1 Samuel 30:16-20 Trust in God!

 ”And when he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all. Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”“ I Samuel‬ ‭30‬:‭16‬-‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day: As they caught the Amalekites in the midst of their victory celebration, David surprised them. They supposed that all the Philistine and Israelite armies were far to the north, preparing to fight each other.

i. Twilight is probably a bad translation here, and it should be from dawn until evening of the next day. “The Hebrew word nesep, translated ‘dawn’ in Job 7:4 and Psalm 119:147, has this sense here…. Having noted the situation, David and his men took some rest and attacked at first light, when the Amalekites would be suffering from the soporific effects of the feast, and least able to defend themselves.” (Baldwin)

ii. It was wise to attack the Amalekites when they were hungover from the party the night before. “Whom they found it no hard matter to stab with the sword, who were cup-shot before.” (Trapp)

b. David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: Everything that the enemy took David took back. God gave him a complete victory because David strengthened himself in the LORD his God (1 Samuel 30:6), David inquired of the LORD (1 Samuel 30:8), David did what God told him to do, and David showed unexpected care and kindness to others.

i. God’s promise was proved true. When David inquired of the LORD, God promised You shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all (1 Samuel 30:8). The promise was fulfilled exactly, but it wasn’t fulfilled as David sat back passively and said, “All right God, now You can do it.” The LORD fulfilled His promise, but He used David’s actions to fulfill the promise. God’s promise didn’t excludeDavid’s cooperation, the promise invited his cooperation. (Guzik)

Trust in God!

There are times in our lives where we hit rock bottom and realize, I can’t do this on my own and have to turn it over to God. Like a child who fell down and runs to his loving father who’s waiting with open arms 🤗!

But remember the old adage, Try and try again?

“Brother, you will have to work and labour to extricate yourself from debt and difficulty, and so the Lord will hear your prayer. The rule is to trust in God to smite the Amalekites, and then to march after them, as if it all depended upon yourself.” (Spurgeon)

God will use our failures to build us up to make us stronger!

But don’t miss this:

“God’s promise didn’t exclude David’s cooperation, the promise invited his cooperation.” (Guzik)

Are you trusting in God and cooperating?

Blessings