Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a summary of yesterday’s broadcast of Your Pathway Home. In that, Jason Schofield and I discuss David’s example of strengthening yourself in the Lord when life comes crashing down.
_____________________________________________
There are moments in life when the bottom falls out from under you. Days when you come home expecting rest, relief, and a little peace, only to find everything on fire. That’s where David found himself in 1 Samuel 30.
After three days of exhausting travel, David and his men returned to Ziklag to discover smoke rising in the distance. Their city was burned. Their families were gone. Their homes were ash. These were hardened warriors, men who had seen battle and tasted loss, and yet Scripture says they “wept until they had no strength left to weep.”
If you’ve lived long enough, you know something about that kind of moment.
Maybe it wasn’t an Amalekite raid. Maybe it was a diagnosis, a betrayal, a broken relationship, a church conflict, a time of intense criticism, or a personal failure that caught you off guard. Whatever it was, the result was the same: you felt empty, overwhelmed, and unsure of what to do next.
And then came the pressure from the inside.
David’s own men, his friends, brothers-in-arms, and companions, turned on him. They blamed him. They talked of stoning him. It’s one thing to be attacked from the outside; it is another thing entirely when the people you love most misunderstand your heart or pile on the pressure.
Yet the next sentence changes everything.
“But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”
(1 Samuel 30:6)
That is the turning point in this story. And it can be the turning point for you as well.
David didn’t retaliate. He didn’t collapse. He didn’t run. He didn’t lash out. He didn’t shoulder the burden alone. He strengthened himself in the Lord.
What does that look like?
He remembered who God is. He remembered what God had promised. He sought the Lord before taking a single step. And he waited until God gave him clarity. Strength didn’t rise from within David. It flowed from above him.
And here’s the beautiful part: only after David strengthened himself in the Lord did he find the courage and direction he needed. God told him to pursue, overtake, and rescue, and David did. Everything that was lost was restored by the power and faithfulness of God.
Ziklag teaches us a truth we don’t always want to hear but desperately need to know:
You may not know what to do next, but you do know where to go next.
When life burns down around you… strengthen yourself in the Lord. When people misunderstand your motives… strengthen yourself in the Lord. When criticism stings… strengthen yourself in the Lord. When the church feels weary… strengthen yourself in the Lord. When you feel empty, discouraged, or alone… strengthen yourself in the Lord.
Your Ziklag moment doesn’t have to be the end of your story.
It might just be the place where God rebuilds your strength, redirects your steps, and restores what the enemy attempted to steal. Wherever you are today—exhausted, frustrated, discouraged, or simply worn down—know this:
God meets you at Ziklag. And He lifts you up again.
Hold on to Him. He’s not finished writing the next chapter.
Study the entire trajectory of David’s adult life, and the Ziklag episode was the hinge upon which everything turned. Prior to this incident, his life was a steady descent into rejection and despair. Afterwards, all the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place, leading to his coronation as king over all Israel. The turning point was David’s decision to “strengthen himself in the Lord.” Valuable lesson for modern readers.