The Worst Day of David's life

By Katy Key

After being away on a military mission, David and his men return to their home in Ziklag only to discover that their city had been burned to the ground by the Amalekites and their wives and children had been carried away as hostages.

When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their

families, they wept until they could weep no more. David’s two wives, Ahinoam from

Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, were among those captured. David

was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and

daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the LORD his

God. Then he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring me the ephod!” So Abiathar brought

it. Then David asked the LORD, “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch

them?” And the LORD told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that

was taken from you!” So David and his 600 men set out…. (I Sam. 30:1-9a. NLT).

There were certainly other occasions when David wept but I think there was no other day in his life when he cried like this! For one thing, the destruction of Ziklag and the abduction of the women and children was unexpected. It was a surprise attack. He didn’t see this coming. He had no time to prepare. Often hardship and adversity fall like a thunder bolt out the blue.

For another thing, this painful experience came on David when he was doing God’s will. If this had happened after he had sinned with Bathsheba, we might be able to understand it. But this tragedy occurred when David was living in obedience to the will of God. Many of us have experienced hardship and pain in our lives when we did something stupid, or we committed some sin. But how do you explain it when someone who is fully devoted to the Lord and completely committed to doing his will falls into adversity and tribulation?

Let’s make sure we understand the bigger context of what is happening here. After years of

running from Saul, of living and hiding in caves in the desert, David and his men have finally

found a place of refuge in Ziklag. Here they were able to find a measure of normalcy, stability, and safety. At last, they can settle down, raise their families, and establish a new identity. It must have felt like God had finally answered their prayers and given them a new place to call home.

But then, disaster! While David and his men are away, the Amalekites come and destroy the city and take all the women and children captive. David and his men are so shaken by what has happened, they weep uncontrollably. They have lost everything. The situation is so bad that David’s own soldiers consider stoning him! Yes, this was surely the worst day of David’s life.

The question I want us to consider is this: What do you do on the worst day of your life? How do you respond when things fall apart, the bottom drops out, and you realize you have lost everything? This chapter tells us how David responded when just such a situation came to him. What David did on the worst day of his life is a biblical model for how we should respond when something tragic happens to us.

First, David and his men “wept until they could weep no more” (v. 4). It’s a good thing when we respond with the appropriate emotions to the challenges of life. In fact, emotions are part of the image of God in us. Just as Jesus expressed grief at Lazarus’ death (Jn. 11:33-35), and anger when he cleansed the Temple (Jn. 2:15-17) and cursed the fig tree (Matt. 21:18-19), we too are encouraged to express honestly what we feel. God wants us to have emotional integrity.

Second, David refused to get bitter or to look for someone to blame. The Scripture emphasizes the contrast between David and his men. They became “very bitter” and “began to talk of stoning” him(v. 6). In other words, they allowed the poison of bitterness to take root in their hearts. They looked for someone to blame. This only succeeded in making a bad situation worse. David chose to take another path. On the worst day of his life, we see David’s greatness in the fact that he refused to give in to bitterness.

Third, David “found strength in the Lord his God” (v. 6). The King James Version says that he

“encouraged himself” in the Lord. David had lost everything and was completely alone. He had nothing – but God. Maybe, just maybe, the worst day of David’s life was the best day of his life because now he was about to see what happens when God is all you have!

Fourth, David sought the Lord’s guidance. “Bring me the ephod!”, he said (v. 7).The ephod was that part of the priestly garments which contained the Urim and Thummim. Kept in a pouch attached to the ephod, these two stones enabled Abiathar the priest to discern the will of God . (see Ex. 28:30) In response to his request, Abiathar revealed God’s plan for what David should do next. On the worst day of his life, David knew that the most important thing he could do both for himself and for his men was to discern the will of God.

The final thing David did was so simple you might overlook it. “So David and his 600 men set

out…” (v. 9). In other words, they stopped weeping, stood up, got their directions, took a deep breath, and began to walk in faith, committing themselves to the will of God. When you are having a horrible, no-good, very bad day, this is often the thing that is hardest to do: just get up and take the next step.

About three months ago, my mother-in-law passed away. What a lovely Christian lady. She had left very specific instructions concerning her burial. At the graveside, a trumpeter was present, not to play taps. No, his assignment was to play Reveille! The word means “wake up” and is typically associated with the beginning of the day, not funerals! Before she died, she explained her thinking: “I’m not going to bed; I just waking up!”

O that we all might allow God to transform our worst days into those pivot moments when he begins to accomplish his greatest victories both in us and through us. Amen.

1 In the Fall of 2015, I (Stan) taught a Tuesday night Bible Study at the Francis Asbury Society (Wilmore, KY) on the life of David. When I got to I Samuel 30, I felt led to ask my wife Katy to teach because I knew this was a passage she had meditated deeply upon and had taught to a women’s Sunday School class some years earlier. This article is a condensed, and slightly edited, version of what she taught that night. For the full text, see the Appendix of my book Cross Purposes: Dying to Get a Life (Francis Asbur

y Press, 2023. Pp. 315-320).

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