Stones
They can’t hit my Source.
I saw the smoke rising from the villages and I knew. As the men and I advanced toward the town, the signs became clearer. Burnt buildings, fires everywhere, some small and others bigger. Even the ’Welcome to Ziklag’ sign was a shadow of what it used to be. And the silence. It was deafening and a testament to what had happened to the town in our absence.
Then followed the ear piercing scream and all that came after it. The men were bawling their eyes out.
“Will I never see my son again?”
“I just bought a new herd of cattle!”
Grown warriors were in tears because of their losses, and I joined them too. My two wives were also gone. These Amalekites! What’s worse, we had been turned back from the war we were to be a part of, so our leaving was seemingly pointless.
“Down with you! This is all your fault!“ Someone screamed in my direction. I cleaned my tears quickly and listened as my men made plots to stone me. What?! And then I remembered. I remembered how the king had so often tried to kill me too. Guess who kept rescuing me. You’re right: Yahweh did. And when I had to face the lion, the bear and the giant, I never died, because the Lord is with me. I called on the Lord who is worthy of praise, and He saved me from my enemies. (Psalm 18:3)
“Bring me the ephod!” The priest, Abiathar, hurriedly brought it to me. “Should I chase after them, Lord? Will I catch them?” I asked. I definitely wasn’t going to do anything if the Lord said not to. In His mercy, Yahweh responded immediately.
“Yes, go after them. You will definitely recover all that was taken from you!”
That was all I needed to hear. The men stood up with me, men of war, and we marched on to recover all that we had lost. And yes, we did recover, and even had some more plunder to enjoy!
Today’s story is pretty short, but it can be found in the book of 1 Samuel 30. David and his men had taken refuge in the Philistine town of Ziklag, and the Philistine king, Achish, had asked them to join him to fight against Israel and King Saul. The other Philistine commanders protested, and David and his men were sent back. While all of these was going on, the Amalekites raided Ziklag and captured the women and children and all the livestock of David and his men, and set their towns on fire.
Verse 6 is the verse that prompted me to write this story.
“David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God.”
1 Samuel 30:6 NLT
I remember I used to read this verse as a child in school as our memory verse, and it was pretty fascinating to me that a person wasn’t bothered by the fact that he was probably going to be stoned. He still found strength and encouraged himself in the Lord. No matter the situation, God is ready and available to encourage us if we just let ourselves be encouraged.
No, this is not me pretending to have a perfect life. If anything, I have a melancholic temperament which means I always tend to be in my head and stay there with pessimistic thoughts, but I’m learning not to stay there so much and accept the comfort and joy that Jesus gives. He’s the Man of Sorrows after all.
So this is my encouragement to you: look beyond the circumstances and remember all that the Lord represents to you. He’s the source of true joy so even if the situation doesn’t seem like something to be joyful about, make a conscious decision today to encourage yourself in the Lord. It’s difficult and painful and impractical, but trust me, it’s the best decision.
I love you and I’m rooting for you,
Wuraola❤️