May 25, 2025
David: A Man After God’s Own Heart
“Showing Grace You Never Got”
1 Samuel 24: 1-7
Last week we began a series on David pointing out how he went from zero to hero, a nobody even his own father could overlook, to being a war hero who defeated Goliath. Today, we consider his reverse fortunes and how David went from zero to hero to zero again, but not because he made a mistake.
The next period of David’s life, after Goliath, was dominated by conflicts with King Saul. The insert in your bulletin summarizes the events that cover 1 Samuel 18-23. This was roughly the next decade of David’s life. Saul the king became insanely jealous of David, literally! He became mad but maintained enough sanity to be certain he had to kill David, eventually marshalling the entire army and nation’s resources to assist him in a personal mission to eliminate someone he viewed as a foe.
Now, again, we are talking about the 10 century BCE and not current events, because nothing like this goes on today! But what is honestly weird about David’s life here is how intertwined he is with Saul’s family. Saul gave him daughters to marry. Saul’s son Jonathan becomes David’s best friend. All while Saul on multiple occasions tries to pin David to a wall with his spear. On other occasions he sends David in battle hoping the Philistines will kill him. Finally, Saul gets the entire army to pursue David like a figutive.
Along the way David picked up men who came around him to fight with him and protect him. On way occasion Saul’s army pursued David and his men who had retreated to an oasis called Engedi. This was in the desert near the Dead Sea. It was a perfect place to hide out. For one thing there was a gushing spring of fresh water (pic). There chalky hills were also full of caves (pic). And the area was known as the Crags of the Wild Goats. All of these pictures I took when traveling there in 2018, and you can still see the wild goats today!
Well, while David and his men were hiding in a cave, Saul and his army of 3,000 are there and Saul goes into a cave to relieve himself. He bends down and takes a…break. He happens to be in the same cave where David and his men are hiding in the back. They see this and David’s men say to him, “This is your day!” Meaning that this is his chance to kill his enemy. He can take out Saul while he’s in a vulnerable position.
Now pause here for a moment. David’s men were right. This was his day, but not for reasons they thought. They thought when you have a chance to destroy an enemy, that means kill them. Isn’t that what most people would do? Now, kill doesn’t have to be taken literally, but you could say, hurt the other person in a way that keeps them from hurting you again. David’s men, thought like most people.
In fact I read one commentary on David that is very interesting. It suggested that because David didn’t take revenge that is reason to believe this story is not factual. It 2
reads, “the historical David would doubtless have taken advantage of the opportunity to kill Saul had it been presented to him.” (King David, p96) In other words, because David didn’t act like most people, we should be skeptical of this story’s authenticity. Now that’s an interesting way to interpret scripture!
But, what if David’s heart was actually different? He snuck up on Saul unnoticed. He had his sword and Saul was in a vulnerable position. Maybe most people would have used the moment to strike down such a threat. After all Saul deserved it, but, instead, David cut off a corner of his robe. When Saul finished his business and left the cave and was a safe distance away, David yelled to him, showing the corner of the robe he took. He said, “See, my father, see the corner of your cloak in my hand, for by the fact that I cut off the corner of your cloak and did not kill you, you may know for certain that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you are hunting me to take my life.” (1 Samuel 24:11)
Now, you could say that this was still a power move on David’s part. By showing that he could have killed Saul he was hoping that Saul would be thankful and stop trying to kill David. But what I want you to notice here is how David felt after he cut the robe. Before he ever says anything to Saul, look at what it says his reaction was, “David was stricken to the heart because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to raise my hand against him, for he is the Lord’s anointed.” (24:5-6)
David felt conscience-stricken. He knew he had done something disrespectful of the king. Yes, a king who was perhaps insane and tried to kill David many times, but he’s still the king. And David even called Saul “the Lord’s anointed.” David showed this immense respect for Saul not focusing on his unworthy behavior, but his divine anointing. And this offers us another clue as to why God says David was a man after God’s own heart.
David showed grace he was never shown. He showed restraint in getting even against someone who tried to hurt him over and over again without reason. Why would he do this?
John Calvin, Reformation theologian whose teachings led to the creation of the Presbyterian Church, once said…
The Lord commands us to be good to all without exception. If the greatest part of them is not worthy, if they are judged by their own merits, but scripture teaches that we are not to consider what people merit in themselves but to look upon the image of God in all of them to which we owe all honor and love. You will say, this one deserves something far different from me, but what has the Lord deserved from you?We remember to look upon the image of God in them which effaces their transgressions and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them. (from Tim Keller sermon “David’s Mercy” 2015 https://gospelinlife.com/all-resources/?search=David+the+man+of+prayer) 3
What a radical notion Calvine describes 500 years ago. We ask what someone deserves from us, but do we ask what does God deserve from us? What does God deserve in our treatment of others? That’s a very different question.
Author and pastor Max Lucado tells a time when a rottweiler attacked their family puppy at a kennel.
“The worthless animal climbed out of its run and into Molly’s and nearly killed her. He left her with dozens of gashes and a dangling ear. My feelings toward that mutt were less than Davidic. Leave the two of us in a cave and only one would have exited. I wrote a letter to the dog’s owner urging him to put the dog to sleep.
But when I showed the letter to the kennel owner, she begged me to reconsider. ‘What the dog did was horrible (she said), but I’m still training him. I’m not finished with him yet.’ (Facing Your Giants, p48)
How many of us could say, “God isn’t finished with me? At least I hope not!” How many of us need someone to spare us for what we deserve? No wonder Paul wrote in Romans, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (12:19) Let God work it out. Let God handle the training.
David looked at his enemy and said, “the Lord’s anointed.” He based his response on how God looks at a person. How God might use David’s grace. When we show grace to another it is like putting a tool in God’s hand. God uses the grace we offer because that is God’s tool.
It’s like being the assistant to a surgeon who can’t take her eyes off what she is doing. Her hands are in the body of the patient. All she can do is put out a hand for the right to receive the right tool. A surgeon uses a scalpel. So what do you think that person would do if we handed her a club? She’s probably not going to respond the best in that moment. She’s trying to save a patient. She needs the tools she can use to do that.
God is always at work trying to save people. God’s scalpel is grace. When we show grace we give God a tool to use.
But our grace isn’t just for others, it’s for ourselves too. This is very key in understanding this story about David, because had David not shown grace to Saul, David would become Saul. Sure, he could have justified killing Saul at that moment. He could have said, “It’s the only way to protect myself. I had to!” But once you open that door its hard to turn back. In fact, “justifications” start getting easier and easier. Soon it’s not just someone who tries to kill you that you have to eliminate, it’s someone who gets angry with you. It’s someone who disagrees with you. It’s someone who doesn’t fall in line with you.” If David hadn’t shown grace to Saul, he would have become Saul. And it wouldn’t have been long before David would no longer have been fit to be king. Because that kind of petty jealousy and misuse of power to get even with opponents are not what will bring a nation together. 4
You see, David understood that not only was Saul the Lord’s anointed, he was the Lord’s anointed too. He remembered that Samuel had anointed him to be the next king. He was anointed by God, and his anointing gave him something to live up to. He had to act in a way that was in the best interest of the nation. So while showing grace to someone who never showed it to him seems like it is only for Saul’s benefit, it was David’s as well.
And the same is true of us. You show grace you never got and it won’t just be about letting someone else off the hook. It will be about letting yourself off the hook as well. It will be about getting yourself out of a prison of revenge and hate and evil thoughts.
Holocaust survivor, Corrie ten Boom said, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and the prisoner is yourself.”
So David’s action is not just about Saul, it’s about himself too. It’s about doing something that might stop Saul from wanting to keep attacking him, which worked by the way. The story ends with Saul saying to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil…So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. Now I know that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.” (1 Samuel 24: 17,19-20)
But David’s action was even bigger than himself. It was also about his legacy. The Lord’s anointed. Because David was a man after God’s own heart, God determined that a future Messiah would come from David’s ancestry. That’s why several times in the gospels Jesus is called Son of David. What we see in this story of David showing grace he had never been shown is a foreshadowing of what we will see in Jesus many years later.
Look at these verses in the New Testament:
“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:21-23)
This is an example for us. This is how we are called to live. And when we do God creates a future legacy that will have an impact we will never know, at least in this life. It can be like David, who because he showed grace he never got, gave an example that would one day be perfectly demonstrated hundreds of years later in Jesus, David’s descendant. David was preparing the way for a future Messiah.
You never know what your act of grace can become, because you, too, are the Lord’s Anointed. You, too, have the anointing power of God’s Holy Spirit upon you to empower you to live by this example.
Friends, does our world need this example right now? If Christians are empowered to live like Jesus, and we are, does our world not need more Christians living like they should? Do we not need people saying, “Going after enemies, trying to get even with 5
people, using whatever power you have to do that, does not make our world better.” I believe we do need that.
And sometimes we have to look beyond the church to find it.
Let me close with this. I showed it in a sermon a few years ago. This is from the 2022 Little League World Series in a game between Oklahoma and Texas. Watch this…
https://www.google.com/search?q=texas+vs+oklahoma+little+league+world+series+batter+comforts+pitcher&rlz=1C1GCEV_en&oq=&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgBECMYJxjqAjIJCAAQIxgnGOoCMgkIARAjGCcY6gIyCQgCECMYJxjqAjIJCAMQIxgnGOoCMgkIBBAjGCcY6gIyCQgFECMYJxjqAjIJCAYQIxgnGOoCMgkIBxAjGCcY6gLSAQkyMjQ0ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBSiIALkKo2LF&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6505c331,vid:INQa4LSzcuY,st:0