Deeper Reflection
THINGS JUST HAPPEN. This is a reality in life. Things happen which we do not anticipate or suspect. If they are good things, we are fine with them. But what if they are bad things and we are totally unaware when they happened? This happened to David while he and his men were returning to Ziklag from Aphek: “Then it happened…” (v.1; cf. 1 Sam 29:11). While David and his men were away from Ziklag, their hometown (1 Sam 27:6), the Amalekites raided Ziklag and overthrew the city and burned it with fire, and “took captive the women and all who were in it” and “carried them off” (vv.1-2). When David and his men reached home, they got a rude shock as they discovered what had happened: their home was destroyed, and their wives and children had disappeared (v.3). Now, let us look at what happened to David when he was away from home and what happened to his home at the same time. When David was away from home, God in His quiet presence and timely intervention rescued him from his self-made tangled web at Aphek (1 Sam 29:1-2, 6-11). But at the same time, great troubles happened at his home. Looking at these two situations of the same person, do we say that God was present in one – a positive experience − but not in the other – a negative experience? Theologically, it is not, although we may feel that way when this happens to us. Troubles can happen alongside divine activity in our lives.