David Spares Saul

Connection and Tension

Christians tend to want control — people tend to want control.

It’s interesting b/c we so often say we trust God in this space but then our actions seem to say something different.

Story of when I’ve done that —> serving under Robert. Desiring to plant a church but God saying not yet.

Word

Recap 1 Samuel 18-23

David beats Goliath and starts to gain popularity among the nation.

Saul becomes jealous and tries to kill David, however each time David came out more powerful and popular than before.

David throughout this time remains loyal to Saul - to an unhealthy point.

As Saul's pursuit intensified, David was forced to live as a fugitive, gathering a group of supporters including a priest, a prophet, and a small army.

But David is still not the proper king.

1 Samuel 24:1–3 NIV

1 After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” 2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. 3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave.

Located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the Qumran Caves

Insert Picture of the desert and the Hyrax

1 Samuel 24:4 NIV

4 The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ ” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

Paint the picture of what’s going on.

1 Samuel 24:5–6 NIV

Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.”

David feels terrible for what happened b/c clothing means something in the ancient world. To tear your clothes was to mourn for someone. For David to tear off a piece of Saul’s clothing was almost like he had intention of attacking Saul.

It’s not lost on David especially with the language he is using that he is currently anointed as king and doesn’t want to start the nation of Israel down a path on assassinated kings.

There’s also a sense here that David is constantly following the Lord’s leading, and he doesn’t have the go ahead from the Lord to kill Saul. Something told him not to, HS.

1 Samuel 24:7–8 NIV

With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way. Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

David is positioning himself to show Saul that he means him no harm. If you’re David you’ve got to be conflicted, I mean this was the king and the guy you spent a lot of time with b/c you where his harp player. David was close with Saul’s son Jonathan.

1 Samuel 24:9–13 NIV

He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.

Preach line by line, stopping and explaining as necessary.

GET A PIECE OF TORN CLOTH FOR ILLUSTRATION

1 Samuel 24:15–16 NIV

May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.” When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud.

I feel bad for Saul, he’s desperate and has lost his grip on power and it would seem reality. Realizing the gap between himself and David, the character gap, Saul weep. B/c he knows he looking at the new king of Israel. The king that he should have been but didn’t have the character to be.

ABOVE ALL ELSE — become a person of character.

1 Samuel 24:17–19 NIV

“You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today.

Then we get to hear what Saul really wants out of all this.

1 Samuel 24:20–22 NIV

I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.” So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Keep verse 21-22 mind for a later message.

David allows Saul to live and they go their separate ways.

Application

Here David is at his best, waiting on God’s timing and not trying to manipulate the fulfillment of the divine promise that he would be the next king Longman, T., III. (2014). Old Testament Essentials: Creation, Conquest, Exile and Return (p. 145). IVP Connect.

Maybe some of you are in that season right now.

The hallway illustration. One room to the next, waiting for God to open the doors so you can get out of the hallway. You’re in the in-between.

There is a temptation to rush or force our way into the next room or season.

At work, you might be tempted to skip steps in your current projects to get to a promotion or new position faster.

You might even have the opportunity to advance if you talk poorly about someone else at work to the right people. It’s not wrong, Brandon, it’s water cooler talk on Monday, it’s networking. No, it’s gossiping, and it’s a sin.

Rush into the next stage of the relationship. You’re playing house before you’re married, having sex before you’re in a covenant relationship with them. You want to get to the next stage so bad you’ll kill the king to get there.

Rush out of a difficult season, lost a parent and instead of mourning the way God designed us to you’re rushing out into the thing, the next project or the next distraction.

See, we don’t like the in-between. We don’t like the hallway b/c it feels like we’re hovering, and we have either no direction or are not making progress. Here’s the issue you might not be making progress on the things you want, but God is making progress on the things he wants.

God’s delay doesn’t mean denial.

It just means he’s not ready for you to step through that door yet.

David no doubt wanted to be king, no doubt, but he trusted the Lords timing. He trusted the Lord’s delay.

That’s what you and I need to do also, not rush or force our way into the next season or the thing God has called us to, instead, we should...

Trust His delay.

It’s a divine delay.

Inspiration

We cannot see what God is doing in the background, but we know that he is working.

GET A PIECE OF TORN CLOTH FOR ILLUSTRATION

The piece of cloth is a reminder that God is always working in the background and we are going to trust his timing and his live as if God really is in control of everything.

Promises is the closing song