Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
1 SAMUEL 30:1-6 | Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negeb and on Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag, burned it down, 2 and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great; they killed none of them but carried them off and went their way. 3 When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. 5 David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was in great danger, for the people spoke of stoning him because all the people were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
Spafford received a telegram from his wife Anna when the SS Vil du Havre sank on the way to England. It read, “saved alone.” Horatio booked passage, and when he passed the spot where their daughters had drowned, he wrote the words of It Is Well.
A parallel experience happened to David in 1 Samuel 30. Unfairly hunted into exile and hiding by the deranged and jealous king Saul, David gathered a group of outcasts and survived as a mercenary. Then while the men were away, raiders kidnapped all the wives and children and destroyed their village encampment. David had lost his original friends and family due to Saul, and then his secondary family too. His men were on the edge of rebellion. Yet he “took strength in the Lord.”
What loss has been hardest for you?
Gracious God,
When we suffer loss, help us turn not toward denial or anger, but faithward. Teach us to say “it is well with my soul.”
Amen.
