Life Of David: Part 3 Series

"" 1 Samuel 24:1-17

Summer David August 18, 2019 Pastor Buchner

There’s a commercial that’s played on the radio that I absolutely love. It says something along the lines of, “How would you like to feel more rested when you wake up? Or what about feeling more focused throughout the day, or that both your body and your mind have recovered from the rigors of life? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have access to something that could do all those things for you? Well you do. It’s called sleep.” So often we want a miracle pill that will solve our problems for us. Something that will make it just go away. There really isn’t anything out there like that. If you have problems, they are going to require work and effort. Sleep is not easy to come by. You want to be doing other things, whether it’s watching YouTube, reading, the TV, or being around family and loved ones. But, if you plan out your life, and make sure you’re a little more disciplined, it can happen.

Sometimes, though, you really don’t have a choice in the matter. Like when school starts and all of a sudden you can’t sleep in until 10AM, but instead have to be up by 6. Powers that be make the call for you. Many times in life, that’s simply how it is. Here with David, it’s no different. I’m guessing he didn’t feel like being on the run for 13 years of his life. I’m guessing he was sick of having to hide out in caves at the top of mountains and hills. I’m guessing he would’ve liked to have slept in a bed. But, nope. God said, “I’ve got better plans for you. I am going to make you suffer because of Saul. And in the long run, this will serve you and your people better.”

Well, thanks God. That was awful nice of you. Usually when people love you, they give you gifts, or they take you out to eat. They don’t cause you pain and say, “Tell me ‘thanks!’” So what gives God the pass then? Why does he get to do these awful things to us?

I can’t be the only one to think along those lines. You may not have had to spend 13 years on the run because a murderer has been relentlessly pursuing you, but God has caused you pain in other ways. Perhaps his tool has been a less than supportive boss. Someone who nitpicks your every task, perhaps even going so far as to spread false rumors about you because they think you’re after their job. Maybe it’s been an unruly child or a less than loving spouse or a vindictive “friend.”

Then in turn, what have you done but sought those people out? You have looked for ways to cause them pain. And in this, you’ve told yourself, “I’m justified in doing this ‘minor’ thing against them because they’ve done something even worse to me.” Because they have done wrong, they deserve to be hurt.

And you’re right, they do. But if that’s how the game is going to be played, get ready, because even more is coming your way. If it’s going to be an eye for an eye that you desire, you will have forever to make it back up to God. Right now we’re all so interested in victimhood, and the more ways that you can make yourself into the victim the better person you are. Well, if that’s the case, it means you’re even worse of a person because you have been the greatest perpetrator against the greatest victim, Jesus Christ. He was devoid of any fault, lacking any mean bone in his body against you, yet you chose to hurt him in the worst way imaginable.

Thankfully, this victim did not choose to play this game. Rather, he invented new rules. No longer would he pay people back, but instead, decided to stop it all with himself. He put an end to it. So, Jesus allowed himself to suffer and called it good. Game over. That’s it. And that even rings true for you. You don’t have to watch your back. You don’t have to sleep with one eye open thinking that God’s going to come back to get you. He made sure to it that this game was no longer one with punishment, but with mercy.

It is for this reason alone that our scene unfolded the way that it did. After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” 2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats. 3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, “This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’ ” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. 6 He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the LORD.” 7 With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way. 8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 9 He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? 10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the LORD’s anointed.’