1 Samuel 30:1-20

A. King Saul was a direct trouble to David and sometimes an indirect one, as here.

1. Saul did not earlier utterly destroy the Amalekites as commanded. 1SAM 15:3, 9.

2. Had Saul done right, David would not have had to run a campaign against them (1SAM 27:8), nor would David’s band have here been ravaged by them.

3. The costs of sparing when God says, “Spare not” may be immediate or delayed, direct or indirect. We know not what troubles we may cause by sparing inappropriately.

a. Disobedient children and parents’ emotions should not be spared. PRO 19:18; 13:24.

b. Neither should “favorite” sins, relationships or attainments be spared. COL 3:5-9; MAT 10:37; PHIL 3:7-8.

c. God didn’t spare His beloved Son. ROM 8:32.

B. David was at this time hiding among the Philistines who had given him Ziklag. 1SAM 27:1, 6-7.

1. The propriety of David going there was questionable since there had been no update to the word of God from 1SAM 22:5.

2. When a man’s ways please God in faith and duty, he may expect God to watch over his home and goods. EXO 34:24.

3. Those who cast off direct revelation in favor of “methinks” may expect otherwise. PRO 14:12.

4. There is no update to our Lord Jesus’s command to abide in Him. JOH 15:4-6; 1JO 2:28.

5. In charity to David, it may be noted that troubles will find even the most faithful. 2CO 4:8; 2TI 3:12.

C. The people in grief blamed David, adding to his distress. v. 6.

1. If David was already having doubts about his decisions, this certainly would have made it worse.

2. God’s man may become a scapegoat for the consequences of good calls, bad calls, even flawless calls when often the real problem is with the complainer. 2CO 6:12.

3. Thus, James warns about the fate of the master (JAM 3:1). The work of the ministry can not be fully appreciated by someone not in it.

4. Those who ministerially labor in genuine love to others may not even be appreciated for that. 2CO 2:4; 12:15.

5. God’s man needs to realize this is human nature, especially in times of distress, and so endure hardness (2TI 2:3), not become hardness.

D. “...but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God” (v. 6). He could not encourage himself by circumstances or the love of his followers!

1. Mind that he did not encourage himself with wine or by lashing out defensively, or by passing off their anger as being the rants of “little people.” He respected their right to redress their grievances and appealed to God.

2. David could recall the many times God had already delivered him and shown him mercy, and pray accordingly. PSA 27:7-10; LAM 3:22-25; 2CO 1:9-10; 2TI 4:16-18.

3. Against the pressure of the moment he could say, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (PSA 27:13-14).

4. They that wait so on the LORD shall indeed have their strength renewed so as to soar again. ISA40:31.

E. Being encouraged, David pressed on at the word of the LORD. vs. 7-10.

1. He was not going to repeat his error of moving without directive. How often have we likewise plowed ahead without considering Scripture only to learn a difficult lesson to get back to Scripture!

2. Mind how that the anger of the men was assuaged by this approach.

a. Good men will see the value of a leader genuinely seeking divine direction and follow the same.

b. We pray for deliverance from the others. 2TH 3:1-2.

3. Faith so motivated them that they pressed on even with the loss of one-third of the force (vs. 9-10). God said it. They believed it. That settled it.

F. They recovered all according to the word of the LORD, and more. vs. 10-20.

1. Playing the role of Good Samaritan to the Egyptian paid dividends for the Egyptian and for David. Here was a case of sickness and weakness that resulted in deliverance for the afflicted and the reliever through an act of mercy. PSA 18:25.

2. The Amalekites got a preview of LUK 17:26-30.

3. Such are the victories of faith.