King David

Saul’s Jealousy Intensified

Let’s start with some drama, shall we?

Imagine being Saul and hearing this:

1 Samuel 18:7 NKJV

7 So the women sang as they danced, and said: “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.”

THAT is like nails on a chalkboard for him!

Now, the words were meant to compliment Saul. After all, who else had slain thousands? But David was also being credited with ten times as many fallen by his sword.

And it seemed quite unfair. The people singing this were producing a major jealousy in the heart of Saul. At this point, he’s thinking that the only accomplishment left for David was to take the throne from him.

David’s Wait for the Throne

Now, the deal is: the throne was actually prophetically David’s. When Samuel had come to their house, you recall, and emptied the oil on his head in front of the family, it was assured that he was going to be kind.

Numbers 23:19 KJV 1900

19 God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

God will always promise things He will perform.

So, there was never a question of David’s destination, but it didn’t happen overnight, either. David was a youth when anointed. And he was thirty when he began to reign. So about fifteen years passed as David waited for God to fulfill this. David waited on the throne.

And very often, when God makes a divine promise, there is this waiting process between the time He pronounces it and when He performs it. And so we have to learn the art of Psalm 27:14…

Psalm 27:14 KJV 1900

14 Wait on the Lord: Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say, on the Lord.

Saul’s Attempts to Kill David

But it wasn’t some comfortable, peaceful waiting for David. Saul’s jealousy turned into murderous rage. We can see the violence play out:

1 Samuel 18:10–11 NKJV

10 …So David played music with his hand, as at other times; but there was a spear in Saul’s hand. 11 And Saul cast the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” But David escaped his presence twice.

The same exact situation played out another time in the next chapter!

David runs off into the wilderness. But in 1 Samuel 19, Saul commissions his own son Jonathan and all his men to go and kill David. Saul sent out several of these groups whenever he thought that he knew where David was. Saul himself led some of them.

Unfortunately, David’s waiting season was filled with distress, homelessness, and despair. But through it all, God was shaping David’s character and preparing him to reign.

I will trust God while I wait on His timing.

Hopefully, none of us will ever have our lives threatened while waiting on God’s plan to happen. But all of us are going to go through the process of dying out to our will, our plans, and our ideas of how to see God’s will completed.

In times like that, we have to remind ourselves that just like God’s ways are not our ways, His timing is not ours either. We struggle with His timing because we tend to be a “want-it-now” culture. Just a five minute wait at a drive-through can frustrate us. I heard somebody say once that the surest proof of our impatience is the fact that there are microwave instructions on a box of Minute Rice.

With God, we have to give up our demands of instant fulfillment.

Delay is not denial. It’s God wisely knowing the best season for His hand to move. So we trust Him and wait.

David Spared Saul’s Life

The difference between Saul and David is huge. We see it clearest in the way they treated one another.

Though David had done no wrong to Saul whatsoever, Saul repeatedly desired to kill him. And though Saul had clearly wronged David, David refused to kill Saul when given the chance - twice!

Now what we often like to do is to gauge how we’re going to treat someone else by how they have treated us. But in the kingdom of God, that’s not how things go. We have a higher way of living:

Matthew 5:43–45 NKJV

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Just as God shows mercy and pours out blessings on those who have mistreated Him, we are called to do the same.

David on the Run

David has survived multiple attempts to turn him into a kabob. And he decided that he would be safer if he would run.

He definitely could have fought. He was very able in battle. He was known as a military hero, so he could have tried to rally a great portion of the army to his side.

If he had been willing to do all of that, there was the possibility of a coup with his immediate ascension to the throne.

But David didn’t do that.

Would David be king one day? Absolutely. God had spoken it.

Did God need David’s assistance in forcing the issue? Absolutely not.

Even though it meant hiding in a cave surrounded by about four hundred men who were also in dire straits, and dealing with hunger and deprivation, it was better to run from Jerusalem and allow God to unfold His plan in His time, not David’s.

David’s Mercy Toward Saul

Now… in these moments that David was on the run from Saul’s chase to murder him, there were two times that David had been almost given a gift to take Saul out.

The first time, Saul entered a cave where David and his men were hiding. The second time, Saul was asleep when David discovered him. Both times, David could have easily killed Saul in an instant and became king.

And David’s men were urging him to do it. And to take what was rightfully his. That would naturally appeal to them because it would allow them to return to their homes and possibly even assume leadership roles in David’s kingdom. None of them would be on the run anymore.

1 Samuel 24:4 KJV 1900

4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee…

And then there was Abishai, another of David’s mighty men, saying:

1 Samuel 26:8 KJV 1900

8 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time.

But David didn’t break to the pressure of his friends or the desires of his own human flesh. Inside the cave, David carefully cut off the corner of Saul’s robe without Saul’s knowledge.

During Saul’s sleep, David simply took Saul’s spear and water jug. And after each incident, David alerted Saul to what could have been and how he spared Saul’s life.

Everything seemed to point to the face that David had a justifiable right for revenge. But he didn’t give in; He still trusted God.

I will be cautious when becoming critical of spiritual leadership

And why did David show all of this mercy toward Saul? 1 Samuel 24:10 gives the clear reason:

1 Samuel 24:10 NKJV

10 …and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’

And so here’s something important: David purposed in his heart that leaving his God-called leader in God’s heands was the wisest course of action.

And similarly, we should be incredibly careful about lifting our hands or voices against God-ordained spiritual leadership.

Because church leaders are human, they are flawed and can make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes can deeply hurt those they lead. It’s a reality of fallen humanity.

However, we would do best to leave any correction of them to God and those with properly delegated authority over them. We are better served to maintain carefully clean hands and a pure heart than to exercise any “right” we may feel to retribution.

God calls pastors and other spiritual leaders “gifts” in Ephesians. And we would do well not to abuse His gifts. If something is amiss, God is more than able to correct it through His channels.

David Waited for God’s Timing

Saul’s Death in Battle

Although David refused to strike down Saul when he had the chance—twice—he knew the Lord would judge Saul when God was ready.

God indeed judged Saul in the last chapter of I Samuel when Saul and his sons fell in battle against the Philistines. It is ironic—and even poetic justice—that the same enemy involved in David’s greatest victory produced Saul’s final defeat.

David’s Tearful Response

At Saul’s death much of David’s trouble ended immediately. No longer was the most powerful man in Israel seeking to kill him. His path to the throne was wide open. His future was secure.

One would think that David would find it hard to stop smiling at the way his prospects turned when Saul finally was gone. But that’s not the it reads…

2 Samuel 1:11–12 NKJV

11 Therefore David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. 12 And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

David showed an amazing characteristic of a follower of the Lord: not rejoicing when evil befalls people who might wish us harm. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us:

Matthew 5:44 NKJV

44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

When we trust God’s timing, we bear no ill will against those who appear to be opposing it.

God will do what He says in His perfect timing.

God can complete His plans regardless of what evil men or evil spirits do. He is sovereign, which simply means He exercises authority without any limits.

It’s often difficult for us to accept when God’s timing takes longer than ours, but we must remind ourselves that delay is not denial. In His infinite wisdom, God will complete every purpose He has ordained in each of our lives. His timing was perfect for David; it will be perfect for you.

Conclusion