1 Samuel 30:3-8 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 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.
7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, 8 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.”
After 16 months of raiding the Philistine villages, I’m sure David and his men were excited and eager to get home to their wives and children. However, when they got there, they found the entire camp destroyed by fire along with everything in it. Plus all of the women and children had been carried off into captivity. This was definitely not the homecoming they had hoped for.
Oh, the despair and hopelessness they all must’ve felt! How long had their wives and children been gone? What if they’ve been raped and beaten? Are they still alive? As if all these tormenting thoughts and more weren’t bad enough, now David’s equally devastated men were talking of stoning him.
Put yourself in David’s shoes. What would your natural instinct be?
I don’t know about you, but if I were the fierce warrior that David was, my natural instinct would be to prepare for battle and take off after them as quickly as possible. There’s no time to lose! Let’s go!!
In fact, I’ve done as much with far less detrimental and pressing issues in my life. For instance, in the past when my teenagers didn’t answer phone calls or reply to texts, I would imagined the worst. Then, as the anxiety grew, I would eventually take matters into my own hands, with even more phone calls and texts. What if their car was sideswiped? Worse yet, what if the reason their car was sideswiped was because they were trying to answer my phone call or text? After multiple attempts, I became that mom who called their work or their friends to hunt them down to make sure they were still alive. Needless to say, my kids learned quickly to respond with at least a simple text to let me know they were ok.
Sadly, I could’ve saved myself (and my children, lol) a lot of grief had I taken the time to inquire of the Lord. In fact, there were many times in the midst of those crazy imaginations and panic attacks that I could hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit trying to comfort me. Inevitably though, another louder more obnoxious voice would overthrow that voice with all the “what ifs”.
But not David! He paused and took time to inquire of the Lord before taking action. Mind you, he didn’t inquire with the intent that God’s will and favor would automatically be the same as his desire. He did so in humility as he called for the priest and the ephod (which represents a garment of praise and worship)…with a decisive heart of sincere surrender. He positioned himself to hear from the Lord.
Positioning oneself to hear from the Lord takes time! Especially when the pressure is on. It takes time to quiet your anxious mind. It takes time to let go of your worst fears. It takes time to set aside the desire to do things your way. It takes time to let go of control and to completely trust God. It takes time to praise and worship a Good Father rather than blame Him (as I’ve admittedly done before) when everything seems hopeless. Time is what we usually think we don’t have in these types of situations.
David took the time to inquire of God. I sincerely believe this is one of the many reasons David was beloved of God. I don’t know about you, but I need to practice more of this when difficult moments happen in life. Shoot! I need to practice this daily.
What do you need to inquire God about? Take the time.
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