Retaking Our Safe Spaces

Scripture: 1 Samuel 30: 1 - 31

Theme: Victory Over Evil

Title: Retaking Your Safe Space

What do you do when your safe space has been invaded? What do you do when you are ambushed or face defeat? In this story about Ziklag, David shows us how to turn our(s) defeat into victory/victories.

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God our Father and from Jesus Christ, our Savior and LORD who came to take away all of our sins and infill us with His Holy Spirit.

This morning, I would like to talk to you about what we can do after we get knocked down. You know, when it looks like things in our lives are going well and out of the blue we find ourselves coming up short or facing something that has completely knocked us off our feet.

There are going to be times this upcoming year that we are going to face things that stop us right in our tracks.

+We didn't plan on losing our job, our house or our car.

+We didn't think that the news from the doctor was going to be that depressing or life changing.

+We didn't plan on the person that we love so much becoming so weak and frail so quickly.

+We didn't plan on the person we love so much having to move away or much worse having passed away.

+We didn't plan on this financial crisis happening at this time in our lives.

+We didn't plan on our children coming back and needing for us to take care of them instead of the other way around.

+We didn't plan on needing to take care of our own grandchildren.

+We didn't plan on this family member or that family member being overwhelmed by this addiction or that addiction.

In fact, we may have thought that we had careful and methodically created a very safe place for ourselves. We had our finances in order, our family seemed to be heading the right direction and for the most part life was good. We had planned it that way. We had worked hard to get it that way. All we wanted to do was to enjoy the fruits of all our labor.

This morning most of us like safe spaces. We like it when we have enough money. We like it when the office is a safe place. We like it when the school or wherever we work is a safe space. We like it when home is a safe place. We like it when our lives seem to be operating in safe spaces and zones.

In our Old Testament passage this morning David and his 600 men were pretty much enjoying life in a safe place. For the past year and a half they have been living in and around the city of Ziklag. The city of Ziklag had been given to David as a present by his friend King Achish for the fine work that he and his 600 men had been doing for him.

It was located just outside the area of Judah so David and his men didn't have to worry about King Saul. It was just far enough away from the political center of the Philistine government that the Philistines didn't keep a close watch over them. For the most part it was a great community for his men and their families to live and raise their families. It had all the trimmings of a nice and quiet safe place.

However, how many times have we suddenly discovered that our safe place are not so safe?

This is what happened to David and his men. While they were away tending to some business about 60 miles from home, some Amalekite terrorists had snuck up from the south and had raided the area around Ziklag. They had looted the city and completely burned it to the ground. They had captured David's family along with all the other families and had carted everyone and everything back towards their home region.

Tragically, all that had been safe for David and his men had vanished like a vapor of fog. Their wives, their children, their homes, their livestock, their possessions and their money had all vanished. All they could smell was burnt wood, old clothing and straw. All they could see was wreckage, rubbish and ashes. All they could hear was this eerie quietness, loneliness and loss.

Verses four through six describes for us the raw emotions each man experienced. What had started off as just another normal day suddenly became a day of uncontrollable weeping, intense anger and growing bitterness. Everyone's heart had been ripped open as they realized that everyone and everything they had worked for, loved and was dear to them had vanished. All that was left was a pile of ashes and boat load of pain.