Day 82 – 1 Samuel 30:7-8
Scripture Review
1 Samuel 30:7-8
"And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David." (1 Samuel 30:7)
This is the first clean breath David has taken in a while. In chapter 27 he talked to his own heart and went down to the Philistines. Here he does something far better, he calls for the ephod. I saw this response from David earlier in chapter 23, where he also called for Abiathar and the ephod in a moment of crisis. I see immediate fruit of David strengthening himself in the LORD. He does not stay in a state of panic, he turns to what he knows works. David was sensible that he had lost his way by leaning to his own understanding, and now he is back where he should have been all along, seeking direction from the LORD.
Ziklag is burned, the men are muttering about stones, the wives and children are gone, and yet the ephod is still there. The fire took the town, but it did not take God's appointed way of counsel. I have seen believers make shipwreck of a season and still find, to their surprise, that the throne of grace had not gone down with the rest of it. My commentary says, "When a man has made a mess of himself, let him get back to God's door first."
"And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." (1 Samuel 30:8)
The king in waiting sounds like himself again. No double speech, no slippery phrases. Just two clean questions, Shall I pursue? Shall I overtake? And the answer comes with the same clean force. Pursue. Look at the fullness of the promise, David will overtake them and recover all. What a beautiful reminder! God meets a man at the very point of his need with clear guidance and sure encouragement.
I am reminded that the discouraged believer must remember the Lord, rethink his strategy, and revive his spirit. David is no longer staggering around in grief. He has a word from God and therefore a path to walk. After encouragement in the Lord comes inquiry, then obedience, then movement.
The phrase "recover all," is one of those promises that would stir any grieved heart. Not because every earthly loss in every life is reversed exactly this way, but because in this verse God answers the ruin of Ziklag with a word of full recovery. The same God who let David feel the ashes does not leave him there.