LifeWay Family Bible Series for Jan. 25: Learning to wait for God’s timing signals growth_11204

Posted: 1/09/04

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Jan. 25

Learning to wait for God's timing signals growth

1 Samuel 26:1-25

By David Jenkins

New Hope Baptist Church, Big Sandy

The setting of this lesson finds David at one of the most critical and frustrating times of his life. He is a fugitive from King Saul, who, because of his great jealousy, has determined to hunt David down and kill him. In the hill country west of the Dead Sea lived the Ziphites, descendants of Ziph, the grandson of Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:42). David had fled to this area to hide from Saul and his army.

Since the prophet Samuel had anointed David when he was very young to be the next king of Israel, David had lived with great anticipation of the fulfillment of God's plan for his life. He discovered that God's seeming delays were designed for his spiritual growth and preparation for his coming task. David matured remarkably through these experiences during which he lived in constant danger of losing his life.

A bold maneuver

For the second time, the Ziphites sent representatives to Gibeah to reveal David's whereabouts to King Saul (23:19; 26:1). No doubt they did this not because they disliked David but for fear of their lives. Probably they remembered the massacre at Nob, where Saul had killed the priests and their families and all they owned because they had helped David (22:19). How often have we failed to defend someone whose reputation is being attacked because we feared the consequences of getting involved?

In his mad rage to find and kill David, Saul chose 3,000 of his crack troops and went down to the Desert of Ziph. David, hiding in the desert, sent scouts from the men who were with him to locate the place where Saul and his men were camping for the night. In the midst of his army, Saul lay down to sleep. Beside him was Abner, his army commander. One of David's loyal men, Abishai, agreed to accompany David into Saul's camp under cover of darkness. They made their way through Saul's sleeping troops to the very center of the camp. They stood and looked at the sleeping Saul, his sword stuck in the ground at his head, and his valiant general, Abner, asleep beside him.

An unbelievable confrontation

As David and Abishai observed the sleeping Saul, who was not the wise servant of God David was, Abishai asked permission to thrust Saul through with his spear and destroy the man who was committed to killing David.

From the human standpoint, that seemed to be the heroic thing to do. But David reminded Abishai that Saul was still God's anointed king over Israel. He would not think of laying a hand on God's anointed. God would take care of Saul in his own time. David was willing to continue trusting God with his life, even when he could not understand why things were happening as they were.

Often we find it tempting to “help God out” by trying to make things happen sooner than God intends for them to. Interfering with God's timetable often spells disaster.

Even though David would not harm Saul, he felt that it would be a good lesson for the king for him to know what could have happened. David took Saul's spear and a canteen of water and withdrew to a place above and apart from the camp. The historian wisely added a statement that made it clear how David was able to do what he did without being detected. Neither Saul nor any of his thousands of troops awoke because “the Lord had put them into a deep sleep” (v. 12).

Even though David was a shrewd warrior himself, his life was continually protected from Saul's sword by God and not by David's cunning. Sometimes we are guilty of forgetting that we weathered our difficult times not in our own strength but in the strength of the Lord.

A victorious conclusion

From his vantage point on a hilltop adjacent to Saul's army, David called out first to Saul's army and his general, Abner. Showing them the spear and jug of water he had taken, David rebuked them for not properly guarding their king. Then he called out to Saul. He insisted he was innocent and begged Saul to tell him how he had wronged the king. Saul did not accuse David of anything, admitted he wronged David and said would not seek to harm him again (v. 21). The promises didn't last because of Saul's uncontrollable hatred for David. The lesson for us is that wrong attitudes can fester within us for so long we can suppress them no longer.

Sometimes people seek to do us harm, attack our reputation and discredit our efforts to serve God. We try to reach out to them, but to no avail. Other times, we act as Saul did. We harbor ill feelings toward others and seek to prove our conclusions by gathering every negative fact against them we can. The solution is a simple one, but exceedingly difficult for us to accept. God has a timetable in regard to our lives. Our problem is to acquiesce to his schedule and scrap ours!

Questions for discussion

What is the best stance to take when you are wrongly accused of something for which you are not responsible?

What usually happens when you run ahead of God?