“Hail mellow mell fet”
This is one variant of the usual “Hail fellow well met” that Billy Graham was credited with when he was in his nineties; a “senior moment”! President Joe Biden has given us a number of reasons to smile as he blundered in his speeches.
The Ziklag story is a little different. These are the opening lines found in 1 Samuel 30:
Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, 2 and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. 3 So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5 And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. 6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
This was the nadir in David’s vagabond life. Rejected by the Philistine lords from lining up behind them in their fight against Israel, David’s somewhat dejected ragtag army returns home after a three-day journey, and this:
A double whammy!
There is nothing left of their village – burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive.
You can cry all you can
David and his men did. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters.
Ah..an impending Sepoy mutiny! As it was, David was in great dismay with his two wives taken captive and now he had to deal with serious discontent in his army – men who had stuck with him through thick and thin, highs and lows, hills and dales as he scampered like a mountain rat, fleeing from Saul – were ganging up against him.
Utterly helpless. Is this the time when he pitifully wailed
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps.22:1)
The grace of God has kept most of us from descending to (our) Ziklag.
What is important here is to note that at this instance David strengthened himself in the Lord his God (pulling himself up by his shoestrings?)
To my mind, David passed a crucial test of faith at this point. After all he was a man who lived by the word as much as he lived by the sword. Hadn’t he stated over and over again that “God is his refuge and strength?” What good is that assertion if it doesn’t lend a hand at an hour of need?
Once David steadies himself 7 (he) said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”
And the answer came; “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”
Things begin to fall in place from thereon and the story ends with a mighty victory for David. The following verses are notable: 18 So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. 19 And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all.
The tables had turned. A remarkable victory from a seemingly hopeless position. Triggered by a display of faith. Yes,
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1-6 NKJV)