God's Plan Matters: 1 Samuel 30:16-20
God’s perspective is the one that matters. He knows how the story will end. We struggle to see His overarching plan because we are in the middle of it. Life gets in the way of us seeing God’s hand clearly at work. God’s perspective is different. God knows how He will demonstrate His victory in our lives.
The Amalekites celebrate hard because of their successful raid. They leave themselves vulnerable to attack in their moment of triumph. They show great propensity for claiming defeat out of the jaws of victory.
Human beings love to do this. When we are in a valley and the world is against us, we raise our defenses and stay on alert. When life is kicking us, we prepare ourselves because we know something is coming. On the other hand, when everything happens according to our desire, we lower our defenses. When life goes our way, we get complacent and comfortable. When we live on the mountaintop, we allow ourselves to become vulnerable.
The Amalekites won an easy victory by picking off villages whose fighting men were elsewhere. They stole people and animals without much effort at all. As they plundered and easily won wealth, the world was at their feet. Their feeling of invincibility left them open to attack.
David and his men come upon the camp of the Amalekites with the help of the Egyptian. The fight against the Amalekites lasts over a day, with David’s men scattering the Amalekites before them. While the Bible doesn’t tell how many people David lost, a group of young male Amalekites flee before David’s force. The size of the group fleeing was equal to David’s entire company of soldiers. The battle must have gone overwhelmingly well for David.
It should have gone well for David. He caught the Amalekites by surprise, and they were drinking in celebration. They were most likely separated from their best weapons and may have only had their personal defense weapons like knives on their person. Because of the drinking and feasting, they would struggle to fight with the necessary reaction times to defend against attacks.
More importantly, God fought on David’s side. God made the victory overwhelming. God helped David restore his fortune. God brought judgment upon the Amalekites.
We see the scope of God’s hand at work. God restores David’s livelihood at the same time as He brings judgment upon the Amalekites. The Amalekites won’t be completely removed from civilization until under King Hezekiah, but God continues the work He called Saul to accomplish.
At the beginning of this story, the Amalekites looked like the winners and David looked like the loser. In the end, neither perspective turned out to be the perspective of importance. God wanted to demonstrate His glory to David. God wanted to punish the Amalekites. God’s perspective is the one that matters.
