1 Samuel 30:9–15

So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.

Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water. And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”

And he said, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion of the southern area of the Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”

And David said to him, “Can you take me down to this troop?”

So he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this troop.”

David catches a huge break here. He encounters an Egyptian servant who had basically been left to die by his Amalekite master.

The Egyptian catches a break too. He didn’t die of the illness that made his master discard him like a piece of trash, and now he won’t starve either. Needless to say, his loyalty to his former master is shot.

So he negotiates with David to ensure his survival.

This is a great illustration of God’s plans unfolding in real time.

When the LORD told David that he should pursue the Amalekite raiders, the Egyptian servant was already sick, abandoned, and alone.

Of course, if the Amalekite master had treated his servant decently, none of this would have happened. Now the Amalekites will be chased down.

But evil is as evil does. The Egyptian servant had little chance of being treated with compassion by these raiders. The minute he’s a burden instead of a help, he’s gone.

Once again, we see God using evil for good.

And the takeaway is the age-old lesson about goodness.

Always do the right thing without “calculating” whether it will be to your benefit—because the universe has an Author who cares about doing the right thing.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday ones are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to the DEEP click here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.