RECOVERING ALL 

  This blog’s title tells the story of what happened to David and his army when they were in the wrong place, and here is how the scriptures record it.

1 Samuel 26 shares the last encounter that David had with King Saul, who had twenty-one times unsuccessfully attempted to kill him. During their last encounter, David could have killed King Saul, but he feared stretching forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed. When he revealed to the king that he could have killed him but chose not to, the king said to him, “I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail.”

Unfortunately, David did not believe the king, for in 1 Samuel 27 David said, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.” So David, along with his family and six hundred men and their family, went to Achish, the king of Gath.

The king gave David and his men the town of Ziklag as their residence, and they stayed there for sixteen months. During that time, the Bible does not record David praying to God; however, it did record David lying and murdering Geshurites, Gezrites, and Amalekites.

When the Philistines went to war against Israel, King Achish took David and his men with him; however, the princes of the Philistines did not trust David, so they made King Achish send David and his men back to Ziklag. When they arrived in Ziklag, they found the Amalekites had invaded it, burned it with fire, and taken their families captive.

David and his men cried until they had no more power to weep. Furthermore, David’s men were so distraught they talked about stoning him. This caused David to encourage himself and, finally, after sixteen months, seek direction from God.

Following God’s direction, David pursued the Amalekites and found them in their camp, eating, drinking, and dancing. He and his men engaged them in warfare and were able to kill everyone except four hundred young men, who escaped on camels.1 Samuel 30:18-19 records, “And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.’

We can all learn from David’s mistakes. First, we must believe God can protect us when the enemy tries to harm us. Next, we need to guard our hearts from fear and speak positively about God’s intervention. Then we need to seek direction from God on where we are to be located and not align ourselves with the enemy of our faith. Make sure we don’t practice sinful acts, and finally, I recommend saying this declaration when you feel the enemy’s onslaught. “I shall recover all that the enemy has carried away. And there was nothing lacking to me, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that was taken; I shall recover all in Jesus’ name.”