1 SAMUEL 24 PURSUING GODS HEART IS THE SHORTCUT2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 24 Pursuing Gods Heart Is The Shortcut

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017. Well, this evening we're in 1 Samuel chapter 24, and we'll be looking at the entire chapter, but we'll begin just by reading verses 1 through 7 together and then jumping into this segment of the life of David and see what God has for us. So 1 Samuel chapter 24 says,

Starting in verse 1, it says,

David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave. Then the men of David said to him, this is the day which the Lord said to you, behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand that you may be able to do to him as it seems good to you. And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. Verse five. Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe.

And he said to his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing that he is the anointed of the Lord. So David restrained his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.

Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the opportunity to know you through it. We pray, God, that you administer to our hearts and speak to us, help us to understand how to pursue your heart through the example that you've given us here in the life of David. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The shortest distance between two points. We all know what that is, right? It's a straight line. But

Although that's true on paper, it's not always true, and there is different ways that you could consider the shortest distance between two points. But just simply thinking about it, when driving, you would understand that, well, the straight line may not be the shortest distance or the fastest route. I don't know about you, but I tend to rely upon what...

My GPS tells me to do what I'm driving, and it was not too long ago. I think we were headed to Pasadena or somewhere around there, and so we got on the 91, hit the 71, just doing what, you know, my phone was telling me to do in my ear, and I get off the 71, and

And Kim looks at me and she says, we're like not even close to being there. Why are you getting off? I said, I don't know. They told me to get off. I got off. And so I get off the 71. I was like one of the first exits, Euclid or whatever one of those is. I don't even bother to remember the names anymore. But so I get off the exit. And as I get off, I see next on the direction list is to get back on the 71. And I thought, that's really strange, you know, had me get off and then get back on to continue down the 71. And as we're driving down the road parallel to the freeway, we look and we see the

the freeway is all at a dead stop, blocked off. There's a big accident and everything is just, you know, come to a complete stop. There's no lanes moving at all.

And because I was listening to my GPS instead of just saying, I know the way and jumping on the 71 like I normally would, I was able to be routed around that. And you wouldn't think of that as a shortcut, right? To get off the freeway, to get back on the freeway, that would be a delay, you know, for most consideration. But you understand how it is, that there are things that we don't know about that, you know,

our GPS can route us around and take us through. And sometimes the shortcut is the windy way and the way, you know, that you wouldn't expect. And as you look at that, you know, when you do a route on your GPS, you usually have the shortest route, the fastest route. Now, you know,

You know, people like Pastor Dylan, or maybe you kind of would argue and say, oh, no, no, I could get there faster, you know, but I don't bother that anymore because I've tried that. And I found that I don't find shortcuts. I only find delays. I know how to make it longer. I don't know how to make it shorter, right? If I deviate from the route, it's going to be a delay. And as I think about that for this evening, as we're here in 1 Samuel chapter 24, I've titled the message, Pursuing God's Heart is the Shortcut.

Because what we see here in the life of David is he has an opportunity to take a shortcut. He is on the road to become king. God has anointed him to be the next king. But the problem is the current king is out to get him. And now we find David in a situation where he has an opportunity to take out King Saul. And it seems like, it looks like,

This might even be of God, and it's a quick route for him to eliminate the current king so that he can fulfill the role that God has given to him, and that is to be the king of Israel. It looks like a shortcut. David's men agree. This is a shortcut. This is the day. This is the way. But this evening, I would like you to consider that pursuing God's heart is the shortcut.

As we talk about pursuing God's heart, we have been for some time now, we're talking about seeking after and pursuing the things that please God and seeking to know what God wants and what God desires and what brings him pleasure. It's about obedience to God. It's about knowing and walking in the will of God. And you need to know that pursuing God's heart is the shortcut to

The shortcut to what? Well, what is it that you want? If you want God's blessing, here, let me give you a shortcut. Pursue God's heart. Live in a way that is pleasing to God. Seek to find out what God wants in your life and situation. If you're seeking to have God's promises to you be fulfilled, you know what the shortest route is? Pursuing God's heart. It is calling out to God and seeking to know him.

And so many times in our lives as we're faced with situations, there is right before us something that looks like, wow, this is a quick and easy fix. And it looks so obvious. I think I could just go this way and achieve that goal and have that promise from God.

But I would challenge you to think about people like Abraham and Sarah, right? As they were promised a son from the Lord. And so it wasn't happening. It was like, man, we're on a long windy road. It's taken forever to get there. Look, there's a shortcut. Boom, Hagar, you can have a child through her and then that will be the fulfillment of the promise. But that turned out to just be a delay. There was more headaches and difficulties along that route. It looked like it was a shortcut, right?

But it really wasn't. And you could look at many different examples along those lines. But the point is, we need to remember that pursuing God's heart is the shortcut. And honoring the Lord and serving the Lord and obeying the Lord is the fastest route forward.

to the fullness of God's blessing and his work in our lives. And we'll see that modeled here through the life of David in 1 Samuel chapter 24. There's three points I'd like to walk you through as we work our way through this passage. The first one is found in these verses we read, verses one through seven. Point number one is do only what God has authorized you to do. Do only what God has authorized you to do.

As we talk about pursuing God's heart being the shortcut, you need to know that you don't have the freedom to just do whatever you want and to be in that place of pursuing God's heart. If you're pursuing God's heart, that means you are submitting to the authority and the plan of God and to go outside of that

Even though it may look like a shortcut from time to time, it is actually a delay. Looking again at verse 1 and 2, it says,

Here we find Saul returning from his encounter with the Philistines. Now last week, as we looked at chapter 23, we saw that that encounter with the Philistines is what allowed David to escape, that Saul almost had him surrounded, and he was out to get David, had him tracked down, was about to pounce on him, and then the Philistines invaded, and he had to be called away to deal with that.

But now that's over. And so he's back in pursuit of David, back trying to eliminate David. And so he takes 3,000 chosen men from all Israel. He takes his special forces. He takes, you know, this elite force to come and try to find David and

It says, Now, this is just a quick point of reference here. So En Gedi here on the map is right there on the coast of the Dead Sea.

And it's like a little oasis. Now, as we think about David in the wilderness, you know, David, you know, on the run, sometimes, I don't know if you think about wilderness this way, but usually I think about wilderness, I think of like frontier. I think of like Daniel Boone, you know, like that kind of thing, like forests and that kind of thing in the wilderness, right? And when the Bible is talking about

wilderness, specifically, you know, here in the land of Israel, it's not so much like that. In fact, here's a good glimpse of the wilderness of Judah. And if you've been to Israel, you can testify, right? You drive down to the southern part where David is, it's like rolling hills of dirt. That's what it is. It's a lot of desert and not very much forests or trees or that kind of thing, except the

At En Gedi. At En Gedi, there's a waterfall, there's a spring. And so it's like this little oasis in the desert. And then all around these hills that are around En Gedi, there are these caves. And so there's big places, you know, big caves and stuff, places for David and his men to hide. So it's a natural place for them to kind of seek refuge as they're hiding in the caves, but they have fresh water nearby. And so this is where they're camped out in this place called

in Gedi. And Saul takes his 3,000 men and now he's going to try to find David here on the rocks of the wild goats. And when we were there in Israel, these are pictures from when we went in 2006. And so there were wild goats there as there always are. And so this is kind of very similar to what they would have been looking at and what the terrain was like as Saul was pursuing David.

And so he goes and chases after him. In verse 3 it says, So he came to the sheepfolds by the road where there was a cave. And Saul went in to attend to his needs. David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave. Then the men of David said to him, This is the day of which the Lord said to you, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand that you may do to him as it seems good to you.

And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. As the situation unfolds here, Saul is pursuing David and David,

Kind of one of those things about the scriptures that you got to love is it's very real about, you know, the situations at hand. And Saul is there and he has to go to the bathroom. And so what does he do? Well, there's a porta potty right there in the cave. And so he hikes up to the cave and his men give him some alone time to attend to his needs and

And so he goes up there to take care of those needs. And, you know, nature calls. And so pursuing David has to wait. Now, what he doesn't know is this cave that he chooses to use is actually the cave that David and his men are hiding in.

And so here's David, here's his men. They are probably very aware of Saul's presence, you know, in the area, but then suddenly Saul's in the cave, right? He's there with them. He doesn't know it, but the cave is big enough for them to hide and for Saul to be unaware of their presence. But as he takes care of his needs, the

The men of David are kind of like elbowing David. They're kind of getting a little bit excited. They're like, wow, David, this is the day that God told you about. This is the day that God wants to bring deliverance to you and to give you the kingdom. Look, he's brought Saul in all by himself, kind of like on a silver platter. Like he's just yours for the taking. You can just wipe him out right now.

David, it says, gets up and he secretly cuts off a corner of Saul's robe. He doesn't take the opportunity to kill Saul. Instead, he just cuts off a little piece of Saul's robe and

either while he's relieving himself or perhaps he took a little nap afterwards. I don't know. It doesn't say exactly all of the details, but you get the picture, right? That Saul is there, he's occupied, and David sneaks up and he cuts off a little corner and takes it back. But the men of David are saying, no, David, you need to kill him. This is the opportunity and this is orchestrated by God. They're recognizing this is not just random chance, right?

that Saul is here. This is something that God has orchestrated. It's the opportunity you've been waiting for. But David here has great wisdom and he has great respect for the authority that has been granted to Saul by God. And so he doesn't take his life. The commentator F.B. Meyer says this, he says, "'Opportunity does not make a wrong thing right.'"

that the ship was waiting to sail to Tarshish did not make it right for Jonah to take passage. Our actions must not be determined by the opening of the door of circumstance, but by conscience, faith, and obedience.

This kind of ties into something we looked at a few weeks ago at the first part of 1 Samuel chapter 23, where we see David inquiring of the Lord. Lord, should I do this? I'm a little bit scared, Lord. You said I should do this. Really? Should I do this? Like bringing confirmation and, oh, should I do this? And should I do that? And David is seeking the Lord and asking for the Lord to guide and to lead. And at that time, I mentioned that circumstances...

are sometimes very valuable for confirmation to what God has said. But we also have to be careful that the circumstances that we face do not

mean to us, well, this must be what God wants because look at these circumstances. And here is David. If you were just evaluating the circumstances like David's men were, you would say, here is your opportunity, David. This must be the Lord. Look at this situation. Look at here is Saul before you. And this is your opportunity to take him out and take the throne. But I like that F.B. Meyer points out that just because the opportunity is there,

doesn't make it the right thing to do. It doesn't make it the right thing to do. Just because the ship was there, Jonah was like,

I needed to go. Look, the ship was there. It was waiting for me to go. And so I got in and I was headed to Tarshish because, you know, what a coincidence. I wanted to go somewhere and there was a ship there to take me. That doesn't mean that that was what God wanted. It was obviously not what God wanted. And here in this case, it was not what God wanted for David to kill Saul. And David recognized that.

And so even though people around him are saying, look, this is your chance. This is God at work. This is the opportunity. David realizes that's not God's heart. He realizes God hasn't authorized me to do this. It's not my place to kill Saul. It's not my place to do that.

In fact, David honors this role in this position of authority so much. It tells us in verse five. Now what happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. He had the chance to take him out, but instead he just cut his robe. And then David feels convicted. He feels guilty. His heart troubled him because he had even disrespected Saul to that degree.

He has a great appreciation for Saul, for his role in the kingdom and the fact that he is anointed of the Lord. In verse six, he says, and he said to his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. David here recognizes it's not my place here.

to attack the one that God has placed there. The Bible is very clear that there is no authority except those who are appointed by God. There is no roles of authority except the roles of authority that have been established by God. And sometimes we may not be huge fans of those who are in authority over us. And yet at the same time, the scripture is very clear that those who are in authority over us, they're in that role of authority

at God's hand. And David here is recognizing this is God's work. He put Saul there. He is the Lord's anointed, and it's not my place to stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. That's God's deal. He has to deal with those that he has allowed and placed in authority. That's not my responsibility, and I don't have the right. I've not been authorized to deal with this situation in that way.

Pastor David Guzik puts it this way. It was inevitable that Saul would be judged and that he would lose the throne, but it was absolutely God's business to accomplish that and the business of no one else. It's appropriate to think about really all the things stacked against Saul in this situation. God had already told Saul, this kingdom is being torn away from you. God had already told Saul, I'm taking away the kingdom and I'm giving it to someone better.

God had already anointed David to be king of Israel. I mean, it's very clear what God's plan is, but that doesn't make it right for David to take matters into his own hands. It was God's business to accomplish this.

God is the only one who has that authority. It's inevitable. Saul and all of his wickedness and attacking David and all the things that he's done in rebellion against God, it's inevitable. He's going to lose the throne. God's already said so. He's going to be judged for his rebellion, but that doesn't make it right for David to take this into his own hand. In verse seven, it says, so David restrained his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul.

And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. And I just kind of imagined David's men going, man, we missed our opportunity, David. But David restrained. He held them back. You can imagine David's guys, right? They're like, if you're not going to take him out, I'm going to take him out, right? That we don't want to be on the run. We don't want to be fleeing for our lives anymore. Like, this is the chance. We know what God wants. Why can't we just make this happen?

But David said, no, this is the Lord's anointed. We're not authorized. God hasn't called us to take out Saul in this way. He restrains his servants. F.B. Meyer also said this. He says, we win most when we appear to have yielded most and gain advantages by refusing to take them wrongfully. The man who can wait for God is a man of power.

I want to ask you to consider that this evening. Pursuing God's heart is the shortcut. And there will be many times in our lives, and maybe you're facing one right now, I don't know, but there will be times where there is what appears to be a shortcut right in front of us.

And it is very tempting because by all accounts, maybe by the counsel that you receive, by your evaluation, by the promises, you know, that you've received from the Lord and the things that you've seen or the things that you know that God wants to do, it looks like that's the quickest way.

That is the best way. Look, we could just, you know, especially in times of difficulty and boy, it's really like we could just get out of this wilderness right there. Just right there. It's just a little shortcut right here. I don't know if you ever shop at Ikea, but you know, like it takes like four hours to get through the whole store. But once you've gone there a few times, you spend about 20 hours in the store, you learn there's shortcuts and you can kind of like, you know, get through real quick and

Man, those come in handy whenever you're at the end and your wife says, ah, I think I do want that thing that we were looking at right at the beginning. You know, can we take the four-hour trek back? No, let's take the shortcut, right? And those shortcuts are nice and easy and they're so tempting. Now, in Ikea, that's a good thing. I'm not saying those are bad things. But in real life, when there's shortcuts ahead of us, you need to understand that

Putting God first and putting what pleases God first, putting what God desires first and foremost, that is always the shortest route to God's blessings, to the fulfillment of God's promises. And those things that look like shortcuts are actually delays. You can't get to God's blessings and God's promises and the fulfillment of what God wants in your life faster than

than you can by pursuing his heart. There's no way to get there faster. That's the fastest way. Anything else we do, it's just delays, detours, getting sidetracked, holding things up. You think about the children of Israel in the wilderness, right? They got to the edge of the promised land and then they went around in circles for 40 years. We can do that. We can delay things for 40 years, but we can't get there faster.

But it's so tempting when you have the opportunity. If I just, you know, do this to get that extra money to pay for that thing, and then I'll be set. It'll be good. Then I can enjoy all of God's promises. You know, if I just do this to accomplish that, if I just get married this way and, you know, and find that person, or if I just, whatever the case may be, and there's that, it looks like a shortcut. But if it's not what pleases God, if it's not God's heart, it's not a shortcut. It's

a delay. This can be especially difficult when we're in a situation like David, where there is someone who is not seeking God, who is an authority over us and is part of the difficulty that we're trying to escape. And it can become very tempting. We're easily convinced that it's our job to teach people a lesson.

We can be convinced very easily. Oh yes, it's my job to show you how wicked you are and how bad you are. And that may not be your job. Again, I bring you back to the point, do only what God has authorized you to do. Now, if David had been instructed by the Lord to take Saul out,

God could totally have done that. And he's given instruction to other guys throughout history. Yeah, you need to take that person out. You need to wipe out that nation. You need, you know, God's not afraid of that. But that is not what God called David to do. So he was not authorized to do it. In a similar way, we are not authorized to be everybody's conscience and to, you know, try to teach everybody lessons. We don't.

We are authorized for what God has authorized us for. We have specific things that God wants to do and we need to seek what is pleasing to him. That is the shortcut. That is the fastest way to experience the fullness of God's blessings and his work in our lives. And so David here represents for us a good example of limiting himself. Even though he had the opportunity, he had the capability, he

he didn't have the authority because God had not told him to strike Saul. And so he just cuts off a little piece of the robe. It even bothers him that he went that far. And there's lots of discussion between, you know, Bible scholars about whether or not that was the right thing for him to do, whether he should have cut the robe or should not have cut the robe. But

That's beside the point. The point is, look at David's heart. As God says, he's a man after my own heart. Look at him. He's a good example for you of what it looks like to pursue my heart. It's that you honor and respect those roles of authority that God has placed in your life so much that it would even bother you to come against them in that way unless God says otherwise.

Well, moving on to verses 8 through 15, here we have point number two, and that is trust God to handle your situation. As we see David in this cave, we now see him step out of the cave to address Saul. And he's very clear as he's talking to Saul, Saul, what you're doing is wrong.

But it's not up to me to correct that wrong. I am trusting God to take care of this situation. Check it out in verse eight. It says, David also arose afterward, went out of the cave and called out to Saul saying, my Lord, the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed down. And David said to Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say, indeed, David seeks your harm?

Verse 11. Verse 12.

As Saul leaves the cave, David doesn't stay hidden. I think maybe that would have been a little bit of an easier route, right? If he would have just stayed hidden, let Saul continue on.

He wouldn't have thought to go back and search the cave where he just relieved himself, right? So, I mean, that would have been a safe place to stay, maybe smelly place to stay, but safe place to stay for a little bit. But David, he risks it all. He steps out into the light and he begins to talk to Saul. He says, my Lord, the King. And notice the respect and the honor. David stoops down with his face to the earth and he bows down.

Even though this is the guy who's tried to kill him time after time after time after time, he still shows honor and respect because he is the king. Because he does have this role of authority. He is the Lord's anointed. And as David confronts him, notice he's pretty delicate in his approach to Saul. In verse 9, he says, why do you listen to the words of men who say, indeed, David seeks your harm?

Now, it was Saul who would call the meetings there in the palace and say, David seeks my harm. You guys, you got to be out to get him with me, you know. It wasn't people telling David, although certainly there's other, you know, situations where that has been the case, where, you know, it's other people feeding wrong information to an authority. But in this case, David was

I think he gives him this opportunity to kind of like receive it softly. You know, he's a little bit tactful. I like how David Guzik describes it. He says, David shows great kindness and tact to Saul. He knew very well that Saul's fear of David came from Saul himself and not from anyone else. But David puts the blame on nameless others so that it is easier for Saul to say they were wrong instead of I was wrong.

So he kind of gives him a little bit easier way out. He says, hey, why are you listening to other people talk about how I'm out to get you? You're convinced I'm out to get you, but Saul, I'm really not. I'm really not out to get you. I'm not trying, I know what God has said, but I'm not trying to take your life or the throne. David here is really trusting God to handle his situation and to fulfill those promises that have been given to him.

And in support of that, David says, look, here is the corner of your robe. He says, look, today your eyes can see. I've given you some solid evidence. I was there with you in the cave and someone urged me, I should just take you out right then. But I will not stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But see here, here's the corner of your robe. Here's the little piece of garment. And kind of picture Saul like looking down at his robe and like, yeah, I am missing a piece of my robe. That

It's tangible proof. I had every opportunity to take your life, but I would not do that. I'm not trying to get you. There is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand. I have not sinned against you. And David says, yet you hunt my life to take it. I think it's interesting to consider here. David is not, he's being delicate and tactful, but he's also not afraid to say what you're doing is wrong.

You're trying to take my life, but I have not done anything wrong to you. It's correction. It's not, you know, that, you know, hey, well, Saul's an authority, so you can never correct anybody in authority. You know, that is not at all the biblical picture here or the teaching. There is that

Sometimes it is applied that way. And it is unfortunate that the Lord's anointed and no, don't touch the Lord's anointed. And that means, you know, you could never question anything that the Lord's anointed says. And that is taught in churches and sometimes it's held to in ministries. And that is a tragedy. That is not an excuse for, you know,

lack of receiving correction or being, you know, nobody is untouchable in that way or unaccountable in that way. That is not at all what this is talking about. But it's having a respect and an honor for those roles that God has established and dealing with them with the appropriate amount of respect and honor is the right thing to do. It is what God wants us to do. And yet at times there are those who are in authority who need to have

correction brought. And so there's appropriate ways and approaches for that. But it needs to be done in a way that we're trusting God to handle the situation, not taking things into our own hands to teach someone a lesson. And so David here is expressing the whole situation. And it's amazing as you look at this, how you can see how gracious God is to Saul.

You could see how gracious God is as Saul has been in rebellion against God. God has told Saul a long time ago that he was going to take the kingdom away from him and give it to someone better. But God didn't do that instantly. Why not? Because God is so patient in still giving opportunities to repent. And here's David holding a piece of Saul's robe. And I just have to think that this summon to mind is,

Something that happened in Saul's life a few years earlier. It was back in 1 Samuel chapter 15 when the Lord first announced to Saul that the kingdom was going to be taken away from him. He announced it through the prophet Samuel. And as Samuel turned to walk away from Saul, Saul grabbed his robe. And as Samuel continued to walk away, you know what happened? A corner of Saul's robe or Samuel's robe tore off in Saul's hand.

And so here's Saul holding a piece of fabric in 1 Samuel chapter 15 from Samuel's robe as a testimony. Samuel tells him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today. Just like you tore this piece from my robe, the Lord has torn the kingdom from you. Now, many years later, here's David holding up a piece of Saul's garment. And he says, I'm not trying to take this from you. I'm not ripping it from you. I'm not trying to rip you off or to take you out.

I got to think that Saul is remembering, he's reflecting on the fact that God has declared this, God has set this in motion, and that it's his sin that has brought him to this point. And God here is giving a call to Saul to wake up and to come to repentance. God is always seeking repentance.

for lost sheep to come back to repentance. And so here Saul is given that chance as this reminder is given in the form of this piece of garment. In verse 12, David says, let the Lord judge between you and me and let the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancient says, wickedness proceeds from the wicked, but my hand shall not be against you.

It's important to note here, David is not pretending like nothing is wrong. He's very clear. There is something wrong here, Saul, but it's not my job to fix it. Let the Lord judge between you and me. I am trusting God to handle this situation. I'm not going to take matters into my own hands. He says, look, the ancient proverb says, wickedness proceeds from the wicked. Wickedness

Wicked proceeds from the wicked. If I was wicked, then I would have done wickedly. I would have just taken you out. But Saul, I'm not wicked. And that's why I didn't strike out against you. That's why my hand shall not be against you. Just like the ancient proverb says, wicked proceeds from the wicked. Here he's not pretending like there's nothing wrong. He's not pretending that he's not hurt. And he gives a bold and clear declaration. Even though you've hurt me greatly, I will not be the one

to harm you. I'm not going to take it out on you. I'm not going to try to correct you. I'm putting all of this in the Lord's hands, the Lord judge between you and me. Pastor Charles Swindoll says, David told Saul the whole unvarnished truth. He told it to the person to whom it mattered most, not to his comrades or to Saul's friends or to the people of Israel, but to Saul himself. He came to terms with the individual truth.

with whom there was the battle. It's an important example for us. As Jesus outlines for us in Matthew chapter 18, when someone sins against you, you go to that person directly and

And that is one of the least applied scriptures, you know, in the whole Bible that someone sins against me. I go to everybody else. I tell everybody else. I talk to everybody else. I complain to everybody else. David here, he goes to Saul and he says to Saul very clear, this must have been very difficult. And his life is at stake because here's Saul and his 3000 men. But, but David takes the risk and he, he comes out into the sunlight and he says, look, Saul,

I could have killed you, but it's not in my heart. I'm not trying to take you out. I honor who you are and the role that God has given to you. That's up to the Lord. I'm trusting him to handle the situation. But let me tell you, this is wrong. This is not right. And the Lord is going to deal with this situation. In verse 14, David goes on to say, after whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog, a dead flea?

Therefore, let the Lord be judge and judge between you and me and see and plead my case and deliver me out of your hand. Notice over and over again, David is very clearly saying, I'm trusting the Lord. The Lord is going to deal with this. God is going to deal with this. I'm trusting him to handle it. Again, pursuing God's heart is the shortcut. It looked like a shortcut for David to just take Saul out, but that would have been a delay.

There would have been complications. There would have been further issues. It would not have been the quick resolution that David's men thought it would be. Now, the quickest way to God's promises, the quickest way to God's blessings was to trust God to handle the situation. Now, again, if God told David, David, I want you to take Saul out, then that's the shortest route. Follow what God says and do what God says. But God did not give authority to David to do that.

So he limits what he does to the authority that God has given to him. And he lays the situation in God's hands and says, God, I'm trusting in you to deal with this situation then, since you haven't given me authority to deal with it. Well, moving on to the final verses, verses 16 through 22, we have point number three, and that is do good even to people doing evil. Verse 16 says, so it was.

When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David, you are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me. For when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely?

Therefore, may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. Saul, as he hears David, he begins to wake up a little bit. And he says, wow, David, you are more righteous than I. I've rewarded you with evil. I've pursued you. I've sought your life. I've tried to take your life. And here you have the opportunity and you reward me with good. This

modeled by David is an accurate representation of the heart of God. And Saul is recognizing that. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 44? He says, I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Jesus says, be like David. And even those that are trying to take your life,

do good to them and bless them and pray for them. And Jesus elaborates that on verse 45 of Matthew chapter five. He says that you may be sons of your father in heaven. If you're gonna pursue God's heart, you're gonna be like God. And what does God do? He says he makes the sun rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust. You know, wicked people, the sun rises for them just like it did for you today, you righteous person, you. God blessed them with sunlight today.

And he blesses wicked people with rain and lets their crops grow and so on and so forth. God does good things even to people who are evil. And Jesus says, be like your father. Pursue God's heart and do good even to people who are doing evil. That's how he calls us to be, to love our enemies. Now, there are some exceptions if you want to struggle with that in your mind.

There is, you know, the authority that's given in Romans chapter 13. Paul talks about those authorities do not bear the sword for nothing. And there are those who have been given authority. And God says, I want you to deal with evil and punish it.

And there is that right thing that is appropriate. That is the appropriate thing to do for those roles of authority to bring that kind of judgment and punishment. You could look at the role of the parent as well. And hey, you're authorized to punish evil minors. You know, that your evil kids, you know, maybe you think they're angels, but there's other things that are like angels that are a little bit different. You're authorized. And so that is appropriate.

But there's also many examples that we could consider where it's not appropriate. God hasn't authorized us to punish. God hasn't authorized us to judge. He hasn't authorized us to be that role and that instrument of judgment. If God gives us that authority, then it's appropriate. But if he doesn't give us that authority, then our job is to do good even to people who are doing evil. He says in verse 18, you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me.

For when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. You dealt well with me. You did good to me. Even though I deserved evil and I did evil to you, you did good to me. And David here accurately represents God's heart. He is reflecting God's heart because he is pursuing God's heart. Verse 20.

And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Therefore, swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father's house. That was the normal practice of the day. The new king wipes out the family of the old king. And Saul says, I really recognize now you are called to be king. You are God's anointed to be king. So when it happens, please don't wipe out my family.

Please don't wipe out my family. He's had a little bit of a wake-up call. He's recognizing this is a work of God. It gives us a little glimmer of hope for Saul until, well, it's just two chapters later. He's going to be chasing David again. He has an opportunity here to repent and he's emotional. He seems to be repentant, but his life doesn't change. And it indicates there's not real repentance here, but he does have this wake-up call.

He does have this moment of recognition. I am wrong. David is called to be king. And so he asked David to promise not to kill his family. Verse 22, so David swore to Saul and Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. Do good, even to people doing evil. It's the shortest route to God's blessings, to God's promises, to the work that God wants to do in your life.

Pursuing God's heart is a shortcut. It doesn't feel like it. Boy, it feels like the long way, windy way around. And you can look and see, oh, that would be so much easier. We could just go that way. Just take them out. You know, just get this, just get that. But if you really want God's work in your life and God's blessings in your life, only do what God has authorized you to do. Don't take things into your own hands. Don't just go do what you think is best. You seek the Lord. You find out from him what would please you, God.

What do you want me to do? What honors you in this situation? That's the fastest route to God's blessings. And trust God to handle the situation, even when there's great injustice. And even when it's some person bringing that injustice to you, God says, your role is to do good, even when people are not doing good to you. David here sets a good example for us, something that's really hard to do, but it's the right route. It's the shortest route to experience what God has for us.

Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each of us that as we consider these things in the example of David, Lord, I pray that you would help us to pursue your heart.

And Lord, there are situations in our lives where we face similar circumstances. The details might be a little bit different, Lord. There's different circumstances that we face, but Lord, that concept of understanding that there's this shortcut, there's this quick and easy fix that we see that would just take care of things. And yet, Lord, when you've not authorized that, Lord, it's not the shortcut that it appears to be.

But Lord, it will bring more difficulty and hurt and harm. I pray, God, that you would give us great wisdom and discernment to be able to recognize where you're leading and where it's just circumstances presenting themselves that appear to come together according to what you want or according to what we want. But Lord, that they're not the route that you've prescribed for us. Lord, I pray that you would help us to seek you, to seek first you and your kingdom and

Lord, that all the other things would be established for us, that you would take care of our needs, that you would fulfill, that you would provide, that you would accomplish your work in us. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to trust you enough to let you have that job, have that work. And Lord, I pray as we trust you, Lord, that we'd be able to live that out with a demonstration of love, even to those who hurt us, even to those who have harmed us and persecuted us and

brought more difficulty and affliction in our lives, help us, God, to represent you well, even to those who have hurt us greatly. Lord, that's your heart. Help us to pursue it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.