PURSUE, OVERTAKE AND RECOVER ALL

PURSUE, OVERTAKE AND RECOVER ALL

In 1 Samuel 30:1-20, David enquired of the Lord with two questions “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” and God answered with two answers “Pursue them, he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”. Maybe David was not even sure of what he would do and whether he would recover. A thief cometh, to steal, kill and destroy and in Mathew 11:12, “and from the days of John the baptist the kingdom of God suffereth violence and the violent take it by force”. “The violent take it” means people must stretch forth and “take it”. God gave David a mandate to pursue, overtake and recover all. The devil has stolen a lot from us, but God is saying that whatever have been stolen shall be restored and that which the devil took violently away, or things he stole shall be recovered. Sometimes, what was stolen are glories of men handed to the devil by parents to keep all in the names of protection their children. Sometimes things of value are kept carelessly, and the devil picks it up. The devil can come through falsehood(deceit) to steal from us. You lose things through falsehood, for instance,through a false prophet that we engage with you loose glory and other precious things. We need restoration of all that we have lost.

David was in the land of the philistines and had fought a lot of battles. David from a good work of killing Goliath for the Israelites became a victim of Saul and was chased by Saul to kill him. Saul was angry to the extent of telling his son Jonathan that as long as David was alive he would be under threat. David had to take his parents to a place they would be safe. David went to Kelar and and he enquired of the Lord and realized that the would be attacked by Saul there, so he left the place. David was in anguish because all that was around him was under threat. In 1 Samuel 27:1, David was afraid that he will perish one day by the hand of Saul, so he decided to go to Philistine. This was the second time David had gone to stay in Philistine In verse 4, “And it was told Saul that David had gone to Philistine and Saul looked for him no more. Because he believed the Philistines will kill him. In 1 Samuel 30, David returned home after being rejected by the Philistine because he was Hebrew and saw that that they had taken everything. in verse 6 “the people with him taught of stoning him. David’s life was already a distress because asides the fact that he was in sorrow they now wanted to stone him. He was in a state of self-condemnation asking whether it is God that set him there. David could have thought in his heart that God was paying him back because in 1 Samuel 27: 8-12 he raided and killed Amalekites, Gehinites and Gizites, he would kill everyone without looking back and would lie to Achish king of the Philistines that he had raided the Negev of Judah or Jarahmed or Kenites. In 1 Samuel 29:1-10, The rejection of the Philistines because they were hebrews might be the hand of God causing him to return.

 David encouraged himself that God is merciful and had seen him through in times of trouble. We can encourage ourselves that we have been through trouble and God has brought us through. Psalm 42:5 is a Psalm of how David found encouragement in God alone, even his trusted men could not encourage him. In Samuel 30, David enquired of the Lord by asking Abiathar to bring the Ephod.

Abiathar had been with David for long but David had taken decisions on his own. It is when we enquire of God that he answers. Some people say that we serve a God that answers when we ask.

God told David to pursue, overtake and recover all. It is not everything that is taken that god wants us to recover. Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us”. It is important to enquire of the lord to know whether what we want to recover is not a weight that needs to be taken away.

 The Amalekites had gone for three days but the reason for the pursuit and overtaking was to recover all. A significant thing to note is David obeyed the word God gave him and the men that taught of stoning him now worked with him to recover all. Out of the 600 men with David, 200 men drew back. People walking with us can draw back but we need to be encouraged because God is with us and we will recover all back. David took up the task of recovering all with the 400 men with him even though this number was considered small with respect to the number of the Amalekites.

A thing to note here is in 1 Samuel 30:11-16,  when a young Egyptian man that was faint helped them to find the Amalekites after they fed him because he was weary with starvation for three days. The key to our recovery might be in the hands of helpless people. We must always stop to do good to people even on our way to recovering all because it is the lifestyle of God and might just be the link to our breakthrough. The young man’s soul returned, and he guided them to the place they did not even know the Amalekites were residing. David had victory, none of the men escaped except 400 that escaped on camels. David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away. We can recover all the devil has stolen.

What are the things we can recover?

Bible says, “Recovering all"

1.   Proverbs 6:30-31- Here it talks of recovering our material resources. Job 20:15 ”They have swallowed riches, but they will vomit them out; God will make them vomit their riches up from their bellies”. 
2.   Jeremiah 30:17- “But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the Lord”. We can recover our health. Psalm 103:3 “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” Psalm 107:20, “He sent out his word and healed them;”. Hosea 6:31 “He will heal us, he will bound up our wounds”. One of our major restorations is that of our health. 
3.  In Psalm 23:3, Restoration of our souls, minds and heart. Some people’s soul has been arrested by the devil. Job 33:30, “To bring back the soul from the pit”. Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me”. God will restore us to the right mindset. 
4.  In Joel 2:25, “i will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten” God is a restorer of time even when it looks like you are running late in a lot of things we can recover stolen time.

 David had to enquire of God and encourage himself with the understanding that even if others fail, God will not fail. In 1 samuel 30:6, David encouraged himself and found strength in the Lord his God. Proverbs 3:6, In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. In Psalm 27:4, David prayed “One thing have i desired, that i may dwell in .....and to enquire in his temple”. The 200 men that were tired and did not go for the battle of recovery also had their wives and children taken by the Amalekites. If it has been stolen it must be recovered, we must not be tired.  In Samuel 30:4, David and his men had wept till they had no strength left in them. Where do we spend energy, is it at weeping or at chasing after that which we need to restore.

Only our Lord Jesus Christ can give us strength to pursue, overtake and recover all good things we have lost. Join the prayer below to accept the Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, I come to you, forgive me all my sins. Accept me into your kingdom. Give me the strength to pursue, overtake and recover all the devil has stolen from me in Jesus name.

MINISTER: SAMUEL OGUTA