Have you experienced a “Ziklag” moment? These are times when we feel we have lost everything–and worse. It is sometimes during these horrific challenges that family and friends can seem absent in our struggle.
Have you ever been there?
When everything you hold dear is gone and everywhere you turn your life seems to be going up in flames? This is a word for you in this wilderness,
You can recover all.
We see an example of this in biblical times when David lost all—and then recovered all. In fact, he recovered MORE than what was taken.
I Samuel 30 recounts that tumultuous time in David’s life. “Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag. On the third day, the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire.
They had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great. They did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way.
So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire. Their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters.
David and his men returned from war only to find their homes ransacked, their goods stolen and their wives and children missing. All they valued was gone.
But if that wasn’t devastating enough, in the midst of this deep distress, David’s men blamed him for what happened and spoke of killing him.
You’ve been there. When all of a sudden close friends and even family seem to turn against you in the time of greatest need. Why? Because that is one of satan’s greatest tools–isolation.
David not only had to bear the grief alone, but he also feared for his own life in the midst of such great loss. It had to have been devastating. But you’ve had a devastating moment as well.
There is a saying that you are either in the wilderness, have just come out of the wilderness, or are about to go into the wilderness…it is true as we all experience wilderness seasons and yet, they can also be seasons of tremendous growth and if you can trust me, refreshing.
Priscilla Shirer’s book “One in a Million” reveals God’s love to each of us in, through and out of the wilderness seasons.
Available through my affiliate link here.
Maybe you are in a day that you feel all has been stolen from you and even those who you have turned to for comfort have turned their backs. And so you have wept alone. But God has seen your tears.
SEE ALSO: Your Day of Restoration is Here
If you find you are in a Ziglag moment, be encouraged for just as David’s story didn’t end there, neither does yours.
The first thing to remember is to inquire of the Lord. This is not a time to lament your situation, but to seek Him for answers. As David chose to keep his eyes on the Lord and not the circumstances, his turnaround was in progress.
I Sam. 30:8 “So David inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”
“And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”
Did you get that? Recover All!
David heeded this word and chose to set out. He had no idea where he was going or how he would recover all. And that wasn’t the point. The point was he chose to trust God to deliver.
That is important in your recovery. You have to heed the word of the Lord when He says, “You will recover all!” We can either let go of hope or move forward in recovery. We have to choose.
As you read the story, David not only recovers all, but what had been a devastating loss of EVERYTHING, was now turned into a recovery of all that was lost– PLUS MORE.
“So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. 19 And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them;
David recovered all.
Not only did David recover all that had been stolen, but he took the spoil of the Amalekites. There was such abundance that he sent gifts to the elders of the land to give testimony of all God had done to restore and recover.
There is a power in Ziklag moments when we take hold of God and allow Him to guide us out of them when we choose to begin to once again follow Him through the desert.
Are you in a Ziglag moment? Do you feel abandoned and hopeless in the circumstances you now find yourself? Don’t despair. Continue to inquire of the Lord and follow His leading for God will restore as you follow Him to the place that He leads and you will not only recover all that was lost, but an abundance so that you can bless others.
Has this connected with you? Have you come through a Ziklag moment or do you need prayer? Let me know.
Karen,
I know I’ve had my ziklag moments–as we all have had if we are honest. The key as you say is to continue to follow God’s leading. Thank you for this reminder.
Terry
The Writing Life
Amen!! Thank you for this wonderful encouragement today!
This scripture was placed on my heart as I finished your blog.
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.
Joel 2:25
Praise God!
Standing firm.
Love this word Mrs. HardiN and am excited to join your subscriber list. I emailed several months ago from the Oklahoma Mtns. About a children’s story.
I identify with this season of David’s but am so grateful to the Lord for exposing the spiritual disguises of Jezebel in my life. Is love to read any blogs you have on that topic!
Karen, Pat who just emailed you 10/11/2016 heard a voice slightly tenor some months ago say “Can you not take the spoiling of your goods?” I did not try the spirit and left it then 3 months later began thinking about it. I did let go of some things. What would this mean naturally and spiritually I wonder can you interpret this?
Thank you for this soul lifting write-up, it has lifted my heart and given me hope to hold on. And indeed I’ll inquire of the Lord and follow His leadi
I have a prayer request, I have been in a Ziklag Barron Wilderness Season for Five Years and it Just Got Worse As The Sixth Year Is beginning!
In 2016 after( 35) Thirty Five
Years of marriage my husband left for work and never return to our home! No goodbye! Blindsided!!
The next day a moving company showed up at my door with a big truck and a Clipboard demanding to take everything on the Clipboard as instructed by my husband!
When I asked where is my husband
I was told he is away on Vacation With His New Family!!!
Wait What?? I was in Shock and Disbelief saying We are his family!
My husband is The Head of his Huge Divorce Litigation Firm.
He paid all of our Adult Children to have Zero Contact with their Mother (Me).
He also Falsified Two Thousand Documents and Emptied All of Our Bank Accounts.
He hired Two Different Hit Men to kill me. But God protected me both times.
He dragged out the Expensive Divorce for almost Five years giving me no choice but to:
Empty My Retirement Account To Pay My Attorney Fees and Forensic Accountant Fees!!
And, than my husband knew just how to get away with giving me Zero Spousal Support and he Hid All The Money in Other Countries!!
That’s the short story of how Brutally Cruel he was.
As Bad as it all has been and having friends and family abandon me through it all made it even harder.
My hope was that God would bring my Son, “Sage” and Daughter “Hylah” back into my life After the Extremely Stressful Long Divorce.
Instead I just found out from a friend on December 13, 2020 that my Precious Daughter “Hylah” who is in her (30’s) Thirty’s and not married although she was hoping to be married and have children.
“HYLAH” HAS STAGE FOUR CANCER That Has Metastasized To Both Breasts, Her Lungs, Liver, and Lymph Nodes.
Hylah and Sage Refuse To Respond To My Pleading To Let Me See Her.
My daughter “Hylah” and My Son Sage Need JESUS‼️They Both Need Salvation In Christ and Baptism in the Holy Spirit!!
Hylah Needs a Miracle Healing!
She has Unknowingly Surrounded herself with people involved in
New Age Occult Witchcraft!!!!!
My X- husband said, he gave up on Me because I was always Reading the Bible, Teaching Bible Study or Praying for people!!
He walked away from Jesus as I Continue to grow in my walk with my Lord Jesus Christ.
My Son “Sage” and my daughter “Hylah” haven’t responded to my voice messages or text messages and told a family member cousin who lives in New York that they don’t want me back in their lives.
I’ve been grieving since 2016 but trusting God through my endless tears and prayers and loneliness.
This News About Hylah Is Worse Than Everything I’ve been through over the last Six years including ending up in ICU myself on 1/26/19 all alone hanging between life and death for days!!!
Please pray for Hylah, Sage, Salvation for them and Miracle Healing for Hylah and for Me, the Restoration, and Reconciliation of our Relationships. I Miss “Sage “and “Hylah” Everyday!!!
I devoted my life to Jesus first and than being a wife and mother. Putting all of them first and also raising my X- husbands two young sons.
Only to be abandoned by everyone for “money” even my own Sister who works for my X-husband!
Feeling Devastated By All The Loses. Including my Mother dying 1/6/19.
At least I was able to fly to New York and be at her hospital bedside for over two weeks!
She never wanted me rejected me in her womb and always said that I was a mistake and that she walked down to the Hudson River everyday of her pregnancy with me to throw herself in and kill us both.
My father was Verbally Abusive and Brutally Physically Abusive!
So all I wanted was to move to California as soon as I could and have my own family to Love and Cherish, giving them all the love, acceptance, and encouragement that I never got.
God chose Mother’s Day for me to be born and although my Mother said, take her away I don’t want her when I was born, I always loved and forgave my parents.
I spent my life trying to earn their love.
Out of her four children
God allowed me to be the only one with her those last hours blessing her, praying with her and over her.
I have spent my life caring for others and giving my all to others
only to end up all alone in the natural realm. How is this possible?
Now I Need Major Miracles for Hylah and Sage!
The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy!
I SAY NO MORE IN THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST MY LORD!!
Please pray for us🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Blessings In Christ
Tree
Dear Tree,
I am so sorry for all you have endured through this ordeal with your ex-husband and now this threat against your daughter’s life. From what you shared, you can see that there was a generational issue from your abusive father. But it can be broken as you know and probably have already taken steps to do. One book I highly recommend is “From Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship” by Jack Frost. It helps take the reader through the insidious progression of how things others do can take root in our lives and how to remove them. Don’t give up. Is 29:24 and 2 Tim 2:27 are also a great scriptures to pray over your kids for them to come out from under this deception.
Praying with you for complete recovery for you and your family..spiritually..$..emotionally..mentally..ssocially🙏💕🙏
thank you!