When Everything is Gone

1 Samuel chapter 30. 1 Samuel chapter 30. We're going to continue on in our study in the life of David. We left off last week where David had been on the run for years. He's been out of Jerusalem. He's with the Philistines. He was put in charge of the rear guard. God delivered him even in that moment. Even when he's marching with the enemy's army. So now we're coming up to a pivotal moment for David. The pressure has been building. Kind of like a steam cooker, you know, or or one of those pressure cookers where it's the pressure's on the inside. Because remember what we said last week, David's been on the run for more than 18 months and he's been away from the throne that he was anointed to for years now. But what's significant is for the past four now five chapters, there's not a single recorded prayer. It's like David, man, did did you forget to pray? Because you used to seek God's counsel for everything. whether or not you should even go up to battle, whether or not you should even talk to this person or that person, but you don't have a recorded prayer. It's almost like David kind of forgot. So, we're going to come to a pivotal moment in David's life because what's happened is David is about to experience some significant loss and and there are moments where we expect relief but instead of relief from the situation we're in kind of walk into devastation where we've been fighting battles where we've been carrying the weight of something where we've been pushing through it and all we want to do is is just come home to something steady, something safe, but instead you come home to ashes. And that's where we're going to find David in Samuel, 1st Samuel chapter 30. We're not going to see him in his palace. We're not going to be seeing him in a victory parade. We're not even going to be seeing him in a place of stability, but in a place where with what little he thought he had, it's taken away from him. It's suddenly gone. And if we're honest, this is not just David's story. This is this is our story too because there are going to be some seasons where you've held it together for everybody else and then and then your world falls apart where where you stay faithful and still something gets taken from you. Your heart, your dreams, your future plans, where you've done the right thing and still it seems like it comes out with the wrong result. So the question is is what do you do when everything is gone? Let's jump into the word of the Lord. Verse one. And it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziglag on the third day that the Amalachites had invaded the south and Ziglag and had smitten Ziglag and burned it with fire. So you get the picture, right? David has been out on an expedition with his mighty men and he comes home and the city has been burned. And it says, "And had taken the women captives and slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away." So they didn't kill the people. They carried them away, which which really is its own kind of pain because this is a moment where it's been taken from you and you're filled with uncertainty, especially for you warriors in the crowd. You know, where are they? Or are they safe? Will I ever see them again? Verse three. So David and his men came to the city and behold it was burned with fire and their wives, their sons, their daughters were taken captives. C can you imagine this moment? Try to see it. Try to hear it. There is no sound. There is no movement. All that you see is just the the the smoke rising from the devastation that's taking place. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. This is not silent polite crying. This is snot coming out of your nose kind of crying where your your body gives out. Where grief empties you, where there are no words left. Some of y'all know about that. And it says now and David's two wives were taken captives. That's verse five. So now it gets personal because now it's not just the tent city that's been burnt to the ground. It's it's another thing when it's something around you, but it's quite a different thing when it's it's your house, your family, your wife, your kids, your people. And verse six is where it all turns. It says, "And David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved." So the people who used to follow him, y'all remember that he got he got surrounded with like 600 people that the Bible described as discontented, distressed, and in debt. And and he agreed that he would lead them and he led them to victory to victory. It was those people that have turned on him. So David, I want y'all to picture this. He hasn't just lost his family. He's lost his support system. He's lost his leadership credibility. He's lost everything. And now he's standing alone. If you remember, Samuel, his father in the ministry, is dead as well. Have you ever been there where the same people who used to celebrate you now question you? Where where the same voices that used to cheer you are now criticizing you? where the same circle that used to hold you up is against you and has walked away from you. Well, David is in this place right now. Everything is gone. Everyone is against him. Nothing makes sense. But then one of the most powerful verses in all the scripture takes place. It says, "But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." Now, I don't want you to miss this. David did not encourage himself in his circumstances because there was nothing encouraging about his circumstances. He didn't encourage himself in his people because the people had turned against him. He didn't even encourage himself in his past victories. You remember that time when I took down that 9- foot tall Philistine? He didn't encourage himself in any of that. He encouraged himself. And here's the phrase in the Lord his God. Which means there is always a place where you can go when everything else is gone. And it's his God. In those 18 months where he didn't say a single prayer, God never abandoned him. It's that place where you can learn the most about God. When all else has been taken from you, when every crutch has been knocked away, when every person that you relied on has abandoned you. And it says, "And he encouraged himself in the Lord his God." And David said to Abathar the priest, "Bring me hither the ephod." So David just doesn't sit in grief. And that matters because there is a difference between feeling your pain and living in it. And and David feels the pain of loss. But what's important is is that David doesn't stay there. He makes a decision. You know what? Bring me the ephog. I'm going to worship my way out of this. And it says, "And David inquired of the Lord and said, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?" So, I want you to notice what David doesn't say, what David doesn't do. He doesn't assume. He doesn't react emotionally. He doesn't make a reckless decision in the moment. He asks God, this is important because pain has a way of pushing us into bad decisions. Have you ever noticed that you're hurting, so you act fast? You're frustrating, so you react. You're tired, so you quit something that you shouldn't quit. That's not what David does here. David pauses and God answers. This is what the Lord says. Pursue for thou shalt surely overcome and take them without fail. Recover all. That's not vague. That's not partial. That's not a maybe. That's you are going to recover everything, David. So David hears that and he has a choice. I can believe it and act upon it or I can just sit on back. But what does David do? Well, David's a man of action. And it says, "So David went about 200 abode behind." Okay, y'all got it. David had 600 people, but 200 abode behind. Well, why are they staying behind? Well, it tells us. It says, and y'all might want to underline this because there's going to come a day when this is going to give you some encouragement. David went, but about 200 abodeed behind, for they were faint that they could not go over the brook basor. So, not everybody could go the whole distance because some of these people were just exhausted from the fight, exhausted from the emotional drain of losing their family, too drained, too tired, too worn out. And here is the grace in the moment. David doesn't rebuke him. He doesn't shame him. He doesn't say, "Well, if you just had more faith, David lets him rest. And sometimes

the most spiritual thing you can do is admit you're tired. Admit you need rest. And on a different level, one of the most spiritual things you can admit is that you were too tired. Because it says in Romans chapter 5, it says, "When you were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly." Do do you know how the Bible describes us? You know why grace is so beautiful? Because we weren't capable that the Bible says that we were dead in our sins and trespasses. The Bible says that that that you know Jesus said to Nicodemus, "If you want to see the heaven, you must be born again." Nicodemus is like, "How can I do that?" The Lord says, "Well, it's by the Holy Spirit." And the Holy Spirit's like the wind. You can't control it. Comes here, it goes there, and no man can control it. So y'all y'all understand that that Christ gave us life and we didn't have anything to do with it. We were so tired we were dead. But in the fullness of time, God sent his son. And and for his children, it says, according he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him and love, having predestinated us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will. If you're going to heaven, it's because of a choice that that Christ made. It's because of an infusion of the Holy Spirit that he directed because you were tired. You were dead. you were without strength. Well, on this earth as and now if you have spiritual life because of an action that Christ gave and because of a love that he shed upon you, you can make some decisions. And in these moments when we experience loss and abandonment, we can react with our emotions or we can take action and do what David did and offer worship and sacrifice and praise. Well, when he did that and he heard from the Lord and the Lord said, "Go because you're not going to lose anything." There were some people who were just tired. So, we can't go. And David doesn't rebuke them. He doesn't beat them down. You know, the love that Christ gave us, choosing us when we were without strength, choosing us when we were not right, it's the same love that we need to show other people, even on the other side of the political aisle.

So we continue on and it says, "And when they found an Egyptian." So they find out, okay, let's pursue them. Let's send on over to Bezor. And and hear this. And they found an Egyptian. Verse 11, they found an Egyptian in the field. You may want to underline that because you're all going to spend time in the field. I know I have. And they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread and he did eat. They made him drink water. And they gave him a piece of cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him. He had eaten no bread and nor drunk any water for three days and three nights. So y'all get the picture, right? They're pursuing. They find this man. They left him. The his master who had served had just left him for dead. This guy is an Egyptian. So he's an Egyptian who's been left for dead. He's an outsider. He's an abandoned servant. And all that David had at hand of of all that David had of every weapon that he had with him of the 400 men that he had. This guy's going to be the key to the recovery. Y'all appreciate that? I mean, David had options. He had fighting men. He But it's going to be this guy that becomes the key. Verse 13. Let's dig a little bit deeper. My master left me. This is the Egyptian speaking. The Egyptian who's been abandoned. He says, "My master left me because three days a gone, I fell sick." So this guy had a master who had authority over him. It's the person that he served. It's the person that he depended on. This guy that he depended on left him not because he rebelled, not because he failed morally, not because he betrayed anything. The master left him because he got sick and in his moment of weakness he was discarded. There is something so human about that, right? I mean, cuz some of us know exactly what this feels like. You You didn't choose the weakness. You You didn't plan the breakdown. You didn't ask for the moment when you were made vulnerable. You didn't ask for that to happen to you, but when you couldn't perform, when you couldn't produce, when you couldn't keep up, people left. And and y'all, that is the cruelty of this world system. As long as you're useful, you're valuable. As long as you're strong, you're kept. And as long as you're producing, you're protected. But this the moment you slow down, the moment you struggle, the moment you need instead of give, the world starts calculating your worth. And this man was on the wrong side of the equation. But there's something really cool here. It says, you know, hey guy says, three days ago I fell sick for three days, dude's been lying in the field. No help, no covering, no one coming back, just waiting until he dies where he was dropped. And this is where the text shifts from human tragedy to divine sovereignty because man forgot him, but God did not. Because while his earthly master walked away, God was working him into a bigger story. While while he was lying there weak, God was working him into another script. when when it looked like his life had been reduced to nothing, all of a sudden it became essential. Let me say this as plain as I can. God can use you in your abandonment. And here's where it gets really powerful. Circle this. Three days are gone. Don't rush past that. Three days. Three days of weakness. Three days of silence. Three days of being overlooked. And I think you've heard that number before because all throughout scripture, God does something amazing on the third day. On the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and sees the provision. On the third day, Esther steps out and the tide turns. And on the third day, Jesus rose from the grave. And here this is this little unnamed Egyptian servant three days into what looks like the end. And suddenly help arrives. David's men show up not by accident but by divine direction. So what looked like, hey, I've been left to die all of a sudden becomes, I've been kept for this moment. And I want you to watch the grace of the text. Before David ever asked him a question, they feed him, they give him water, they restore him, and the Bible says, "And his spirit came again to him." Don't miss that. His body wasn't the only thing that had gotten weak. His spirit had gone out of him. Hope had been gone. Strength was gone. Will was gone. Because when people leave you like that, when they abandon you, it doesn't just affect your situation, hurt your soul. And God didn't just send direction. He sent restoration first. And and here's the turn. The man who had no strength now has insight. The man who's been discarded now has direction. The man who was left behind now leads the charge because the very next thing that happens is David says, "Hey, can you take me to them?" And the answer is yes. And what that means is the one who was abandoned by the enemy actually becomes the instrument of defeat for the enemy. And that's how God works. Sometimes he takes you to the very place where you were rejected and turns it into a place where you can become effective. He can take a moment that broke you and use it to accomplish his will. He He can take the season where you feel forgotten and make it the turning point in someone else's story. So if you have ever felt like this man, if you have ever been left, if you've ever felt overlooked, ever been discarded, ever felt forgotten, hear this clearly. God has not forgotten you. Your weakness did not disqualify you. The abandonment of you does not have the final word. Because in the kingdom of God, the people that the world throws away are often the very people that God picks up and gives a new story to. So this man was discarded. He was thrown away. He was forgotten. But God didn't forget him. and and what looks random and hurtful to us is actually still under providence. So David asked him, "Can thou bring me down to this company?" And the answer was yes. So please don't miss this. the the same world that burned David's city, that took all that he had and stole his family, that same world is now going to provide the guide to David to restore it all. So the Amalachites came to cause devastation, but the Amalachite servant is going to become the pathway to recovery. The system that was designed to break him now contains the very piece that God is going to use to rebuild David. So let me say it again. God can use whatever he wants. You know it says in Psalm I am the God of cows of you know the cattle of a thousand hills belong to me. says in another place that he does his will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of earth. None can stay his hand or reply, "What doest thou?" He can use an Egyptian servant in the field. God can use whatever he wants to even broken people, even unlikely in sources, even interruptions that you didn't plan for, even moments in your life that don't make sense of all. And then this broken abandoned man leads David straight to the enemy. And some of you right now might be frustrated because the path the path forward doesn't look spiritual enough. It doesn't look polished enough. It doesn't look like what you expected. But here's the real takeaway. Do not despise the field that you're in. Don't despise that moment when you're just lying there in the field because what might look like delay is actually direction. What what might look like and seem to be an inconvenience is actually possibly God's provision. And what looked like a forgotten man was actually a divine appointment. Because when God is restoring your life, he doesn't work around the damage. He works right through it. And it says in verse 16, "And we had brought him down, and behold, they spread abroad upon all the earth, eating, drinking, and dancing." So David and his people, they're coming on up. The Egyptian leads them. He sees it. The Amalachites are having a party. They're celebrating. and they think they got away with everything that happened at Ziglag. But what they don't know is that David had a word from God. And when you hear from God, it doesn't matter what it looks like right now. And it says in verse 17, "And David smoked them." And and they're escaped, not a man among them. So this victory is decisive. This victory is complete. This victory is restoration in motion. And then here we have it in verse 18. And David recovered all that the Amalachites had carried away. Not some, not most, says all. And there was nothing lacking. It says neither great nor small. David recovered all. I want y'all to let that settle in for just a second. Nothing's missing. Nothing was broken beyond repair. Nothing was permanently lost. Because our God, when he restores, he doesn't do it halfway. And it says verse 21, "And David came to the 200 men which were faint." So you get the picture. The Amalachites were devastated. He gets his 400. They go on back to Ziglog. They came on to the 200 to the ones who couldn't go to the ones who stayed behind. And the people that weren't even in the fight, they get restored, too. Their wives are given back. their sons and daughters are coming home. They didn't fight. They didn't push through it. They didn't earn it. And here's what happened. Some of the people that went into battle in the 400. They said, "Those people didn't help us. Don't give any of the spoils to them. They didn't fight. They didn't risk their lives. They didn't earn it." Guys, does that still sound familiar to you? Do do you ever have a voice that says, "Man, you you didn't do enough. You're not strong enough. You're not good enough. You don't deserve this." That voice is still around here. But this is what David says in verse 23. You shall not do so with that which the Lord hath given us. David knows that all this that he got restored to it was given to him by the Lord. Everybody, the strong, the weak, the fighters, and those that had to rest share in the same victory because the victory didn't really come from them. The victory came from God. And it sounds a whole lot to me like the gospel because the reward that we have isn't based on how strong we were. It's based on what Jesus did for us. according he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. He chose us according he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him and love having predestinated us for the adoption of children but Jesus Christ. He he predetermined our destiny. He adopted us according to the good pleasure of his will. Not your merit, not the battles that you fought. his will. And it keeps on going. This it's really good because it says, "And David came to Ziglo and he sent the spoils unto the elders of Judah." What? Judah? He hadn't been in Judah in over two years. And he send spoils. I mean, it's his tribe, right? But he hadn't been hanging out in Judah. So, he sends spoils into the elders of Judah, saying, "Behold the present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord." So David just starts giving it away. I mean, not only did he get the the wives back and the children back and the stuff back, but the Amalachites brought their own stuff. They brought their own gold. They brought their own weapons. They brought their own sheep. They brought their own cattle. So David not only is restored, he's enriched. And he says, "Hey, let's start sharing some of the riches." And so he goes on over to the tribe of Judah and he says, "Hey, enjoy some of the riches." He starts to give it away because you know what? Restored people should be generous people. to whom what's the scripture say? To whom much is given, much is expected. And you know when

when you know what it's like to lose everything and then get it back, you just don't hold it again. You you open your hands. You you bless others. You remember where you came from. So let's land the plane on this message. What do we do when everything is gone? Well, encourage yourself in the Lord. When you have those moments of absolute devastation, when you've cried that cry that doesn't seem like it's ever going to end, you can encourage yourself in the Lord. You can seek him before you move. You can you can trust that he still speaks even if you haven't talked to him in a long, long time. You can follow even when you're tired. You receive even when you don't feel worthy. And and remember this, the story does not end in ashes because God specializes in restoration. And ultimately ultimately the story points to a greater David. Because there was another moment where it looked like everything was gone, where where hope was buried, where the followers had scattered, where it seemed like the enemies had won. But three days later, everything that was lost was restored and then some. So if you're standing in your own version of Ziglag today, I want you to hear this. It's not over because when everything is gone, God is not. If you'd like to serve our Lord as we do here at Camp Creek Church, give that chance opening the doors.

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