Captive...not slain.

1 Samuel 30

   ¹And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;

   ²And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.

As bad as a day could get...

David's emotional forecast was bad and getting worse...

Still on the run from Saul...

And driven away from the Philistines because of his feigned madness...

He and his ragtag band of misfits made their way back home...

As they neared the city, smoke filled the horizon ahead...

Thick, black smoke that could only mean one thing...

Fear and horror gripped the men as their pace quickened...

And over the next swelling hilltop, their eyes fastened upon the scene and their worst fears were realized with a sickening feeling in like a brick in their stomachs...

Ziklag had been destroyed...

Completely...

David and his men were devastated...

They wept until there was no more power to weep...

In fact, his followers discussed stoning him...

   ⁸And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

You know why God told him to overtake them and recover all?

Because the women and children...

Which they loved so dearly...

Were merely CAPTIVE...

not SLAIN...

Your life might look like the smoldering ruins of Ziklag...

The small purpose and position of Ziklag...

Lies ruined by fire and smoke...

And the things you hold so dearly have been stripped away...

The tears flowed freely at first...

But now you "have no more power to weep."

You shall pursue...

Overtake...

Recover...

All...

You will recover all...

Because your "ALL" is not slain...

Merely captive...

And...

Like David...

When you walk back in to Ziklag...

You will be returning with more than you lost...

For God has a way of repaying...

I have seen His way...

They are Captive...not Slain.