Finding Mercy For Our Enemies
1 Sam 24, 26, Psalm 57
Go Phillies!
Go Renewal Women’s flag football team!
Go vote.
In my years of living in Philly, I’ve had my bike stolen, my car broken into, my car hit while parked, my car stolen. It’s not a good feeling. How do we respond when people wrong us, when someone cuts us off in traffic, says a racial remark, falsely accuses us, slanders us, bullies us, takes advantage of, us, betrays us, etc. Maybe we’ve had a boss, a co-worker, a roommate, a mother-in-law, a spouse, a former friend who has attacked us.
Can you think of someone whom you feel has wronged you, deeply wronged you? This sermon will be much more meaningful if we can take it from the theoretical, hypothetical to our personal realities.
We know that Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, but if we’re honest with ourselves, that’s pretty impossible. It is one of Jesus’ hardest teaching. Most of us probably don’t even really try. We don’t want to love our enemies. We delight in hating them. Even if we at one level wanted to love, to not hold our grudge, to forgive, I don’t know that we can simply by choice. We can’t just decide to forget about the hurt, the wounds, the misery our enemies may have caused. We feel trapped/gripped by our hurt feelings.
I had often read the story about David not killing Saul, and just understood that as how the story went. But I’ve come to appreciate, that’s a big thing. Saul literally hates David and wants him dead. He has put David on the run. David is a wanted man with a price on his head. How is it that David can turn around and show mercy and kindness to Saul?
How we respond to our enemies says a lot about our Gospel faith, Gospel living.
Today we see two incidents when David had the opportunity to hurt Saul, to kill him, but in both incidents, David spares Saul’s life.
1 Sam 24
Saul and 3000 soldiers are chasing David and they were right on his tail. David and his men run into a cave to hide while Saul’s men swarm the area right outside the cave. Then they hear footsteps. Someone was entering the cave. Their hearts must have been pounding!
It turns out that it was King Saul himself. Nature had called, and so Saul went into that cave to relieve himself. All of a sudden, the tables have turned. It was now Saul who was the unprotected and vulnerable one. All of David’s men urged David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand!” Here he is, right there for the picking!
David quietly creeps us, lifts his sword, and . . . cuts off a piece of Saul’s robe.
After Saul finishes his business and leaves the cave, David calls out, “My lord, the king! Why do you think that I’m trying to harm you? Look, I could have killed you, but I didn’t. See, I cut a piece of your robe. I was right there and could have struck you down. I have not wronged you, so why are you hunting me down? May God judge between us.”
Saul says, “David, you are more righteous than I. You will be king. Please do not wipe out my family.”
1 Sam 26
You’d think that 1 Sam 24 would have settled the matter, but Saul and 3000 soldiers are again pursuing David. David hears about it and finds out where Saul and his men are camped. He goes to see the camp, and then he and one of his men, Abishai, decide to go into the camp. At night they walked through the camp and find Saul sleeping, with his spear stuck in the ground beside him.
Abishai says, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Let me have one strike, just one. I won’t strike twice.”
But David stops him and says, “Don’t strike him. This is God’s anointed. God will deal with Saul Himself.” David then takes Saul’s spear and water jug and leaves.
Then at a safe distance, David calls out, “You bodyguards should all be killed. You have not protected your king. Look, where is the king’s spear or water jug that were near him?”
Saul recognizes the voice, “David, is that you?”
David replies, “Yes. Why are you pursuing me? What have I done to you? Has God incited you against me? Is it other men who have turned you against me? Why are you trying to squash this little flea?”
Saul replies, “I have sinned. I will not harm you. Come back.”
Twice David spares Saul’s life. He had an open shot, a perfect opportunity to retaliate, to take him out, to stop all this misery. But David shows mercy and kindness.
It must have been a little tempting for David. David is human too. There must have been a side that would have loved to “give it back” to Saul, to at least hurt him really bad. I’m sure it would have felt like poetic justice. It some ways, it could have been understood as self-defense: kill or be killed. Let me add, David is not afraid to use his sword. He has already killed hundreds of people by his own hand.
Everyone around him thought it was a great idea, encouraging him to kill Saul. There were people who would have done the dirty work for him.
David could have even rationalized it theologically. Everyone recognized these incidents as “God delivering Saul into David’s hands,” including Saul and David (24:4, 24:10, 24:18, 26:8, 26:23). The circumstances were too providential: God had brought Saul before David so David could vanquish his enemies.
So why didn’t David kill Saul?
There are a few clues in the story itself, in David’s own words.
1. The Lord’s Anointed
24:5-6, 10 David is conscious-stricken for cutting Saul’s robe
26:9, 11 It would be sinful to strike the Lord’s Anointed.
For David, there was a sacred reverence for God’s chosen king. Saul was on all counts a violent and spiteful man, but God had chosen him. To defy or attack God’s chosen was to attack God Himself. David would never go against God.
It is good for us to appreciate David’s deep reverence for God. David’s power to show mercy to his enemies came from the fact that he loved God more than he hated Saul.
Let me give a few possible applications of this. The church is full of sinners, full of faults and shortcomings. But in the NT, Paul has this deep reverence for the church. This is not just a group of people, this is the Bride of Christ, the Temple of God. There is a sacred reverence for the church because there is a sacred reverence for Christ. The reason why we wouldn’t attack or cause division or dishonor the church is out of reverence for Christ, and so for His Bride.
Likewise with marriage. Our spouses are surely as sinful as we are. But marriage is a metaphor for the relationship between Christ and the Church, and that makes is sacred. This is not just something between me and my spouse. This is to be a sacred reverence for marriage because there is a sacred reverence for Christ. The reason why we wouldn’t destroy our marriage is out of reverence for Christ.
We can take this to the level of another Christian, a brother or sister in Christ. Sure they’re sinners. But that person is a child of God, a temple of the HS, an heir of the inheritance, a citizen of heaven. That person bears Christ’s name. This is a sacred reverence for fellow believers. The reason we wouldn’t hurt the other person is out of reverence for Christ.
I’d like you to consider your “enemy,” particularly if this person is someone in the church, perhaps it’s our spouse, perhaps it’s another Christian. I’d challenge you to pray, “Lord, this person has wronged me. But because of my reverence for you, I will not attack or slander or spite this person.”
Let’s pray that our love for Christ would be stronger than our bitterness or hatred for the other person.
2. God as Judge
24:12-15 God is judge. He will avenge, but I will not. (13) I will not do evil and condemn myself.
(15) God will consider my cause, God will vindicate and deliver me.
David is not naive or stupid. He knows that Saul had wronged him, but he leaves that in God’s hands.
God is Judge means
God will deal with Saul, I don’t have to. I don’t have to take matters into my own hands.
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (Ro 12:19)
26:10 The Lord will deal with Saul, maybe directly, maybe in battle.
affirms that God had chosen Saul, and it is God to discipline, remove, strike down or do whatever He sees fit. David recognizes Saul’s life is for God to determine, not himself.
We don’t have time to study 1 Sam 25, but in that story, David learns that God can be trusted to deal with fools and offenders, like Nabal. David doesn’t always have to take matters into his own hands. God will bring justice.
Christians are not vigilantes, feeling we have to make sure we balance the scales and settle the score. Christians live by faith that God is Judge. We learn to our hope in God, to trust that God will be our vindicator, our defender, our deliverer.
I must remain righteous. I do not want to be guilty before God.
Too often, we see the other’s wrongdoing as license for us to sin. We’re so focused on how the other person has wronged us. Sometimes our boys will fight, “Well, he did it first.” We feel we’ve been wronged, and that now gives us permission to retaliate. Or maybe we feel we can’t even help it. We can’t deny our angry or resentful feelings. We have to respond in anger and ungodliness.
David shows us another way. Just because someone wrongs us doesn’t mean we have to wrong them. We can respond with mercy and kindness. Christ gives us the ultimate example. Being sinned against doesn’t give us permission to sin also.
Part of David’s ability to do this is because he recognizes that God is judge. His whole hope is to maintain his innocence and let God be judge.
When we attack our enemies, we deny the perspective that God is judge. We’re not trusting that God will settle the score or that we will be held accountable. We want to be judge and prosecutor, and in so doing, we condemn ourselves by committing our own sins.
David isn’t as concerned with the fact that Saul has sinned against him, he wants to make sure he doesn’t sin against Saul/God. We tend to be more concerned about the faults of others than our own faults, but David is more concerned about his own faults.
These are powerful truths for David, that Saul was God’s Anointed, and that God is Judge.
But I think the Psalms shed much more light into the heart of David and show us more of the heart that was enabled to show mercy.
David has a God to protect him, a refuge, a shelter, a safe place.
David has a God who defends him, comforts him, assures him. So much so, that David feels safe, even without the removal of Saul.
How we respond to our problems reveals how we really view God, our functional theology. This is a Gospel issue.
So many Psalms that cry out to the Lord in troubles. I’d to take a quick look at Psalm 57, when David fled from Saul in the cave.
1 Refuge
Crying for help. A response of faith: where do you turn to? Lord, Jesus, save me.
Gal 4:6, we cry “Abba, Father”—we instinctively turn to God, and cry “Daddy!!”
2 God Most High—one who is able to save, all-powerful and all-worthy.
Fulfiller of His purpose for me—he has a plan, sets our course, and takes us there
3 Love and Faithfulness (3, 10)—a God who loves him and is faithful to him
(1) God is Big/Strong, (2) God is good/loving
4 David is honest about his situation and feelings. He is in grave danger and feels like he’s about to be devoured. He is not denying or minimizing the threat or problem.
5 God Most High—All important (and all powerful)
Be exalted. David’s primary concern is not for himself, but for God and His glory. Whatever happens to David, he cries, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.”
As we our enemies attack, as people cause us various troubles, I challenge you to pray, “Be exalted O God.” Whatever happens to me, my reputation, my comfort, my money, my future, use this for your glory. You are glorious and worthy!
6 Turn around; Deliverance
7-11 Eruption of Praise
This is not just about David’s personal deliverance, but about the great faithfulness of our God. He is great and merciful! God is faithful to His people, God is good and kind!
There is praise, this is so wonderful for me. And there is praise, God is awesome and good and faithful and glorious! We rejoice in making much of God.
I remember struggling over one aspect of ministry. This was when I was meditating a lot of the promises of God. I met with an older pastor to seek some counsel, and I felt God used him to give me real encouragement and guidance. And I recall getting into my car and crying out in praise! Yes, Lord, You are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Yes Lord, you do work all things for good. Yes Lord, you are my Good Shepherd.
It is not just joy for personal circumstances, but praise for God. In the deliverance, we gain a clearer vision of who God is and What he does.
I think in v. 5, David is exclaiming, Lord you are more important than what happens to me. Be glorified. God’s all-importance, supremacy.
And in v. 11, David is exclaiming, Lord you are loving and faithful, you are glorious and worthy to be exalted over all the earth. God’s loving and faithful character.
Safety in a Strong and Loving God
David could let Saul go because he had a Deliverer, a God Most High (all powerful and all important). David has a Big and Strong God in His life.
David has a God Most High, a Fulfiller of His purpose for him. David has something greater that Saul’s treat. Saul is not such a big threat for a man who has such a great God. God is with him, and God will protect him, defend him. David doesn’t feel threatened.
We need to be honest about our problems, fears, pains. But do we despair? Do we stay downcast, or do we find a Big and Strong God in whom we find comfort and refuge? This gets at the life of faith/Gospel living we’ve been learning about.
Worship in the midst of Troubles
That’s what this Psalm is: it is a psalm of praise as David is hiding in cave
To proclaim that God is all-important, the higher priority. Be exalted O God.
Whatever happens to me, my reputation, my comfort, my money, my future, use this for your glory. You are glorious and worthy!
Out of reverence for Christ, I will show mercy.
To cry out to the Lord, to experience His love and faithfulness, and to give him praise! And it’s all about Him!
Troubles-deliverance-praise This is a pattern, a cycle we see throughout Scripture.
Praise overflowing to Outreach
We live in a world of troubles and problems. People are always hurting one another.
We have a God who delivers, a God who is loving and faithful. We shout praises to Him, and we want the world to know that He Saves! We want Him exalted in all the earth.
CityLife 08. Evangelism/outreach is the overflow of living in the Gospel, where we see He is loving and faithful, He delivers us in our troubles, He is true to His promises and His people. And so, in the midst of adversaries and troubles, His people can feel safe, can show mercy.
There is an evangelism/outreach that celebrates the virtue of the evangelist. We’re so caring, so faithful, so kind, so obedient, so good.
There is an evangelism/outreach that celebrates the virtue of our God. He is loving and faithful, He is God Most High, He is my Deliverer, My Defender, My Savior.
David wants people to see God, not because he’s a good evangelist, but because his God is such a great God.
It is out of that testimony, that faith, that relationship with Christ that we have something to proclaim, something to share. Our evangelism is not hollow or man-centered. Our evangelism is the overflow of our God-exalting worship. And we can tell people how his love reaches to heavens and his faithfulness reaches to the skies . . . in our lives.
We have a God who is faithful and strong, even while we have enemies who attack and harm us.