Ziklag

"Ziklag," you say, "What's a Ziklag?" Well, we'll get to that. First off, I'm reading this absolutely amazing book called "After God's Own Heart" by Mike Bickle, if you haven't read it, I would urge you to do so! It will change so many views on your own life!

I'm looking at the life of David, the man of whom is said to be one after God's own heart. He had many different seasons in his life, but specifically he had six seasons: Bethlehem, Gibeah, Adullam, Hebron and Zion. Bethlehem is the faithfulness in small things, Gibeah is the test of early promotion, Adullam is the cave of difficulty, Hebron is the beginnings of the prophetic purpose, and Zion is the promises fulfilled. It would take way too long to go through them all, so that is why I just urge you to get this book. I'm looking specifically at the ending of the season of Gibeah. After the season of Gibeah in David's life, David found himself suddenly fleeing the palace as Saul equipped three thousand men to seek him out and kill him at all costs. Instead of running to God, David ran into the enemy camp, seeking refuge from Saul's wrath. He promised loyalty to King Achish, and the king gave him the town of Ziklag for him and his followers. David and his men would go and kill Israel's enemies (the Amalkites, Girzites and Geshurites), burning everything to the ground so that no one could escape, and then went back to King Achish, and decieved him into thinking that he was killing Israelites. "David lived with terrible tension inside of him. He was a man divided. On the one hand, he still had great zeal for the Lord....On the other hand, he was living in compromise and using the favor and anointing of God in a wrong way" (After God's Own Heart, Mike Bickle). David, in this period of his life, was neglecting his destiny, disobeying a prophetic word, disregarding his other prophetic promises, betraying Achish with lies, and endangering his men.

This lifestyle went on for sixteen months in David's life, until God stepped in and burned down Ziklag. David was left with nothing. The Amalekites had come in and burned down the entire city, and captured all of their wives and children and belongings. David's men were even thinking of stoning him! But in the midst of all this, David decided to turn around and do the right thing. He repented of His wrongdoings, and immediately got up and followed after God with all his heart again. He didn't wait for a certain amount of time, thinking that he wasn't good enough for God's mercy, he thought of himself as loved by God, and, asking the Lord first, he pursued his enemies and recovered everything that he had lost! And that very same day, David's main enemy, Saul, died in battle. "In one day God delivered David from the place of his compromise, delivered him from jealous King Saul, and gave him power to recover all that was taken by the Amalekites."

Anyway, after looking at David's life and history dealing with Ziklag, THE IMPORTANT PART OF THIS BLOG:

We all have our Ziklags. We all may have had a place of sinful pleasures that we ran into, a fortress where we could escape God and enter into the lands of our enemy, where we thought He couldn't get to us. We still wanted to seek after God, of course, and we still fought the enemy, yes, but we still had things entangled in us from our past that were gripping us. I definitely did, anyway. I ran to my fortress where I thought I was safe, and though I still served God, and pursued after Him, I was deceiving others and suffering in sin on the side. But the beautiful thing is, that God burned it down, and resolved everything in an instant. I got up, and realized that God loved me, He didn't care about my past, no matter how recent it was! I am God's favorite, and there's nothing that can get between us! And in the same way, He can burn your Ziklag down, no matter how big or small, and you can return to the lands of your ancestors immediately, and serve the Holy One of Israel, who will never leave you!

Psalm 203:13-14 - As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.

Jarrod