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I'd like to invite you to join me in a little experiment

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this morning.

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What I want you to do is to use your imagination and place yourself in

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the position of David as he sits in a cave and learns that his worst

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enemy is now at his mercy.

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But to understand, David's thinking on that morning

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we need to reflect on the experiences that brought him to that

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cave.

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So imagine your a youth.

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The youngest son of a family living in a house made of dirt in a

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village of maybe 150, or so people most of whom are related to you.

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Like most of the families in your village, your family eked out a

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meagre existence growing, its own food on a small plot of land and

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tending

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a little flock of sheep and goats that provided both your meat and

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your clothing.

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Then one day a remarkable thing happened.

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A great man of God

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the prophet Samuel from Ramah walked into your village.

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Everyone was afraid of what this might mean, but the great prophet

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said that he had come to make a sacrifice here and he invited the

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Elders of the village to join him.

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Your father was among those invited but you didn't get to go.

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Since that is the youngest of the eight sons of the family

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you had to watch the flock.

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A little while later.

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One of your brothers came to get you, the great man of God

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wanted to see you.

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And when you got there, the prophet took his olive oil and anointed

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you with it and you felt the Spirit of God come over you at that

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moment.

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A lot of crazy things happened after that. You were invited to the

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Royal Court and Gibeah to play music for the king. Later

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when the Philistines invaded, your country, your three older brothers

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joined the army.

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And since you were not needed to play music at the court any more,

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you went back home to help the family tend the flock in their place. And

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then the most astonishing thing happened.

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When you went to take some supplies to your brother in the army.

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You ended up fighting and killing the champion of the Philistine Army

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bringing about your people's deliverance.

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After that, you met the king and his son, Jonathan and you and

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Jonathan became friends and you joined the court of the king

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full time and were given a place in the army.

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In the years that followed your prowess as a soldier grew and you were

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eventually promoted and ended up as the commander of the army. And

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people all over Israel

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praised you and celebrated your victories.

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And you grew hard and tough from the fighting.

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You weren't that young boy anymore.

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But as your military success continued, the king became increasingly

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suspicious and hostile toward you.

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Jonathan informed you, that his father was determined to have you killed.

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And on two separate occasions, the king himself flew into such a rage

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that he flew us through a spear at you.

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Things finally became so bad that your wife the Kings own daughter

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helped you escape before her father could have you arrested and put to

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death.

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You fled to Ramah

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but the king pursued you there.

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And you fled again.

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The next few years were tough.

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You were on the run all the time. To survive, you lied.

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You took refuge in the court of your country's enemies. Once you even

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pretended to be insane.

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Overtime

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you collected a gang of some, several hundred, malcontents, thugs,

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and social outcasts.

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You were loved and admired by some.

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Hated and feared by others.

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But always, you were the hunted. Hunted by the army of Israel. Hunted by

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a king determined to kill you.

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Now

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you're on the run yet again, hiding out in a cave with the army of the

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king hot on your trail,

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seeking your blood.

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But on this morning

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the King has come unarmed.

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Unsuspecting and alone into the very cave in which you and some of

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your men are hiding.

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This is your chance the men

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say. You can kill the king and take his place and who could blame you.

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Not only could you claim that killing

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Saul was essentially self-defense.

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You could even justify it as fulfilling God's will.

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After all had not God rejected Saul and ordered Samuel the prophet to

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announce you to anoint you King and his place. Just think with one

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stroke

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you could complete the journey from that tiny dirt house of your youth

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to the Royal throne in the great palace of the Kingdom.

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And you would be free from the haunting constant threat of death that

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has followed you day and night for these many years.

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So David,

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what are you going to do?

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And why?

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Well, I suppose it's not really that much of a dilemma, you know, the

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end of the story.

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It was read just a few minutes ago.

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You know that David decided to spare the life of Saul.

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But do you really understand why? You might have thought that David

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spared Saul's life because he found the idea of killing repugnant.

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But that was not David's motivation.

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After all, if you believe the biblical narrative David had already

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killed a lot of people since he entered the service of the king.

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You might have thought that David spared Saul's life because he was

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concerned about potential reprisals against him from Saul's nearby

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Army, but that was not David's motivation.

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You might have thought that David spared Saul's life because it would

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have been cowardly to ambush and strike down an unarmed and

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unsuspecting man.

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But that was not David's motivation.

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You might have thought that David spared Saul's life because God,

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commanded, אסור להרוג, you must not kill.

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But that was not David's motivation either.

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So you've been in David's mind for a few minutes now.

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Why did he do what he did?

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Be honest, we really don't have to exercise our imagination to figure

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this out.

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David himself tells us his motivation, three times in the text, twice

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in verse 7 and again, in verse 11.

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He was unwilling to kill Saul because Saul was God's mesheok.

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The one God had Chosen and anointed to do God's work.

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Now I suspect that there are many of you sitting here this morning who

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will be surprised to think of Saul as God's Mashiach.

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After all, we tend to have a fairly low opinion of Saul despite the

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fact that humanly speaking saw was a pretty successful and popular

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King.

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He made his mistakes to be sure.

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And to judge by the narrative

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he was insecure.

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And his profound insecurity

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led him into all sorts of difficulties, the kind of difficulties that

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cost him God's favor.

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So when we look at Saul, we see the failure of the man.

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And if you think that way about Saul, you just failed, this morning's

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imagination test.

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You were not thinking with the mind of David.

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For when David looked at Saul, he did not see the failure of the

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man.

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He saw the certainty of the promise of God.

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And David understood what Paul understood when Paul wrote to the

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church in Rome centuries

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later that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

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Despite his failings

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Saul remained God's Mashiach.

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And believing in the promise of God

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David continued to honor the man despite his failing just fight the

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danger to himself.

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Because he was confident that the God who had anointed and chosen Saul

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had also chosen and anointed him. Believing the promise of God freed

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David from having to take matters into his own hands because he knew

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that his life was in far better hands than his own.

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So what of you?

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We all face difficult moments, that tempt us to seize the opportunity

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to take control of things and take matters into our own hands.

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The next time you face such a moment journey back in your imagination

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to David's cave.

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Remember the promise the promise

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God had made to you. And know that the God who kept his promise to

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David will also keep his promise to you. Believing that the promise

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of God has freed you from having to take your life into your own hands

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because you know,

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that your life is in far better hands than you're own.

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You are in a very different sense

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also God's, Mashiach. Chosen by God, anointed with the water of

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baptism

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and you have received his spirit.

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You are his in Jesus Christ.

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And the gift that God has given to you and the calling of God as his

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special possession are irrevocable.

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So, that in Jesus, you can rest in the confidence of all God's saints,

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knowing that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers nor

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things present, nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor

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anything else in all creation, will be able to separate you from the

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love of God in Christ

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Jesus

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your Lord.

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Amen.