Read: 1 Samuel 30:1-10
David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. (v. 4)
In January 2025, the world watched in horror as entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles burned to the ground. Drought conditions and high winds aggravated wildfires that burned for 25 days. In the end, 31 people died, and more than 50,000 acres and 16,000 homes, schools, churches, and businesses were consumed by the flames. Some lost everything they had worked for all their lives, returning only to find rubble, ash, and stone.
David and his fighting men returned to their home base, Ziklag, and found a very similar scene. While they were gone, a band of Amalekite raiders came into the village and took everything—their wives, sons, daughters, and possessions. What they didn’t take they burned. David and his men saw total devastation; who could tell where the raiders had gone or whether their families were still alive? No wonder they wept until they could weep no more! Their grief turned to anger and bitterness, and some spoke of stoning David himself. Somehow David alone had hope as he looked past his despair and “strengthened himself in the LORD his God” (v. 6). After consulting with Abiathar the priest, he rallied the men to go after their wives and children.
A broken heart can turn to despair, or it can cling to hope. David had hope because he knew the Lord his God, and that hope gave him strength. The destruction at Ziklag was not the end of the story.
As you pray, ask God for hope in your most difficult of circumstances.
Laura N. Sweet is a wife, mother, grandmother, and former Christian school teacher from Midland, Michigan. She writes devotional material for both adults and children, and her work has appeared in more than a dozen publications.
