“But after doing this, David felt remorse over cutting Sha’ul’s garment. He said to his men, ‘Adonai forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord, Adonai’s anointed, as raise my hand against him! After all, he is Adonai’s anointed.‘ By saying this, David stopped his men and would not let them do anything to Sha’ul. Sha’ul got up, left the cave and went on his way.”-1 Samuel 24:6-8
Why did David feel such deep remorse after cutting the hem of Saul’s garment?
Had not God Himself arranged this opportunity for David to kill Saul?
After all, Saul had tried to spear David to death before…
He also was a mass murderer because he ordered the slaughter of all the priests at Nob.
And now he was doing everything in his power to find David and kill him.
So wouldn’t have David been justified in killing Saul?
Let alone just slicing off a piece of his garment?
Nevertheless, David felt terrible guilt for what he had done.
He told his men he had committed a horrible sin.
Why?
He had raised his hand against the Lord’s anointed.
He had disrespected the throne of Israel.
It was also a great insult to Saul personally.
To invade a man’s private space in such a foul manner while he was relieving himself.
Such things simply weren’t done, even to a sworn enemy.
So much more for a king.
So here is the great lesson to be learned from this incident.
You shouldn’t accept every opportunity that comes your way.
Nor is every opportunity something that comes from God.
Although tempting, just because you have a chance to gain success by doing things your own way doesn’t mean it’s in harmony with God’s Will.
Our behavior should align with the patterns and principles in Scripture…
We should also pray to the Lord for wisdom when opportunities come our way.
These opportunities might be a test of our faith and wisdom…
Or they could be a trap from the evil one.
I’m reminded of that scene from the movie American Gangster.
The detective, Richie Roberts (played by Russell Crowe) discovers a million dollars in the trunk of the car.
This “opportunity” came to him when he was struggling financially with child support, car payments, and so on.
Yet what did he do?
He turned the money in.
All of it.
He could have kept a couple of thousand bucks for himself to help out with the bills.
Nobody would’ve known.
Yet he decided to turn it all in.
When asked why he did what he did, Richie answered by saying
“Because it was the right thing to do.”
And that’s why David didn’t kill Saul.
Yes, Saul intended to murder David…
And it was God’s intent for David to become the next King.
So the argument could easily be made there was no wrong for David to kill Saul in this case.
Again, it seemed like the perfect chance – a circumstance divinely orchestrated by God.
But deep down inside David knew that murder was not the answer.
Plus, if you think about it.
God hadn’t told David he would become king.
That was something other people had said.
So, even though David and his men didn’t understand it at the time…
It wasn’t right for David or any Israelite to kill King Saul.
I believe this was a test God had arranged.
This also answers a question I brought up earlier:
Did David try to take the throne from Saul?
David was given the chance to kill Saul and become king right away.
But he didn’t take it.
He didn’t see himself as Saul’s enemy or someone who wanted to rule Israel.
The bottom line is that David would become king NOT by his own plan or actions…
He would become King by surrendering to God’s Will and plans for his life.
Let this be a lesson for us all as we seek to do God’s Will in our lives.
Amen.
Amein. May His will and not mine be done in my life.