We're in 1 Samuel, chapter 26,
and we're reading from verse one. And Saul pitched in the hill
of Hachelah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David
abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him
into the wilderness. David therefore sent out spies,
and understood that Saul was come in very deed. And David
arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched. And David
beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the
captain of his host. And Saul lay in the trench, and
the people pitched round about him. Then answered David, and
said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah
brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul
to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down
with thee. So David and Abishai came to
the people by night. And behold, Saul lay sleeping
within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster.
But Abner and the people lay round about him. Then said Abishai
to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this
day, now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear
even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second
time. And David said to Abishai, Destroy
him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's
anointed and be guiltless? David said furthermore, As the
Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to
die, or he shall descend into battle and perish. The Lord forbid
that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed,
but I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster,
and the crews of water, and let us go. So David took the spear
and the crews of water from Saul's bolster, and they gaped them
away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked. For
they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was
fallen upon them. Then David went over to the other
side and stood on the top of a hill afar off, a great space
being between them. And David cried to the people
and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said,
Who art thou that criest to the king? And David said to Abner,
Art not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Wherefore then hast thou not
kept thy lord the king? For there came one of the people
in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou
hast done. As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy
to die, because ye have not kept your master the Lord's anointed.
And now see where the king's spear is, and the crews of water
that was at his bolster.' And Saul knew David's voice, and
said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is
my voice, my lord, O king. And he said, wherefore doth my
lord thus pursue after his servant? For what have I done, or what
evil is in mine hand? Now therefore I pray thee, let
my Lord the King hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have
stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. But if
they be the children of men, cursed be the Lord, cursed be
they before the Lord. For they have driven me out this
day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve
other gods. Now therefore let not my blood
fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, for the King
of Israel is come out to seek a flee, as when one doth hunt
a partridge in the mountains. Then said Saul, I have sinned,
return my son David, for I will no more do thee harm, because
my soul was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have
played the fool and have erred exceedingly. David answered and
said, Behold the king's spear, and let one of the young men
come over and fetch it. The Lord render to every man
his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord delivered thee into
my hand today, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against
the Lord's anointed. And behold, as thy life was much
set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by
in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all
tribulation. Then Saul said to David, Blessed
be thou, my son David, thou shalt both do great things and also
shalt still prevail. So David went on his way and
Saul returned to his place. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Here we see the persistence of
Saul, do we not? In this chapter, Saul returns
again, despite all of the things that had transpired, all of the
things that had gone on before. Saul returns with an armed force
of 3,000 young men to hunt David in the wilderness of Ziph. And the Ziphites again betrayed
David's location. and Saul, despite all the apologies
and assurances given to David at the cave of En Gedi in chapter
24, we read about that a few weeks ago, tries again to capture
David out of jealousy and out of fear. David learned of Saul's
coming into the wilderness after him. Though it seems at first
that he can hardly believe that this is what is happening. He's
incredulous. He's probably thinking, what?
After all he said the last time, is he still chasing me here in
the wilderness? So David first sent spies to
confirm the rumour and then he came himself to the place where
Saul had pitched his camp. And probably responding to an
impulse from the Lord, David decided to secretly enter Saul's
camp in the night with one of his men. There he finds the whole
camp unconscious in a deep sleep. And we later learn in the chapter
that this sleep had been brought on by the Lord. David's companion, Abishai, pressed
David to kill Saul and even offered to do it himself if David was
unwilling to do it. but David stopped Abishai from
doing so. Instead, David took away Saul's
spear and a jug or a cruise of water that lay at the king's
head. So that once again, as before
at the cave in Gedi, David preserved Saul's life. His enemy had been
delivered into his hand, but David refused to slay him, recognising
Saul as the Lord's anointed and appointed king. Withdrawing a short way, David
then calls out to Saul in the camp. And as well, especially
to Abner, it must just have been getting light when David made
this shout. And he shouts, especially to
Abner, and he says he's accusing him of failing to protect Saul
and to guard the king's life. And as far as Saul is concerned,
David is again polite and respectful to Saul, recognising him as his
king. But David displays the king's
spear and the crews of water for all to see. as proof that
the security of the camp had been breached and Saul's life,
which had been at risk, had been preserved by David. David testified his genuine respect
for Saul and he told him that he neither desired nor intended
to take his life. And then seemingly convinced
by David's words, Saul blesses David and returns to his home. That's kind of the contents of
this chapter that we've read together. And I thought that
there might be a few little lessons for us to learn from it today. Here's the first one that I want
to mention. I like that David didn't just
believe all the bad things that were said about Saul, but found
out for himself if these things were true. He had heard that
Saul was pursuing him again into the desert. Actually, they were
true. Saul was back in pursuit of David,
despite assuring David otherwise. Nevertheless, I think it's admirable
that David first sent spies and then went himself to survey the
situation. And it's a good lesson for us
not simply to believe rumours, or take for granted what we are
told. Sometimes what is said will be
true, but sometimes it will not be true. And each of us, you
and me, have a responsibility to carefully examine and assess
what we are told. That's true as far as the Word
of God is concerned. And it is also true as far as
the things in this world are concerned. And it's especially
true today when so many lies are told at every level in our
society. There are lies told in churches.
There are lies told in government. There are lies told in elections. There are lies told in our schools,
in our colleges, in our workplace. And we should be careful when
we hear things, not simply to believe what we hear, but examine
them. And we should also be careful
not to spread false stories, especially if these hurt people
who might be quite innocent of the things being said. Before
David did anything, he established the true story, which is always
a wise thing to do. Another thing that we note about
this passage and the way in which David acted was that he was able
to walk right into Saul's camp with his friend Abishai and he
was able to take Saul's spear and the crews of water that lay
by his bolster, a bolster's a pillow that you put your head on, so
it was right up at Saul's head that he took this cruise of water
away from and also the spear. But he was able to take the spear
and the water while preserving Saul's life. And I see two wonderful
things here. First, the Lord prepared David
by inserting into his mind the idea to go down into Saul's camp,
which was a brave and surprising thing to do. And second, the
Lord brought a deep sleep upon Saul's army to enable David to
enter and to leave undetected. The point to note is this, I
think. Our God is well able to bring about strange and unexpected
and wonderful outcomes for the good of those he loves and protects. Now that does not mean that we
act foolishly or that we do rash or stupid things. David didn't
do that. In fact, he was very careful
in many ways And yet when the Lord opened the door of opportunity,
David bravely stepped in. Nevertheless, David only went
as far as his principles allowed. David's friend, Abishai, given
this opportunity would have killed Saul, seeing it as God's will. He interpreted the circumstances
as being that God had delivered Saul into David's hand. David,
however, knew that it was wrong to kill the king and therefore
he withheld his hand. He would not slay Saul nor allow
Saul to be slain. And I think that this is very
helpful to us in knowing how we should live as well. Let us
as believers and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ endeavour
to live according to the principles and practices that the Lord has
taught us in his word. We shouldn't just say, oh, we're
Christians. and it not make any difference
in our life. If we are the Lord's people,
then he has implanted in our lives principles and practices. He has taught us by his word
that we are to live for him and follow him. We are to live by
the truth that he has placed in our hearts. Abishai said,
this is amazing. God has delivered Saul into our
hands, let's kill him. David said, destroy him not,
for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed
and be guiltless? David's reasoning was this, the
Lord will bring about the death of the king soon enough. and
he will do it by his own means. The Lord does not require me
to act sinfully, to act inappropriately to take Saul's life today. David left it in the hands of
God to deal with Saul and to defeat the evil schemes of Saul
while prospering the life of David. Many Christians think
that it's our responsibility to change the world, it's our
responsibility to make the world better. We need to be careful. The Lord is doing his will in
the lives of his people and in the lives of the men and women
of this world. It's our responsibility to live
to the glory of God as we are able and to show forth the Lord
Jesus Christ to preach the gospel and to show forth the Lord Jesus
Christ in our lives. Lastly, David's conduct in this
whole matter was honourable and respectful. He was a good example
He criticised Abner, Saul's general, who rightly was blameworthy for
not protecting the king, which was his job, albeit the Lord
brought a deep sleep on the whole camp. But he showed no disrespect
to Saul, recognising that he was the one whom the Lord had
placed on the throne, by proper means. He even returned Saul's
spear and his crews of water to him. In all of this, I see David's
faith shining through. David trusted the Lord. Though Samuel was now dead, David
relied on the word of God's servant. and the anointing that had occurred
concerning his own accession to the throne of Israel. Satan
would try to use Saul as much as he could to thwart God's purposes
and he often filled Saul with anger and jealousy and grievance
to cause him to try to slay the Lord's chosen man. But David
trusted the Lord to protect, to preserve and to fulfil his
promise. And this is all the Lord asks
of us. Faith is all the Lord seeks from
his people and faith is what he supplies to us that we might
return it to him. He calls for faith and he gives
us faith. Like David, we have been saved. We are presently being saved
and we shall be saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ
and the faith that the Lord gives to those that he has redeemed
and secured for glory. If we trust the Lord, it is because
the Lord has done great things for us. and he will do great
things for us in the days that lie ahead. I'm sure David was
nervous when he walked into Saul's camp. I'm sure too that he fully
trusted the Lord for whatever outcome occurred. If you trust
the Lord, be sure of this. He will protect and keep you. He always does his people good. Even when we get scared, even
when doubts rise in our hearts and in our minds, the faith of
Christ and faith in Christ will see God's church and people safe
in this lifetime, even in the camp of Saul, our enemy. and
saved for all eternity. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today. Amen.