AND SUDDENLY DAVID WAS IN EVEN WORSE TROUBLE. There was talk among the men, bitter over the loss of their families, of stoning him.
6-7 David strengthened himself with trust in his God. 1 Samuel 30 MSG Bible
Trouble can come suddenly and unexpectedly, BUT GOD HASN’T ABANDONED US! DON’T GIVE WAY TO DEFEAT IN TIMES OF TROUBLE, God will still be there for us in the most difficult situations. David and his men had returned to the camp at Ziklag to find that their wives and children had been kidnapped and their camp plundered. The men were talking of stoning David, people often look for someone else to blame for their misfortune, but the leader was the one who would take action and rescue them. David sought the Lord and a way opened for them to rescue their families unharmed.
I said at the end of my last blog that Friday was a public holiday here, so my wife and I went to stay away overnight in County Donegal, by the Atlantic Ocean. Anne loves to be by the sea and walk along the beach, she finds it restorative. We spent the night away and began a fairly long drive home that morning as I had a cold. When we got home, Anne did some washing and while she was ironing saw a leak from the ceiling into the utility room. It turned out that we had a leak at the shower control valve in our upper floor. So what could we do? I rang a man who has helped us in the past and even though it was a holiday he agreed to come and see what could be done. EVERYWHERE WAS CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAY BUT I HAD BOUGHT A SHOWER VALVE SOME TIME BEFORE AND STILL HAD IT IN THE HOUSE. To cut a long story short he eventually got the valve fitted and the leak stopped, after a couple of hours work. Praise the Lord.
Trouble can come suddenly, perhaps to rob us after a time of blessing, in this case a brief stay by the sea. No matter how unexpected, God is still with us as He was with David and his men and He stands firm to rescue us from every circumstance. Hallelujah
15 Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous,
do not plunder their dwelling place;
16 for though the righteous fall seven times, THEY RISE AGAIN,
but the wicked are brought down by calamity. Proverbs 24
GOD’S PEOPLE ARE MARKED BY RESILIENCE, WE MAY FALL AT TIMES BUT GOD HELPS US TO RISE AGAIN, EVEN SEVEN TIMES! AMEN
May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.