Passage Read: 1 Samuel 29 - 2 Samuel 1
Meditation Verses: 1 Samuel 30:1-2
Thought
God allowed their homes and their city to be destroyed, but preserved their families and their material treasures as spoils taken by the Amalekites. Of course, they were devastated when they returned to find everything destroyed and their families taken captive. But God allowed them to rescue their families and capture all the spoils, their own goods and those of others that the Amalekites had taken. In the end, they only lost their homes, but gained even more treasure. Rebuilding would take time, but they had the means to do so. God can be very rough with His people. He can put them through very difficult things. David and his men fared better than Job, who lost all his goods and his children and most of his servants. In the end, David and his men only lost their homes. But what they suffered, both the men and their families, in the intervening days, the fear, the uncertainty, the stress and concern for their families, and whatever their families suffered at the hands of the Amalekites. God allowed that! He could have protected the city, but didn't. He would use the wickedness and violence of evil men to keep David and his men busy, while Saul received his judgment. Yet they would not escape without scars of one sort or another.
Application
God does not keep us from all harm here on this earth. There are wicked men and they are permitted to touch even the righteous who delight in the Lord. God allows His people to suffer terrible things, risking their faith and trust in Him. He allows Satan to sift us. He allows wealth and riches and prosperity to test our loyalty. The latter would also come on David and his men, and the prosperity would prove more challenging than the tragedy. I cannot put my hope in anything of this world; there is nothing I can rely on here, nothing that will never change, nothing that will always bring me joy and goodness. The only thing I can fix my hope on is the world to come. Only there will there be everlasting joy and righteousness and goodness; only there will there never be trouble or grief or pain. And only by faith and loyalty to Jesus Christ can I attain to that world to come. No matter what good or evil befalls me in this life, I can never turn my back on Jesus Christ; I can never give way to bitterness, to condemn the Lord for whatever I gain or lose. I can never love anything more than I love the Lord, so that the loss or gain of anything could ever shake my faith and commitment to the Lord. I can love and enjoy things in this life, and I can grieve the loss or pain that comes through circumstances, but when the Lord gives or the Lord takes away, I must bless the name of the Lord. He must be my highest and best treasure. He is the only thing that deserves such ultimate devotion.