David’s Faith And Kindness by Jonathon Wright
In 1 Samuel 27:1-30:30, David and his men were preparing for war. Unfortunately, they were not going to be fighting for Israel. King Saul chased David out of Israel, so David formed an alliance with Achich, a Philistine King. Achish insisted that David would fight by his side and even made him his bodyguard (1 Samuel 28:1-2). However, the other Philistine kings did not want David or his men to fight in the war and sent them home.
Who can blame them? Since David was such a notorious enemy of the Philistines. They had to know he would turn against them. He did after all kill Goliath, their greatest warrior.
David and his men traveled back home to Ziglag (See 1 Samuel 30).
They were looking forward to seeing their family and getting some much-needed rest. But their home and all their beloved possessions were gone. The city was in ruins and their families were nowhere in sight. The grief was almost unbearable. They cried until they could weep no more. To make matters worse, his men were thinking about killing David (See 1 Samuel 30:1-6).
David knew God’s power to turn bad situations around, so he turned to God for strength and encouragement. He knew that weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalms 30:5).
Sometimes, when life is at its worst, we need to find encouragement and strength from the Lord. I can almost hear David say, “Thank you, Lord. We are going to get through this.” And when David went to the Lord in prayer, God did something amazing. At the Lord’s command, David went and recovered all their property, family, and a lot more.
The Blessing of Kindness and David (1 Samuel 30:11-31)
David not only encouraged himself in the Lord, but he showed remarkable kindness.
I recently watched an old television show on YouTube called The Lone Ranger. The first episode describes how the Lone Ranger met his sidekick, and Indian friend, Tonto. When he was very young, the Ranger befriended and saved Tonto’s life. Many years later, he remembered what the Ranger did and saved his life in return.
David also saved an Egyptian man from certain death. In return, the man showed David and his men exactly where the Amalekite raiders were. He helped David and his men catch the enemy by surprise and win a great victory.
Later, after they won a great victory, David shared his huge surplus of a blessing with those in Israel and Judah. His actions were not popular with everyone, but David would not back down. His remarkable kindness helped Israel recover from the war that they and King Saul lost. David gave a huge part of the spoil back to them. It was the right thing to do because the Amalekite had also raided them.
David would return home and become King of Judah and then Israel
I know this was the defining moment that started a chain of events that helped him become King of Israel.
Faith and kindness wield great power and bring great blessings. And God can use them to bring a magnificent turnaround like David.
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