he got sick. David’s men gave him food and water, and when he revived, he led them straight to the raiders’ camp.

David attacked, and he recovered everything. Every wife, every child, every possession. Nothing was missing.

Reflection