SHOW GRACE AND MERCY...AGAIN

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In Christ, Mark

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The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, "Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?"

So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search there for David. Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon but David stayed in the desert. When he saw that Saul had followed him there, he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived.

Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner, son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp with the army encamped around him.

David then asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai, son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, "Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?"

"I'll go with you," said Abishai.

So David and Abishai went to the army by night and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

Abishai said to David, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of my spear; I won't strike him twice."

But David said to Abishai, "Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives," he said, "the Lord Himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head and let's go."

So David took the spear and water jug near Saul's head and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping because the Lord had put them into a deep sleep.

1 Samuel 26:1-12

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Question…How many times would you forgive someone who continuously strives to do you wrong?

Most of us would maybe give a person one chance…but a second?

That’s the focus of our passage as we find Saul once again going after David.

Now if you’re a regular reader, you’ll remember all about the relationship between Saul and David. Saul had fallen out of favor with God because of his willful disobedience and in turn, God decided to choose another king to replace him.

That king was none other than David, the shepherd boy who was the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem. You’ll recall that the scriptures emphasized how David was a man after God’s own heart and it wasn’t long after he was anointed by Samuel that he defeated the mighty giant Philistine warrior Goliath, gaining great acclaim from the people of Israel while drawing the ire of a jealous Saul set his sights on killing David.

To that end, we read where Saul first tried to spear David on two separate occasions, leading him to flee but Saul pursued him relentlessly. Things came to a hilt as Saul entered a cave to relieve himself, not knowing that David and his men were there, providing a perfect opportunity for them to eliminate him but David forbade his men from doing so because he didn’t see it as the Lord’s will. In fact, the scriptures told us that David became conscience-stricken just over cutting off a piece of Saul’s robe.

Well, outside of the cave, you’ll remember David confronted Saul, questioning why he was trying to kill him when he had done nothing wrong. He also shared how he had every chance to kill him in the cave but spared his life, showing him the piece of the robe he had cut off instead. His words had a transforming impact on Saul who seemed to turn from his ways, actually asking David for his mercy…and so David took an oath to not harm him.

Well…Saul’s apparent change of heart didn’t last long because as chapter 26 begins, we see him once again in pursuit of David after the Ziphites tell him that David was “hiding on the hill of Hakilah.” We read where he (Saul) “went down to the Desert of Ziph with his three thousand chosen men of Israel to search there for David”, making his “camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah”. Meanwhile, David “stayed in the desert” and “sent out scouts” after learning that Saul had “followed him there”. Those scouts confirmed that “Saul had definitely arrived”.

And so armed with this information, we read where “David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped”, seeing “Saul and Abner, …the commander of the army…lying inside the camp with the army encamped around.” He (David) wanted to go into the camp but didn’t wish to go alone and so he “asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai, son of Zeruiah” to go with him. In response to this request, Abishai said he would go with David and so they “went to the army by night” and found “Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head”.

Just as in the cave, Saul was once again in a vulnerable position to lose his life…and we see where David again showed restraint after Abishai said:  

“Today, God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of my spear; I won't strike him twice."

Now, after Saul had been spared one time already, this request would have been enticing for almost anyone. It had to be tiresome to continue forgiving someone who showed over and over again that they couldn’t be trusted. Allowing Abishai to thrust his spear into Saul would end the problem once and for all.

But as we have seen prior, David was no ordinary man. He didn’t allow his men to sway his judgment in the cave and he wasn’t going to allow Abishai to do so now in Saul’s encampment, saying this to him:

"Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives…the Lord Himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head and let's go."

Here, we find David placing Saul’s fate in the hands of the Lord, the only One who was qualified to serve as his Judge. You see, David didn’t see that it was either he or Abishai’s place to carry out Saul’s execution because the Lord had not commanded it to happen. And so since it wasn’t the Lord’s will for the execution to be carried out, Saul was spared for David was confident that his (Saul’s) day would come but at the hand of God, not of man.

And so we read where David “took the spear and water jug” that were “near Saul's head” and left with Abishai, undetected by anyone in the camp because the “Lord had put them into a deep sleep.”

Now, going back to the question that started this message…How many chances do we give someone who has done us wrong?

Or maybe it needs to be rephrased this way…How many times should we give someone who has done us wrong?

I believe the answer to the latter can be found by answering one other question…How many times has the Lord granted us another chance after we have done Him wrong (and those wrongs include every sin we have committed)?

In today’s passage, we saw where David showed Saul grace and mercy for a second time and did so because it was the Lord’s will for him to do so…the Lord who dictates when mercy and grace is to be applied…the Lord who shows us what mercy and grace looks like through the way He continuously forgives His children, even after they have failed and fallen over and over into sin.

You see when it came right down to it, David was a sinner just like Saul and as his story progresses, we’re going to definitely see just how flawed he was. Using this as an example, we need to remember that we are no less perfect than anyone who wrongs us and when it comes right down to it, nobody truly deserves God’s favor because all have sinned and fallen short of His glory (Romans 3:23). In fact, He could have wiped us off the face of His creation a long time ago because of our stubborn disobedience but he didn’t. I’m writing this now and hopefully you will soon be reading it because the Lord has once again extended His grace and mercy to us…a gift of grace and mercy that He has given time and time again…a gift of grace and mercy that He expects us to extend towards others as well.

When it comes right down to it, we don’t have the right to pass judgment on another unless the Lord chooses to use us as an instrument of His judgment. For He and He alone is the One who perfectly doles out justice. Here’s what the scriptures have to say on this from Paul’s letter to the Romans:

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Romans 2:1

Let’s do ourselves a favor and before we consider retribution, let us turn the matter at hand over to the Lord, allowing Him to handle the situation while adopting a spirit of mercy and grace…the same mercy and grace we experience anew every morning from our faithful, loving, forgiving God (Lamentations 3:23).

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.