Daily Devotional for Tuesday 30th January
Hostage crisis
David returns to his recently-acquired home city (Ziklag) only to find that disaster has struck – another ancient enemy, the Amalekites, has raided in his absence, and taken away all those people whom David and his troops had left behind. It’s touch and go for a while whether David’s men will turn against him – “But David found strength in the Lord his God” (verse 6).
The Amalekites are desert-dwelling people who have crossed swords with the Israelites many times over the years, going back beyond the return from Egypt all the way to the days of Abraham. Moses and Joshua fought them. Along with the Philistines, they were probably the biggest enemies Israel faced. When the writer of Samuel was writing this history down he must have been tempted to ‘miss out’ the bits that showed Israel’s heroes failing. But he doesn’t – he shows us a flawed hero many times, especially later in David’s reign.
Throughout the Bible, this is a recurring theme – the ‘great’ men and women often come from unlikely backgrounds and have ‘feet of clay’. They hit rock bottom with alarming regularity. Why does Samuel dwell on this when the main theme is all about how God looks after those who honour Him? I think the answer must lie in the truth that the Bible writers were inspired to write – that it’s not ‘heroes’ who save us: it is all the work of the Lord God operating through whoever He chooses.
Time to reflect…
This thought should teach us humility and reverence. We are never running the show, are we? We should always look to God to guide and protect us.
Another verse from yesterday’s beautiful ancient hymn (Come down O Love divine), from medieval Italy, talks of the sort of humility this understanding should generate in us:
“Let holy charity mine outward vesture be:
And lowliness become mine inner clothing.
True lowliness of heart – which takes the humbler part;
And o’er it’s own shortcomings weeps with loathing”
