Scripture: 1 Samuel 26:1-25
Sermon Series: 1 Samuel: God of Reversals – Sermon 27
According to Erwin Lutzer (picture),“Temptation is not a sin; it is a call to battle.” One of my favorite stories is about a guy on a diet that’s trying to break his addiction to donuts. He knows he needs to lose weight. He could easily scarf down donuts like crazy – 5, 6 or 7 at a time. So he finally got away from the donut shop, got away from donuts, and lost weight. He was doing great. But one day he showed up at work with a donut, and a buddy said to him, “What’s going on? I thought you gave those up.” And he said, “Well, I woke up this morning with a big temptation for a donut, so I prayed and told the Lord, ‘If there’s a parking space right in front of the donut shop when I drive by, I’ll know it’s all right for me to have a donut…Sure enough, the 11th time around the block, there it was.”
Every believer fights temptation. We’ve been saved from sin and don’t want to fall back into it. But if we resist a temptation once and it comes back again, what do we do? It’s not just the temptation that gets us, it’s the barrage of the same temptation.
Satan knows our soft spot. He’ll repeatedly hit us at the same point. He knows where we’re vulnerable. Years ago we had a couple with some marital issues but they were finally making it. He’d made a profession of faith. It seemed things were looking up. And then she connected with an old flame and ran off with this old boyfriend. The second time around was deadly for her spiritually. It’s When opportunity knocks…twice!
We’re near the end of our study of 1 Samuel. Please turn to chapters 26:1-12 (p. 249). It sounds like “Play it again, Saul.” In chapter 24 we worked through an incident much like this one. David had Saul in his sights and chose to not take him out in the cave of Engedi. Now on the Hill of Hachilah (map), it’s almost the same situation.
The similarity of the two incidents has critics of Scripture suggesting that the writer of 1 Samuel became confused and shared two accounts of the same event. Not knowing, which was true, he included them both, but they’re really contradictory accounts of just one event. That’s not the case.
It’s not unusual in the Bible to find two incidents that are remarkably similar recorded close together. The Gospels have several examples of that. Mark 6 records Jesus’ miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, yet a few pages over in Mark 8 we have the feeding of the 4,000. The accounts are similar but are different miracles.
These two episodes take place at different locations. One is at Engedi, the other at the Hill of Hachilah. The settings are different. The first is in a cave, the second outside in the open air. They took place at different times: the first during the day, the second at night. David takes different actions – cutting off a corner of Saul’s robe in the first and taking Saul’s spear and water jug in the second. David’s conscience bothered him in the first situation, but not in the second.
There’s no question that Saul was fully capable of making the same mistake more than once, as he did on other occasions. He was also capable of promising to leave David alone today and changing his mind tomorrow.
Are you often tempted by the same temptation over and over? Maybe you continually struggle with your anger. All of us have had the same fight with our spouse or our kids, over and over again? Once you say “no” to jealousy, you’re done right? Temptation knocks…twice!
God placed this in His Word so that we’d be aware of the persistence of temptation. Turning away from sin today won’t make us immune from having to go through the process again and again.
What happened between these two accounts was David’s interaction with Nabal. His recent experience with Nabal and Abigail reassured him of his future reign and taught him an invaluable lesson about revenge and taking matters into his own hands. David grew and learned from that situation.
If we’re going to repeatedly defeat temptation, we must learn the lessons from yesterday so that we’re ready for tomorrow. If you’re taking notes…
1.Trusting the Lord and knowing His Word helps us pass the tests of temptation. Audacity is usually exciting. Successful audacity is very exciting. In the War between the States in the final hours of the Battle of Perryville, Confederate General Leonidas Polk (picture) found himself in a ticklish predicament. A body of troops had fired on his men. Polk was sure it was friendly fire and his fellow Confederates had fired on them. He rode around to them, ordering the colonel in charge to cease firing at once.
But when Polk asked the colonel to identify himself, he learned that the colonel was the commander of an Indiana regiment. Uh oh! Polk had misidentified the troops and now was face to face with a Union officer and behind enemy lines. The Union colonel then demanded that Polk identify himself. It was twilight and the fact that Polk was wearing a dark cape kept him from being easily identified as the enemy. So Polk bluffed, riding right up to the Union colonel, shaking his fist at him and yelling, “I’ll soon show you who I am, sir. Cease firing at once!” Then, he turned his horse and trotted slowly down the Union line shouting to the troops to cease firing and lower their guns. He didn’t dare make a dash for it, so kept up the ruse and a slow pace until he reached a thicket of trees and safety. When he arrived back at his own lines, he told his men, “I’ve been behind those lines. It’s the enemy. Go get ‘em!”
What David does here is more audacious than that. But it’s not a mistake. It’s planned and deliberate. The Ziphites have done it again. Though they’re from the tribe of Judah and relatives of David, they rat him out again like they did in chapter 23. Though Saul had promised that he was done chasing David, here he comes again with 3,000 troops.
The drama begins to unfold in verse 5: “Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment, while the army was encamped around him.” It’s like a scene from an old Western. At night they’d circle the wagons, put the women and children inside with the men on guard outside. Saul’s army is encamped in concentric circles with the king in the middle.
It’s the middle of the night when David pokes his head above the rocks. He’s on a hill overlooking the camp. Stars fill the desert sky. Down below he can see Saul’s army spread out before him: 3,000 men, their supplies, donkeys and wagons all carefully arranged. In the center of the sleeping soldiers, he spots a spear stuck in the ground. It’s Saul’s spear. It was like a scepter. It said “Here sleeps the king.” Nearby was a water jug in case the king got thirsty. Sleeping next to him was Abner, his general. Not a sound arises from the camp. Everything is quiet, peaceful, serene.
Suddenly a crazy idea hits David. He’s going to try to enter the camp. It’s insane. It’s a suicide mission. One man against 3,000. David turns to the two men with him—Abishai and Ahimelech—and says, “Who will go with me?”
In an army you learn quickly never to volunteer, but Abishai lets his loyalty get the best of his common sense. He says, “I’ll go.” Abishai is David’s nephew. As the David narrative unfolds, we’ll find he’s always primed for a fight. Down they clamber off the side of the hill. Finally they reach the outer enemy lines. Strange, it seems the whole army is sound asleep. Eventually they come to the center. Saul is asleep on the ground, his spear stuck next to his head. All around him are his bodyguards, sound asleep.
Verse 8 has Abishai’s reaction when he sees Saul asleep. “Abishai said to David, ‘God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice’.” Abishai wants to play his favorite outdoor sport—pin the spear in the Saul. He argues that it’d be a sin not to kill him since God has given David this opportunity. Abishai represents the natural impulse in all of us, sort of the world’s Golden Rule: “Do unto others before they do unto you.”
David had at least five good reasons to kill Saul. First, he has motive. Second, he has opportunity. Third, he has the weapon. Fourth, he has encouragement. Fifth, he has the track record—he’s already killed Goliath.
Everything argues in favor of letting Abishai do the dirty deed and then high tail it out of there. No one would blame him if he did. But he didn’t.
Here’s where the story gets interesting. We have a big question: How do you know when something is an opportunity from God or a temptation to sin? Sometimes it’s easy; other times it’s not so clear.
We always know something is a temptation when it violates God’s Word. That requires something – we must know God’s Word. If you’re going to drive, you must know the rules of the road. If we want to please God and have the fulfilled life God wants us to have, we must study His Word. Going to church is great. We need the teaching of Scripture. It’s not enough.
All of us know that part of maturity with children is that they grow from being fed to feeding themselves. If a believer never matures to feed themselves, they’re sitting ducks for temptation and will be in spiritual pampers until they do. We must commit to faithfully being in our Bibles.
It’s how David knows that while opportunity is knocking and could be easily justified, it’s wrong. In verses 9-11 David gives the reasons why he won’t kill Saul. First, it wasn’t his place, “Who can put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” The answer is – no one can. Though Saul was evil, he’s still God’s chosen king. It would be wrong to take revenge and be God’s executioner. Then, it wasn’t the right time. “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.” It’s what happens. God will take Saul out.
David’s response to his providential circumstances is supremely biblical. Saul had been divinely anointed as king. It’s God’s responsibility to remove him, not David’s. David sees the situation as a divine test, an opportunity to demonstrate restraint and patience. Instead of acting in vengeance and murder he lives out mercy and grace.
David doesn’t kill Saul but he borrows his spear, along with his water jug to prove he’s not seeking to harm Saul. The spear is a symbol of Saul’s power; the water jug is a symbol of his life sustaining resources.
Temptation is not something we’ll ever graduate from. It doesn’t get easier. It just changes tactics. Have you noticed the tag line from Luke’s description of Christ’s temptations? The last thing he records is: “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). The devil didn’t stop tempting Jesus. He just backed away until he thought he’d have a better chance of succeeding.
We’re constantly confronted with opportunities to give into temptation and sin. God warns us about this in advance so we’re not taken by surprise.
We must live by convictions, not circumstances. If you have teens, a big question is: How old should you be to date? Some people aren’t old enough to date and they’re in their thirties. You’re not old enough to date unless you have biblical convictions on what’s right and wrong to do with the opposite sex. The time to determine your convictions is not “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie. That’s amore” to quote Dean Martin (picture).
The same is true with marriage, parenting, work, and every part of life. God gave us a road map for life. Do you know the rules of the road? Have you used the Bible to develop your convictions of what’s right and wrong?
2. Trusting the Lord helps us influence others to do the right thing. Do you have a friend like Abishai? The Abishais leap before they look.
David will not always be an exemplary example of faith, but here he is. As we mature in our faith, we become more confident about God’s guidance and then we’re a godly influence on others.
Abishai wants to take justice into his own hands. He even rationalizes that this was a gift from God. God has given your enemy into your hand. We need to be very cautious about concluding that something is God’s will.
Do you remember the name George Tiller (picture)? He was one of the worst abortion doctors in the country. But that didn’t justify Scott Roeder (picture) murdering him. We’re not to take justice into our own hands, which is what Abishai wants to do.
Abishai looked at Saul and saw an enemy. David saw “the Lord’s anointed.” Apparently, David took the spear himself so Abishai wouldn’t be tempted to take matters into his own hands. It’s like taking the car keys from someone who has had too much to drink.
David didn’t know how or when God would take care of his Saul problem but he had faith that God would. David’s restraint shows that he was trusting God. Trusting in God means trusting in God’s time and His way. It wasn’t for David to take Saul’s life and he wasn’t going to let Abishai do it.
God has called you and me to be salt and light. Salt and light change what they interact with. Are we changing the culture around us? Are our conversations edifying? Are we encouraging restraint like David? Do we talk more about how bad the world is or how good God is? How about your family? Do they want to know Jesus better, walk with Him more, because of us? Our world is a mess. Too many Christians talk about what the world is coming to, when our mission is to talk about WHO is coming to the world.
But how did David and Abishai sneak through 3,000 soldiers to the center of the camp and take Saul’s spear and nobody wakes up? Were they some seal team? “No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them” (Vs. 12).
God is in control. He protects David and Abishai. Just as God in chapter 24 controlled Saul’s bathroom breaks, God can rock a whole army to sleep. In Genesis 2 God put Adam to sleep to do major surgery and create Eve. God is in control even of our sleep.
Too many of us let things that we can’t control keep us awake. I love this quote by Mary Crowley (picture), “Every evening I turn worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway.” If God can control the small details of our lives, like sleep, can’t we trust Him with the big stuff?
3. Trusting the Lord helps us confront injustice. Look at verse 13: “Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them. And David called to the army, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?” And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.”
Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.” Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.”
And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may He deliver me out of all tribulation.” Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.”
Sleeping when you’re supposed to be on guard was a capital offense. Abner could have been executed for falling asleep on duty. We know what they didn’t know – God put them all to sleep.
When Saddam Hussein (picture) ruled Iraq, there was an attempt on the life of his son. His son wasn’t killed, but for failing to protect him properly, everyone in his security detail was executed. David is not speaking idle words. Every soldier near Saul must wonder what his response will be.
Saul recognizes David’s voice and David appeals to him again to stop pursuing him and trying to kill him. He calls out Saul for his injustice.
The Church today is very vocal about the evils of abortion and immorality, but justice doesn’t end there. The primary work of the Church is not to promote social justice, we’re to warn the lost of divine justice.
The Gospel is life and culture changing. It will bring about justice. Since we believe in Imago Dei, we must be the first ones to speak out against bigotry. We must be bridge-builders for the sake of the gospel. How many of us have friends that are not of our ethnic group?
We need to be the ones who love and care for the poor, minorities, elderly and the disenfranchised. If you’re in a store or restaurant and see a clerk or server being bullied, we need to graciously speak out. The same is true where you work. There’s probably one employee who’s the butt of gossip and jokes. Are you living out justice? Are you befriending them as a way to discourage abuse? It’s a sin to bully someone gay or transgender. How will we ever win them to Jesus if they don’t first see Jesus in us? It should break our hearts that those who disagree with us morally often think we hate them. Let’s make sure we don’t give them ammo because we’re unwise or unkind.
Yet the greatest injustice and most evil thing that Saul did was to keep David from worshipping. Verse 19: “For they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods’.” Because Saul had a price on David’s head, it wasn’t safe for him to go to the Tabernacle as the Law commanded him to worship.
For 20 years David was unable to offer sacrifices and worship God. Saul drove him out of Israel. David had to flee to the land of the idol worshippers and Israel’s enemies. Obviously, David knew he could worship God anywhere, but Saul made it impossible for him to partake in public worship. He’s been excluded from the spiritual life of the nation because of Saul.
Many churches are little more than religious social clubs. They’re divided and petty, filled with unrepented sin. They squabble and backbite, and it discourages people from seeking God and coming to worship.
We’re a community of sinners saved by grace. We must work to keep Jesus as Lord, love each other and have unity. When there’s pettiness, it discourages people from coming to worship.
It’s essential that the pastor and leaders of the church be those of integrity. While not sinless, they must seek to obey and follow Jesus. When leaders sin, when there’s hypocrisy – it discourages others from worship. We must not be barriers for others in their walk with God.
This is also true for parents. When parents are angels at church yet devils at home, it drives their children away from the Lord and the gospel.
Saul was a barrier for David for worship. Jesus didn’t mince words on how serious this is. Mark 9:42, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
4. Trusting the Lord and knowing His Word helps us be discerning.
John Wayne (picture) said, “A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him.” Saul recognizes David’s voice and says “my son, David,” but David won’t call Saul “my father.” His address is only “my lord, O king.” Saul’s daughter was no longer David’s wife, Saul gave her to another man. David was no longer his son-in-law and Saul hadn’t treated him like a son.
Once again Saul lapsed into one of his sentimental moods and confessed he was a fool and sinner. He promised he wouldn’t harm David but David doesn’t believe him. David doesn’t expect Saul to value his life as he had Saul’s. He won’t accept Saul’s invitation to come home. He knows that though the words were right, he can’t trust Saul. It’s the third time Saul has said, “I have sinned” but there’s no change. It’s remorse not repentance.
David was willing to forgive Saul, but he’s not willing to trust Saul. There’s a difference between words of repentance and restoring trust. Saul had repeatedly demonstrated that his repentance wasn’t genuine.
Was this confession of sin now and Saul’s repentance this time genuine? David didn’t know. When you break trust, it takes time to rebuild trust. It’s why David didn’t run back to Saul, but wisely kept his distance. While we’re to forgive people, it doesn’t mean we have to trust them right away, particularly if there are no fruits of repentance.
When people repent of their sins against us, we must forgive them. It doesn’t mean though that we immediately trust them. Sometimes people demonstrate that they’re not trustworthy. It takes time to earn back trust with those who’ve broken their word too many times.
David puts his trust in the right place. In verse 24 he says, “Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may He deliver me out of all tribulation.” David didn’t trust Saul. He trusts God. God is the only One we can trust. Who are you trusting?
Conclusion: David left it all in God’s hands. Though given another opportunity to kill Saul, he doesn’t give in to the temptation.
How do you leave it all to God? By demonstrating three important areas of trust. 1) Trust God to make things right. 2) Trust God to protect you. And 3) Trust God to reward you.
When we take matters into our own hands, we show that we don’t really trust God. We’re trying to do God’s job for Him. We prolong the conflict and miss out on an opportunity for God to make our enemies live at peace with us. Whenever you’re tempted to seek revenge, leave it up to God instead.
That’s a good rule for all of life. Leave it all to God. Trust Him. Trust Him with your salvation. Trust Him with your family. Trust him with your future. Trust Him with your work. Trust Him with your day. Romans 8:32 says: “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”
Since God sent Jesus to die on the cross for your sins, you can trust Him with everything else. It’s tough to not take matters into your own hands when a Saul is breathing down your neck. We must trust God even if it’s hard. He’s always there with us and for us, no matter what.
In 1993, Lt. Col. Gary Morsch (picture) joined the Army Reserves as a doctor to care not only for U.S. soldiers, but also for wounded civilians and prisoners of war. In 2005 during the war in Iraq, he was called up to serve as the field doctor for a battalion near the Iranian border. He took care of soldiers in the medical tent, provided supervision and training to eight combat medics, and visited detainee camps to treat POWs. But even in that war-torn area, Lt. Col. Morsch experienced the peace of God. He says:
One day I was supposed to travel by convoy to a military hospital in Baghdad to accompany a POW with a severe abdominal infection, but the mission was canceled after a bomb hit a convoy returning to our camp. That was the third time in five days that one of our convoys had been hit, so we waited until a nearby combat unit could beef up security. A day later we headed out.
As I sat in the back of a Humvee with this very sick POW, I asked myself what I thought every soldier in that convoy was asking: ‘Why are we doing this for someone we consider our enemy?’ I could see risking my life and the lives of American soldiers for another American. But risking all this for an enemy POW? In addition to the anxiety I was feeling as we made our way along the dangerous road to Baghdad, I was also feeling very lonely and homesick. When I realized that it was Sunday, and that I was going to miss the chapel service again, I grew even more depressed.
So there I was in this armored vehicle, wearing about 50 pounds of body armor, helmet and weapons—the full ‘battle rattle.’ Standing next to me was the gunner, his head sticking through the roof of the Humvee, constantly spinning one way, then another, aiming his machine gun at anything that moved, looking for snipers, motioning for cars to stop or move out of the way, and screaming at drivers who didn’t understand.
We drove down the highway as fast as we could, trying to make ourselves a more difficult target to attack, tailgating the Humvee in front of us so a suicide car bomber could not come between us, and being tailgated by another Humvee. Sitting in front of me was a soldier monitoring the radio, who received messages from the Humvees ahead of us and yelled this information to the gunner and me.
I decided to fight off my sorrow by listening to some music on my MP3 player. My son-in-law, Eric, had loaded my player with about 1,000 songs before I left home. Since it was Sunday, I decided to listen to some praise music. The first song was by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir:
“Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place; I can feel His mighty power and His grace: I can hear the brush of angels’ wings, I see glory on each face; surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.”
Speeding toward Baghdad, crammed into the back of a Humvee, I sensed the presence of God as never before. I felt enveloped by the presence of God—God around me, God above me, God in me.
As tears ran down my dusty cheeks, I peered through the thick, bulletproof window at Iraqis in their flowing robes, their mud-walled houses, children at play…And just as surely as I felt the presence of God in that Humvee, I sensed God’s presence in all that I saw—here, in this desolate country, with the Shiites, the Sunnis, the Kurds. God was surely here. He loves Iraq.
Then I thought of what this convoy was doing, and the words of Jesus came to me: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). I was filled with a deep sense of peace. I was still worried about the road ahead, but I had a sense of contentment that everything was going to be fine, no matter what happened. I knew that God profoundly loved every person on both sides of this war. This sense of peace and contentment lasted throughout my time in Iraq. It had nothing to do with bravery or courage on my part, but everything to do with the sense that God was with me, and that many people were praying for me.”
God was with Gary Morsch and God is with you and me. God was with David, though hunted by Saul. Opportunity to take Saul out has come twice but he resisted the temptation. Though alone, though hunted by Saul – God was always there.
I don’t know where this finds you today but I do know that you’re not alone! God is with you wherever you are, even in a Humvee in a war in Iraq.
Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? If you’ve trusted Him with your soul and eternal life, you can trust Him with everything else. You can trust Him even in the middle of a war in the bottom of a Humvee. Are there things, areas of your life that you need to trust Him with today? He loves you and wants you to trust Him. He’s your Heavenly Father.
No matter what happens, no matter where you are — “Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place!”