1 Sam 24:1-15 He is the Anointed of the Lord CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

David and his men were in a cave in the wilderness of Engedi when Saul and his men were hunting for them.   Saul ended up sleeping in the cave where David and his men were hiding.  So, David’s men assumed that this was the providence of God.  They wanted to kill Saul.  But David refused because he had a proper estimation of:

His King – v.4-10 – he knew that Saul was the Lord’s anointed and that was no way David could kill him without transgressing against the Lord – see Ps 105:12-15; Acts 4:26-27; Ezek 28:14, Jude 9, Ex 22:28 – in these verses we see that Israel was anointed and their enemies were destroyed for attacking them, Jesus was anointed and his enemies were nearly destroyed for crucifying him and the devil was anointed and Michael would not even rail on him.  David knew that because Saul was anointed he was something special in God’s eyes and David was not to avenge himself.  Instead, he was to honor the king, 1 Pet 2:17.

His Sin – v.11 – David’s heart smote him for cutting off Saul’s skirt but he did not lift up his hand against him – he knew that if he had, he would have sinned against the Lord and against Saul.  Our admonition is to pray for kings, good or bad, that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty, 1 Tim 2:1-3.

His Lord – v. 12-13, 15 – David knew that if there was every going to be vengeance and judgment God was going to have to bring it – and he knew that the Lord would, at some point, Rom 12:19, Deut 32:35.  You see David was also anointed 1 Sam16:13 and there was no way that Saul was going to get away with that behavior.  Even Saul knew that David was going to be the next king, v.20.  The Lord would eventually avenge David [which he did at the hand of the Philistines, 1 Sam 31].  The trouble with us in situations like this is that we think the Lord should avenge us and he may not and that he should avenge us speedily and he may wait.  He surely waited in David’s case.

Himself – v.14 – David was the future king but he was humbled before King Saul and the Lord – he thought of himself as a dead dog and a flea.  It would do you good when you feel the need to be avenged to remember that you are nothing, Gal 6:3.   See, pride usually accompanies the desire to be avenged and it grows the longer you plead against your enemy without satisfaction.  David was nobody who had no business doing anything to harm the king.