Morning by Morning, October 25 - Pursuing the Enemy for the Return of the Captives Good morning, Lord Jesus. Grounded in Your Word, filled with Your Spirit, I begin my day centered and focused on You. ... “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, 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. When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept, until they had no more strength to weep. David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 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” (1 Samuel 30:1-6). On a day of shock and terror, on a day of national tragedy for all who were part of the heart of David, they found their city devastated by destruction and “their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.” At first all they could do, as they were dazed by trauma, was raise their voices in aguish and grief “until they had no more strength to weep.” Then, in great danger of betrayal and the twisted irony of blame-shifting, it was David himself who was nearly stoned to death, as everyone’s rage and pain was turned against him instead of their enemies. Even though it was David’s enemies, the enemies of Israel who hated him and his people, who invaded their homes and burned their city and carried away their families kidnapped as captives, everyone turned on David. Everyone began to blame the victim instead of those who came to steal and kill and destroy. Spirits never die; and those same spirits are still at work in our world stealing and killing and destroying and trying to turn the hearts of the world against the very ones who have been horrifically, unimaginably terrorized by hatred. But “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (v.6). David turned to You. In the humility of desperate dependence upon You alone, he “inquired of the Lord” (v. 8). He waited on You for Your answer, Your wisdom, Your guidance. He didn’t have any Answer but You, no Hope but You. And then he obeyed everything he heard, as best as he could and all by Your grace. You called him to get up from his grief and be girded up with faith to “pursue” his enemies until he had taken back all that was stolen from him and his people (v. 9). Some were too weary to go with him; some refused to stand with him. But he gathered those who were of one heart with his to trust God and obey, and “went on with the pursuit” (v. 10). By the power and the grace of God, David found his enemies, still gloating over their plunder (v. 16). And with unrelenting faith in the word of the Lord and the power of Your might, he and his army engaged their enemies in the fierce courage that only You can supply, until “not one of them escaped” (v. 17). He took back all that was taken. “Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back everything” (v. 19). Your Word says that all that happened to those under the Old Covenant in former times and all that happened in the battles and struggles against their enemies of flesh and blood speak to us of the spiritual principles in our battles against our spiritual enemies today. Their struggles and battles, their failures and successes, “serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). So come, Holy Spirit. Give the sons and daughters of David Your wisdom, Your guidance today. Let every kidnapped captive be brought home. Let all that was taken be restored. Let none of the perpetrators of this terror escape. For the human beings of flesh and blood involved, may every heart be convicted to turn to You in repentance and faith for salvation in Your name -- the name of above all names (Philippians 2:9), the only name under heaven by which men and women may be saved (Acts 4:12). And like their father David before them, may the leaders and people of Israel turn to You to “strengthen (themselves) in the Lord.” May we all turn to You, to be strengthened in You, restored in You, with nothing missing and nothing broken, through the peace of our salvation in You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today. In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you strengthen yourself in the Lord, turning to Him as your Answer and Hope and Salvation for all you need and the restoration of anything taken from you by our spiritual enemies who come to steal and kill and destroy, in Jesus' name. And I join with you as you stand with Israel in prayer. God bless you, my friend! And you have a great day!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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