By The Brook Besor

OPENING PRAYER:

Renew me day by day, Lord, so that I may shine with your glory and bring honor to your name.

READ: 1 SAMUEL 30:16-31

16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”

21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. 22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”

23 David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. 24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” 25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.

26 When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.”

27 David sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir; 28 to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa 29 and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; 30 to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak 31 and Hebron; and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.

1 SAMUEL 30:16-31

REFLECT:

Jesus told us to come to him and he would give us rest. Rest in him now. His yoke is easy and his burden light. David’s men weren’t professional elite fighters – they were the fugitives and rejects of Israel, as you’d have to be to choose to throw in your lot with your state’s number one enemy as he hid out in the wilderness. When they returned to Ziklag to find their wives and children taken as plunder, their lament fast turned to murderous anger toward their leader (v 6).

With God’s assurance of success, David got them refocused on a rescue mission. But they were exhausted: two hundred of them sank to their knees and could go no further than the Besor Valley (vs 9,21). And there they were, soaking their aching feet in the brook when the 400 made their triumphant return, having recovered every single person and possession taken from them (vs 18–20). This is one of those moments in David’s life when the fruit of his ongoing closeness to God is in shining evidence. He knows God’s favor and generosity toward him is undeserved, and he blesses those undeserving men by the Brook Besor (vs 21–25).

We may be flagging. We may have even stopped in our tracks. The road of discipleship is bumpy and long, and the other side of the valley seems impossibly distant. Know this: there is grace for us, and mercy, and kindness.

APPLY:

When you are weak and weary, trust God to carry you.

CLOSING PRAYER:

I ask, Lord, for the gift of generosity. You have given me so much and I want to bless others. Thank you for your generosity with me.

WORSHIP:

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