And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David's spoil.”
(1 Samuel 30:16-20 ESV)
Not too many verses back, many in David's band were ready to stone him. He had gotten them into one hot mess: They were enemies of both Philistia & Israel; they had lived life on the run, going from one place to another, and now they had absolutely nowhere to call home; the families and possessions they had managed to accumulate were nowhere to be found. Then David sought the Lord, and started making wise decisions again. The command of God to destroy the wicked Amalekites was still in effect, so he did all he could. In the eyes of all his men, their families, and everyone in the Negev, David was once again a superhero. All of the spoil was considered at his disposal to do with as he pleased. How often this plays out over and over, especially with our leaders: they either get all the blame or all the praise. Rarely is there a balance: it is one extreme or the other. How easily do you go to extremes? Is your life a roller coaster of love/hate, blame/bless, let them have it/let them have it all??? Keep in mind the kind of people who had surrounded David: the discontents. Have you and I learned to be content in whatever state we are?
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