1 Samuel 24 -- The REAL Takeaway

I remember the first time I taught this chapter to high school guys.  Their imaginations were much more fertile than the chapter itself J  And of course their general take on the whole episode was one of humiliating your enemy.  But four words tell a much different story in verse 5:  “Later David felt guilty.” 

 

Why??  David held the office of king in high esteem, and even though God was using this encounter for His purposes, David saw what he’d done as “an insolent act of disrespect that humiliated Saul,” my commentary said.  Even though we’d be hard-pressed to find a Saul-supporter today, after all the proof of what Saul had tried to do to David, David was experiencing conviction.  No doubt God was using it to temper David’s judgment and to manipulate the entire episode for His intended result.

 

For David, as the opportunity first presented itself, he had to determine how God intended to use the occasion.  His men tried to assure him that Saul’s presence in their cave was divine intervention in response to David’s prayers and that Saul should be killed.  “David was too wise in the truth of God’s Word to interpret this event as a signal for him to kill Saul, for the law says, ‘You shall not murder,’ “ my commentary said.

 

God had other messages to convey, and the snipped-off corner of Saul’s robe indicated “that the kingdom had been transferred to David … and the cloth was proof that David did not intend to kill the king.”

 

David had prayed for God to vindicate him before Saul, proving that David was not out to kill him.  God allowed David to participate in his own vindication through these events, giving him “a holy boldness that came from a heart that was right with God,” my commentary added.

 

When we’re trying to determine God’s will, we’d better remember that David’s men were sure this was God delivering Saul to be killed, while Saul was equally sure that God had delivered David to him!  Perspective is everything, and the most important perspective isn’t ours but God’s.  We have to take ourselves out of the equation and ask God what He wants us to do in every situation, for we can all too often think that we know best. 

 

Father, thank You for showing me this even yesterday.  Help me to remember that “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” (Prov 16:32)

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford