Look who’s leading David’s army now—the same One ministering to those too tired to fight.
As we noted in our last episode, when David and his 400 men suddenly swooped down on the Amalekite encampment, they “recovered all” (1 Sam 30:19). But don’t you think more was recovered through this heartbreaking tragedy than family and goods? Wasn’t David himself recovered through this grueling experience as well? How many of us must sit in the ashes of our own failures before we are ready, by God’s grace, to recover all? And here is the evidence for David’s restoration. When they returned from the battle, some of the returning warriors insisted that the other 200 who were too exhausted to travel, and who instead “stayed by the stuff,” shouldn’t share in the spoils. All they would get was their rescued family members. Preposterous, said David. He declared, “as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies” (v 24). And why? David explained, “My brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us” (v 23). Ah, that’s the David we have come to love and admire! No more “me” and “mine.” It was the Lord who “has given…has preserved…and delivered.” What a wonderful reminder this is, a reminder so important that “from that day forward [David] made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day” (v 25). “They shall share alike,” said the man after God’s heart. Along with His front-line troops, the Lord’s homemakers, children raisers, prayer warriors, seniors carers, personal workers, homeless rescuers, sacrificial givers, and all the rest on the King’s team, many perhaps too weary to go on, ALL will share in the joy and abundance of His victory on that great celebration day.