Patience, David & Saul

Patience, In God’s Time and In His Way

Galatians 5:23-24

I Samuel 24

Pray

Hook - Opening Story

I grew up in a home where being on time was considered a matter of personal integrity. In fact when my family drives to Tallahassee to visit my parents and it is time to leave to go out to eat, or drive over to my brother house.

As the time to leave get’s close you can feel the tension rise.

There is this pressure, We must leave on time.

Even though the restaurant isn’t waiting on us. We aren’t going to meet anyone. You have to leave at the stated time.

If you missed your leave time you broke the 11th commandment.

When Susan and I got married I had this timelines as a value.

Susan grew up in a different family.

-Being on time was viewed differently.

-Outside of being on time for work, being on time was more of a suggestion.

-Being 10 minutes late for church or 30 minutes late for a large family meal just wasn’t a big deal.

I’m here to tell you that Susan and I battled our first year of marriage.

One of about 10 reasons was that we had a difference in expectation about being on time.

Susan learning to be patient with my hypersensitivity to time.

I had to learn to be patient with her sense of timeliness.

We had to learn patience.

What is patience?

Giving grace, when life is not done in my time and in my way.

Today my hope is that you will learn to rest in God’s time and His way.

In today’s message we will look at 4 points of patients:

1) When I am being wronged.

2)

3)

4)???? Psalms...

Patience finds its deep tap root in the fact that (I am not in control), but God is in control & He is good.

Because God is good & because He has been patient with me and given me grace, I will extend grace to others as well.

Because God extended patience to me when I was not following Him, He has called me to be like Him and extend patience to others.

Transition - In our passage today we will see a supernatural act of patients as David is Patient with King Saul.

I Samuel 24 Patients with the Lord’s Anointed

Here is the set up for our passage today.

The first king of Israel, King Saul - rejected the Lord.

King Saul had a major disobedience issue.

God’s plan is to eventually take the Kingdom from Saul and give it to King David.

Unknown to Saul, the Prophet Samuel secretly took David and anointed his head with oil as the next King of Israel.

David knows he is in line to be King. He is the next King.

In God’s great sense of humor. Saul places David in the court of King Saul

It’s David’s job to play music for Saul and settle his soul when evil spirits would oppress the King. David does this well.

David then goes on to kill Goliath, King Saul’s greatest single enemy.

David helps secure Israel’s future against the Philistines and supports Saul.

-While secretly knowing he will be the next King.

King Saul realized David is a man of war and would send David out to battle all over Israel against the enemy.

David risked his life, day after day in service to the King.

Because of all his victories David become even more popular than Saul.

Saul becomes very jealous.

-David supports Saul, even though he has been anointed to be the next King.

During peace time, David went back to playing music on the harp for Saul.

-One day while playing the harp in Saul jealous anger attempts to murder David by throwing a spear at him. David escapes.

...

David was Saul’s son Jonathan’s best friend. David was very good to Saul’s son. He was a great loving friend. Jonathan could see that it would be David and not Jonathan that would be the next King.

-Even as a great friend to Saul’s son Jonathan, Saul began to plan on how He would kill David.

-Saul attempted to kill David several times and David went on the run. He ran for his life, fearful that he would be hunted down and murdered.

-All this time that David supported Saul, never lifting a finger against him, David knew that God had chosen Him as the next King.

-David could have killed Saul at some point and taken the Kingdom that he was anointed to lead.

Why doesn’t David take the Kingdom.

He has patients.

What is patients?

Giving grace when life is not done in my time and in my way.

David deserved to be King of Israel.

He had already been anointed as king by the prophet Samuel.

He was more godly than Saul.

He was a better warrior than Saul.

He was more popular than Saul.

He had even written Songs that would later be in the book of Psalms. He wrote parts of the Bible.

Saul never did that.

In or passage today, David is on the run.

He is being hunted down like a fox on the fox hunt by a pack of 50 hunting dogs and men on horses.

David and his loyal men are living out in the wilderness, from water hole to water hole. Food is scarce.

David in the Wilderness of En Gedi in a place called “Crags of the Wild Goats”.

Rock out cropping near the Dead Sea.

Saul takes 3,000 men into the wilderness “Crags of the Wild Goats”

This area is dry. Dangerously rocky - twists and turns. It’s land is like dried crumbled swiss cheese. Holes, edges and caves all over the place.

Difficult to find hiding place if you are trying to hide and stay alive.

Transition

Being Patient when:

I am being wronged. (David being hunted)

Read I Samuel 24:1-5

There is something right off the bat that is really weird.

Verse 5, “And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.”

There isn’t a person in this room, that would feel bad for cutting a piece of clothing off the person that was actively trying to kill them.

David should make a “preemptive strike”

-Kill now before he kills you.

-No one would blame David one bit.

-Saul deserves death.

-Saul deserved to die in the same position Elvis died.

But, we see a supernatural response.

This is an other world response.

Read vs. 6

-David’s response cannot be explained by anything other than that the Spirit of God.

-David knew this.

-It God who places Kings and presidents in power.

-It is God who removes them from power.

-David was not going to cross the line and do only what God should do.

David was supernaturally Patient.

He gave grace, when life is not done in my time and in my way.

-In the New Covenant, God’s Spirit rests inside the Soul of a Christ Follower and empower you to be patients.

-In the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, the Spirit of God would rest on SOME, not all.

-The Spirit of God rested on David.

-The Spirit of God gave him supernatural patients.

But David chooses patients.

David believed that - God will handle this situation in his time and in his way.

David was patient while he was being wronged.

Before you were saved you wronged Jesus by sinning against Him.

Jesus was patient with you, and saved you.

Who is in your life that has wronged you?

Who is in your family, or work, or school that God is calling you to be patient with?

Pause

Dispel a false teaching about patience.

“If you pray for patience God will test you with difficulty.”

That is not true. There is no example of it in scripture, there is not teaching that says that.”

David’s patience didn’t come from him having a great Father who taught Him how to have patience.

-It didn’t come from exercising some kind of patience muscle.

-David’s patience was super natural.

-The Spirit of God was on David.

-David’s patience came from where all true patience comes from. From God.

-Your patience will not come from you manufacturing it in yourself. It only comes from God. It is a Fruit of the Spirit.

Patients is giving grace, when life is not done in your time and in your way.

Transition, The next area we see patience display is when

2.Patience when I I am given the opportunity to take control. - or when I have the opportunity to strike.

Reset the scene -

David is in the cave with his men.

Evil Saul comes in the cave to relieve himself.

Saul is very vulnerable.

This is the opportunity to take control.

If David was not going to take Saul’s life, David’s loyal men were going to take Saul’s life.

-They would gladly slither up to Saul and cut his throat.

-There would be no feelings of remorse.

-They knew who God’s Man was. - It was David.

-They would take control of this unfair situation and anoint God’s King.

-They would be the vengeful arm of God.

David says, “NO!!!”

Read verse 6-7

David will not take control of the situation.

This is not David’s situation to take control of.

He recognizes that this is a God situation, not a David situation.

DAVID gives grace when life is not done in his time and in his way.

What area of your life is God directing you to be patient in, that you are trying to take control of?

Maybe you feel out of control in your finances, in your marriage, in raising your children, in your job, in a relationship at school.

Just because you have the opportunity to take control, doesn’t mean you should take control.

Do you trust God enough to wait on His time and in His way?

Pause

Illustration -

There was a funny story of patience that a friend of mine told me recently that involved Taco’s. Yes, Taco’s

A buddy of mine I know well decided that he had a hankering for tacos… He would make tacos for the family one night.

These were not going to be the easy quick cheap tacos these were going to be top shelf high dollar - special meal tacos.

His tacos wound up looking more like fajitas...

He had the hard shell and soft shell.

Both warmed in the oven with melted cheese on the shells.

no ground beef, but sliced chicken breast and shrimp with taco seasoning on them.

taco sauce,

sour cream,

cooked vegetables (Peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms) with taco seasoning.

sliced fresh avocado

sliced fresh tomato

sliced fresh lettuce

no onions, because onions ruin everything.

-All this spread out buffet style.

This taco meal was so nice it would have been cheaper to take his family out to the mexican restaurant.

When it was all ready.

He calls for the family to come and make their tacos.

His 14 year old son comes in. Gets a soft shell with melted cheese and looks at all the fresh ingredients.

-The young man looks over at the counter were there is an opened 3 day old bag of tortilla chips.

-14 year old opens the chips, takes a hand full of chips and place them on his open soft taco, rolls it up and eats it.

-No taco sauce, no shrimp or chicken, no lettuce, just old chips.

My friend said he wanted to scream.

If you are an I-Carly fan you’ve heard of Spaghetti Tacos.

This 14 year old guy invented Nacho Tacos.

Patients is Giving grace when life is not done in my time and in my way.

Nacho Tacos

-God will move this obstacle out of my way in His time and in His way.

If you are an insrovert or a people pleaser. This is not an excuse to lay back and not take action. Be assertive.

those of you who struggle with control. OR Those of you who act before you think … patience

When we are not patient, we are taking vengeance.

Transition - The 3rd area our text calls us to be patient in is...

3. Patients when confronting

Read verses, 8-11

(How David confronted Saul).

humility, graciousness, patience.

God will handle it in His time and in His way.

Look at the grace given -

Humility - Bowed down, here is a giving of grace.

No accusing harsh tone, He asks, Why did you believe a lie against me?

David says, I have not plan or desire to harm you.

God was obviously at work in this situation.

Look at Sauls response.

Read verse 16-17

Saul wept & confessed his wrong.

God did this. God turned Saul’s heart to see the truth of David’s motives.

Many times when we confront someone in our family or someone at work, the motivation of our heart is to inflict vengeance.

I will make him pay. I will embarrass her in front of everyone when I make a scene. I will let him have it.

But patience in confrontation says,

I will ask God to work both in my heart and their heart. & I will

Give grace, when life is not done in my time and in my way.

Patience and trust in God during confrontation says.

I am not responsible for how the other person responds, I am only responsible for my response.

So we have seen the call to patience in:

I am being wronged.

I am given the opportunity to take control.

During Confrontation

Transition - If you will give me 5 more minutes we will close.

Would you please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 16:9-11

This is a Psalm of David.

We believe that David wrote this Psalm while in En-gedi, while he was running for his life, shortly before he cut Saul’s Rob in the cave.

Maybe a week or two before today’s passage

Psalm 16:9-11

David could have patients because He was not focused on Himself, but on God’s kindness and greatness.

You are most patient when your eyes are on the Savior.

You get this kind of patience by spending daily time with Him.

By experiencing Him and allowing Him to work through you.

Transition - We will close quickly with this one scripture

Gospel,

Psalm 40:1-4, This is also a song written from King David.

There are some of you here today that are in a pit.

Some here today need to be saved.

Trust in Jesus & His work on the cross to save you from sin.

You know you need Him. He is tapping on your heart right now.

He wants to save you. He loves you.

Others today are also in a pit.

You may be a Christ follower - but the pit of anger, control, sin, or anxiousness has had it’s way.

God wants to give you patients through His Spirit.

If this is you, would you call on the Lord and wait patiently?

I promise that He will hear you.

God in HIs love will come to you.

Through God’s great love He extends perfect patients to you.