Photo credits: caresbiblestudy
David couldn’t believe his eyes.
His Men were also visibly shaken to see the smoke that ascended from Ziklag’s ruins.
The fire happily ravaged everything made available to its angry surge.
The sight of the dilapidated Ziklag was a mockery to them;What a residential area for great men of war.
The Amalekites were good strategists. They knew the right time to strike was when Ziklag was stripped off its men of Valor.
If only David knew what fate awaited Ziklag in his absence, he wouldn’t have risked it to Amalekites blazing fire.
Everything was razed.
They were dazed further when they discovered their wives and children were missing.
Imagine these tired, valorous men itching to get home to their wives and children, only to be greeted by their absence and Ziklag’s mess. That alone must have stripped them off any ounce of strength left. They were so grieved and discouraged.
It took David a wholesome amount of strength to ask God for the next step to take. He encouraged himself in the Lord since he’s got no one to encourage him. His wives were gone and his men were at the verge of stoning him in their grievances.
David asked God whether he could pursue his enemies and still win the battle since the situation looked unredeemable.
The response God gave David got me thinking of how anything can be possible when He has got your back.God didn’t only promise he would catch up with his enemies, he assured him of total recovery.
I wonder how David was able to convince some of his men to follow him in his pursuit for Ziklag’s redemption. However, he did it and caught up with his enemies and recovered more than everything he had lost. Just because David chose to encourage himself in the LORD, he recovered all.
The lesson from this story burned in my heart and made me realize how possible it is for God to restore anything that is lost or destroyed if only we choose to encourage ourselves in him.
We live in a world where everyone is solely concerned about themselves.There’s a lot of problems to go round more than twice for every earth’s occupant. Everyone has got challenges to deal with so there are times you will be left with the only option of encouraging yourself in God.
Most times, the only thing the world has got to offer you are stones of criticism and regrets from being victimized. These sects will, like Job’s friends, add more salt to your injury. Little wonder why David had to turn to God for a solution. His trusted men would most likely stone him in the first place.
Dear Friends, the year is still much new and I won’t be surprised if our experiences have been topsy turvy so far. I can relate well with that…lol.
God is calling us to find strength in Him to run the race he has apportioned to us this year, and to pursue for a total recovery of what we might have missed in the past years.
The thought of the magnitude of ruins from past mishaps might be scary enough to discourage us from taking the first step towards recovery like it did to David. Trusted people in our lives also might not bate an eyebrow when we solicit for their assistance.
God is saying total recovery is possible if we will continually choose to encourage ourselves in him, and the best way to do that is through his Words.
So, in addition to our sweet themes for this year, 2026 is a year of encouraging ourselves in God to run and recover.
It is still possible to recover no matter how impossible it seems — Refurbished and repopulated Ziklag can attest to that.
God bless you.