24. David Spares Saul's Life (Again) Series

David Spares Saul’s Life - Again

September 10, 2025

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

1 Samuel 26

Some tests in life keep coming back. You thought you had passed them, moved on, and maybe even grown stronger from them—only to wake up and find yourself right back in the same battle. That’s exactly what happens to David in 1 Samuel 26. Some victories don’t just happen once—they happen again and again until they leave a mark on history. During World War II, a young medic named Desmond Doss walked into the Battle of Okinawa without a rifle. He was a conscientious objector, refusing to carry a weapon, but he was determined to save lives. Under relentless enemy fire, Doss didn’t just risk his life once—he kept going back, again and again, lowering wounded soldiers down a cliff to safety. By the time it was over, he had rescued 75 men. One act of bravery would have been legendary. But 75 times? That proved it wasn’t luck. It was character. It was conviction.

That’s exactly what we see in 1 Samuel 26. David has already spared Saul’s life once before. But now the test comes back. Will David’s integrity hold? Will he keep trusting God when it would be easier to take matters into his own hands? Saul is once again chasing him down with 3,000 soldiers. David is once again hiding in the wilderness. And David is once again faced with a question: Will I seize control and end this? Or will I trust God’s timing and God’s ways?

This chapter is a story of integrity, godliness, and spiritual maturity. It is also a mirror for us. The same temptations that David faced—shortcutting God’s plan, seeking revenge, grasping at opportunities—are the same ones we face every day. Think about the person who beats an addiction, only to relapse months later. They thought the battle was won—but suddenly they’re staring down the same temptation again. That cycle of testing isn’t just physical—it’s spiritual. It forces the question: Will you lean on your own strength or God’s?

The big idea of this chapter is simple: True maturity is seen not in what we can do, but in what we choose not to do, out of reverence for God. And that’s the call for us: when the test comes again—and it will—let’s be found faithful. Not once, not twice, but every time, until our integrity becomes a legacy that points others to Christ.

I. Déjà Vu: Saul Hunts David Again (vv. 1–4)

Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?” 2 So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, 4 David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. (1 Samuel 26:1–4)

The chapter opens in the wilderness of Ziph. The Ziphites, those opportunistic betrayers from earlier in the story, sell David out to Saul—again. Yogi Berra, the great Yankees catcher, once said, “It’s déjà vu all over again!” He was talking about watching Mantle and Maris hit back-to-back home runs, but that line could just as easily describe 1 Samuel 26. Because here we are—again. Saul is hunting David. David is on the run. And David has the chance, once more, to end it all with a single strike. It feels like déjà vu all over again.

But here’s the point: Sometimes God brings the same test back around—not because we failed the first time, but because He’s teaching us something deeper. That’s exactly what’s happening in this chapter.

Saul comes with 3,000 chosen men to hunt David. Think about this: David is no criminal, no insurrectionist. He has been nothing but loyal. Yet he is relentlessly pursued by the man he once soothed with a harp. You would think after the cave episode in chapter 24 that Saul would have learned his lesson. David spared his life once already. But here we are again.

Sometimes the same trial comes back—not because God failed to deliver us the first time, but because He is deepening the lesson in us.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

II. The Temptation: Spear and Water Jug (vv. 5–12)

So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. 6 And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’” 9 When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. 10 And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. 11 Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” 12 So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this. (1 Samuel 25:5–12)