David, Saul, and Self
Because I am normally speaking in other churches on Sundays, I don’t get to sit in my Sunday morning Bible study class as often as I would like. But I was there this week. I am fortunate to have a teacher (Tom Green) who is smart, loves to study, and very good at provoking the members of the study to think about the material he is covering each week. Like many other SBC Bible study groups this week, we were studying 1 Samuel 24-31–in particular, the narrative about Saul in the cave (chapter 24) and camped with his troops (chapter 26), and the one about Nabal and Abigail (chapter 25).
Here is one thing provoked by that Bible study.
The context: Chapter 24 is about David’s respect for “the Lord’s anointed.” Saul is pursuing David in order to kill him. When Saul enters a cave to relieve himself, David happens to be there. But rather than killing the “exposed” Saul, he makes a more symbolic gesture out of respect for Saul’s “anointing.” In chapter 26 Saul is pursuing David again. This time David sneaks into Saul’s camp but still refuses to take Saul’s life even though the opportunity is ripe.
The odd story out is chapter 25. In that chapter David runs a protection scam with his men. He provides unrequested protection for a man named Nabal (which means “fool”, by the way). Afterwards, David asks for payment something like this: “We have not stolen from you and we haven’t let anyone else steal from you, and as long as you pay us now for keeping you safe we still won’t steal from you.” It is likely that such practices were as commonplace then as they are for gangs now, but it is unethical regardless of custom. Nabal refuses to pay, and David threatens to kill him and all of his offspring until Abigail intervenes on Nabal’s (and her children’s) behalf.
The observation: Clearly, in chapters 24 and 26 the point repeatedly made is that David is not willing to compromise his trust in God’s plan and provision regarding what everyone recognizes is God’s purpose for him—to become king. As my teacher pointed out, David is even willing to wait for Saul to die of old age rather than kill him himself—because (and this is the because which provokes this post) he knows it is God’s plan, not his, for him to become King in place of Saul.
Chapter 25 is a clear contrast with the chapters which sandwich it. In all three chapters David is surviving off the land with his men. In all three chapters he has an opportunity against his adversaries which he should know is in his power but not in his right to use. He and his adversary (Saul) pronounce God’s purpose for his future in chapters 24 and 26, while Abigail pronounces it in chapter 25.
David has plenty of patience and confidence in God when it comes to God’s big, pronounced plan for His life. That’s why he doesn’t step in and kill Saul when it’s in his power to do so. But David has to be reminded by Abigail that even when he is thinking only of everyday provisions for his men and petty vengeance on his personal adversaries, God still has His greater purpose in mind. So David’s patience and confidence in God’s greater purpose and provision ought to be just as sure even when that greater purpose is well beyond his horizon.
Application: Believers ought to have as much trust in God’s plan and provision when our car won’t start or we can’t make a mortgage payment as when we are following God’s call to the farthest corner of the world.
