Intro

Anybody used to writing 2023 yet? Usually takes me a month or so, and then sometime in May I’ll just randomly write 2022 instead.

Anybody stuck to your resolutions so far? I love to plan, but then the problem is in executing the plan. I’d say “life doesn’t always go like you planned”, but I think even that’s underselling it. It’s more like “life never goes like you planned!” There’s going to be good news and bad news in 2023.

Like the two guys I heard about were playing in a softball league together, and got to wondering if there is baseball in heaven. They weren’t sure, but they made an agreement that whichever one died first would come back and tell the other if there was baseball or not.

So one of the friends died, and sure enough, he came back and announced to his friend, “Well, I’ve got some good news and bad news. The good news is, there is baseball in heaven.”

“That’s great, what’s the bad news?”

“You’re scheduled to pitch this Friday!”

That’s the kind of news that David’s been getting lately.

Recap/Overview

We’ve been watching the Rise & Fall of David and Saul.

  1. Last week, David at Nob, then w/ the Philistines.

  2. Saul hears about David being at Nob, kills not only Ahimalech, but his whole family and the other 85 priests in Nob, and then for good measure, he took out the rest of the town. He treated the town of Nob the way he was supposed to have treated the Amalekites and King Agag.

  3. David’s still on the run, but he hears that the Philistines are attacking a small town in Israel, so he takes his ragtag bunch of 600 guys and rescues them. But then someone squeals to King Saul as to his wherabouts, so David has to get out of dodge.

    Jonathan comes to meet David for the very last time in verses 15—18. It says Jonathan “encouraged him in his faith in God.” This is the kind of friendship we need most, especially when when you’ve been getting mostly bad news like David has.

    Then in the last part of the chapter, David has his closest call yet. Some of Saul’s spy network alert him to where David and his men are hiding out, and they end up on opposite sides of a valley, just like the scenes we’ve seen before in Samuel with Israel and the Philistines. David and his men were retreating as fast as they could, but Saul’s army was just about to catch up with them when word came that the Philistines had attacked Israel, so Saul had to break off his pursuit, and David got away, just in the nick of time.

Which brings us to the beginning of Chapter 24.

Story, Part 1

When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness near En-gedi.” So Saul took three thousand of Israel’s fit young men and went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

1 Samuel 24:1–2

Beautiful but desolate area on the west side of the Dead Sea, here’s a couple pictures.

But what do you need if you’re out in the desert? Water, an oasis, especially if you have 600 men with you. That oasis is En Gedi, now a national park in Israel, Rhonda & Marty might even be there in a couple weeks!

When Saul came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave, so they said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

1 Samuel 24:3–4

Gotta be careful trying to interpret circumstances as God’s will. God can and does use them, but they’re always secondary to His Word, to His Spirit, to your church family and other believers.

It’s not so much the circumstances as it is our propensity to use them to justify what we already want to do in our hearts.

And, by the way, God is not the only one who might orchestrate circumstances, could also be Satan and his evil forces organizing the perfect temptation.

Afterward, David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “As the Lord is my witness, I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed. I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” With these words David persuaded his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul.

1 Samuel 24:5–7

My goodness, what’s the big deal with cutting off robe?

Robes are actually a feature in a lot of key moments in Samuel, on purpose.

Most OT scholars agree that cutting Saul’s robe was symbolically laying claim to the Kingdom, cutting Saul off from it. He’s saying, w/o saying, “I’m going to cut off the kingdom from you.”

At the beginning of a sermon, I read, write, and as I’m doing it I write down my own thoughts and questions. And on Monday this week, I wrote, “Seems at first glance that David’s men are right!”

But the text literally says, “he tore them up with his words.” David went into military mode, drill sargeant, tore his men a new one, put his foot down.

How did David have the strength to act this way when presented with the opportunity to take out his enemy? David is the Anointed One, after all, not Saul. He was, but not anymore.

Psalm 57

Be gracious to me, God, be gracious to me,
for I take refuge in you.
I will seek refuge in the shadow of your wings
until danger passes.

Psalms 57:1

David is looking to God as his refuge, not just the cave he’s hiding in.

He’s trusting in his grace.

I call to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He reaches down from heaven and saves me,
challenging the one who tramples me.Selah
God sends his faithful love and truth.

Psalms 57:2–3

He’s trusting that God has a purpose for this cave, for this trial, for his life; and it’s up to Him (God!) to fulfill that purpose, not David.

He’s reminding himself of God’s salvation and his unfailing love for him.

David has learned his lesson from chapter 21. And because his focus is in the right place this time, he can write this:

My heart is confident, God, my heart is confident.
I will sing; I will sing praises.

Psalms 57:7

He’s confident in the Lord—that’s how he could do the right thing.

When you have confidence in God, you can…

1. Listen to your conscience.

Afterward, David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

1 Samuel 24:5

Conscience is not something you hear about much, but Scripture teaches that it’s a critical part of the way God has wired us.

It’s like a warning light that comes on in your car’s dashboard. Two options…

Now because it’s a part of what it means to be human, it also means our conscience was also affected by the Fal. It isn’t always perfect.

Romans talks about brothers and sisters with a “weaker conscience”, people who feel guilty for doing something that’s not inherently wrong.

But it also says that even in that case, you should still listen to your conscience. To do something that isn’t wrong, but you think it’s wrong, is actually wrong.

And it also tells those w/ a stronger conscience about that thing to keep it between them and God. Fellowship trumps freedom.

This is really the story of two men, one with a conscience that is sensitive, and one that’s seared. Which kind do you have this morning?

When you have confidence in God, you can…

  1. Live with a clear conscience

2. Wait despite the conditions

All the pieces are in place, it makes sense…

David understood something we need to learn as well: you can never acheive the purposes of God by breaking the commands of God.

Ten Commandments, “thou shalt not kill”

This is a pattern of temptation you see all over the Bible. Satan holds up something that God wants to give you, or maybe even already promised to give, and then urges you to take a shortcut, step out of God’s will to get it sooner.

The temptation is to pursue the promises of the Spirit by the power of the flesh, outside of God’s will.

J.D. Greear

Where do we see this temptation in our own lives/hearts?

Work

A person who gets things done, even if you have to bend the rules.

Taking stuff from work, even if it’s something simple nobody will miss like office supplies or something. “Well, after all the time I put in here, they owe me.” Not if you got your paycheck they don’t.

Home

Shutting down rather than dealing with the issues, because it’s the quickest way to peace

Shaming kids into obedience rather than going after their hearts.

Church Life

Going to do whatever it takes to grow, even if it means being a mile wide and an inch deep.

The Orchard meeting, “we don’t live in Disney World, we live in the real world.”

That kind of thinking can creep in so easily. “I know God will provide, but…” But what?

therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

Isaiah 28:16, ESV

Shortcuts are always short term, we should be looking long term (eternity!).

There is nothing more practical than following the Spirit’s practices.

A heart that is established in true godliness will rather interpret Providence as trials of the faith and patience, as occasion to practice self-denial, than opportunities for self-indulgence.

A.W. Pink

Story, Part 2

After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David knelt low with his face to the ground and paid homage. David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’? You can see with your own eyes that the Lord handed you over to me today in the cave. Someone advised me to kill you, but I took pity on you and said: I won’t lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed. Look, my father! Look at the corner of your robe in my hand, for I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. Recognize that I’ve committed no crime or rebellion. I haven’t sinned against you even though you are hunting me down to take my life.

“May the Lord judge between me and you, and may the Lord take vengeance on you for me, but my hand will never be against you. As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness comes from wicked people.’ My hand will never be against you. Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A single flea? May the Lord be judge and decide between you and me. May he take notice and plead my case and deliver me from you.”

1 Samuel 24:8–15

Because of the confidence David has in God, and because his conscience is clear, he’s bold in his approach.

He’s humble, bows low, uses terms of respect and even love (my father-in-law).

Even gives Saul an out, saying he’s listening to others when in the text the only thing anybody’s ever told him is that David is not against him.

When you have confidence in God, you can…

  1. Live with a clear conscience
  2. Wait despite the conditions

3. Treat others with compassion & conviction

Conviction

David didn’t back down from the truth of what’s going on in order to please Saul’s itching ears.

As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness comes from wicked people.’ My hand will never be against you.

1 Samuel 24:13

That applies to both of them, doesn’t it? David’s innocence and Saul’s guilt. But he only applies it to himself, let’s God do the other part.

He confronts Saul with both truth and grace.

He was honest, but not brutally honest. There’s a way to be honest without being a brute.

David’s confidence in God’s goodness and justice (“may the Lord be the judge between me and you”) leads him to treat others with both conviction (“even though you are hunting me down to take my life”) and compassion (“my hand will never be against you.”)

When David finished saying these things to him, Saul replied, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have done what is good to me though I have done what is evil to you. You yourself have told me today what good you did for me: when the Lord handed me over to you, you didn’t kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go unharmed? May the Lord repay you with good for what you’ve done for me today.

“Now I know for certain you will be king, and the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. Therefore swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.” So David swore to Saul. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went up to the stronghold.

1 Samuel 24:16–22

Saul acknowledges the truth. He confesses that David is in fact the better man that Samuel told him about. He even cries. But notice I didn’t use the word repent. It looks like it at first glance, but in just a couple pages, David’s on the run again. His speech sounded good in the moment, but there was no heart change behind it.

Because of that, I think it’s important to point out something in that last verse: just because someone says they’re sorry, and you forgive them, doesn’t mean you can always just go right back to normal.

Application

3.a Compassion

Are you treating people, even your enemies with the same kind of compassion that God has shown you? Do you see them as fellow human beings, fellow image bearers of God, or are they just problems that need to be solved?

Do you have confidence enough in the justice and goodness of God that you can let Him be the Judge instead of taking on that role yourself?

3.b Conviction

Or maybe you’re at the opposite end of the spectrum. You’ve been so compassionate that you’ve been accomodating people’s sin against you rather than confronting them, because you’re afraid of the fallout.

When you find your identity and your confidence in God’s love for you, in about how He feels about you vs the way others do, it frees you up to be able to speak the truth in love and act with conviction.

1. Conscience

How much do you listen to your conscience? Is it sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, or is it seared from being ignored for so long?

2. Waiting

Think about that pattern of temptation. Where do you see it in your own heart? Where do you feel that tug to circumvent God’s way?

When we feel the tug to take a shortcut, to take matters into our own hands, to rationalize how the end will justify the means, we should really stop and ask ourselves, “Why is God’s love and approval not enough for me?”

My heart is confident, God, my heart is confident.
I will sing; I will sing praises.

Psalms 57:7