Mike Bickle discusses King David's exemplary responses to mistreatment, emphasizing the importance of entrusting our struggles to God rather than seeking revenge. David's understanding of spiritual warfare allowed him to invoke God's intervention in his circumstances, demonstrating that responding rightly to mistreatment can deepen our relationship with God and invite His help. Bickle highlights that mistreatment often comes from those close to us, and how we respond can either lead to bitterness or spiritual growth. He encourages believers to commit their situations to God, as David did, and to actively seek to do good even to those who wrong us, reflecting the heart of God in our actions.

A few episodes from David's life, King David, King of Israel. He lived about 3,000 years ago and his life is recorded in the Old Testament in 1st and 2nd Samuel and of course a lot of the Psalms he wrote. And the subject I want to talk about today is how to respond to mistreatment. And that was one of the premier things that David's known for in the Bible. I could think of four or five things that David is an outstanding example of and this would be one of them. How to respond to the Lord in mistreatment. David had a revelation of what happens in the Spirit when he responded rightly. And what I mean by that is that when he committed the issue into God's hands, instead of taking revenge in his own hands, but he put it into God's hands, he was invoking the intervention of God into his circumstances to vindicate him and intervene and help him. And David really understood that principle. Some people read David and think, well, he was a nice guy. He just backed away kind of passively and let the Lord do what he wanted. But it's actually quite different. David was quite aggressive. He just had living understanding of what was happening. And he knew that to invoke God's intervention and to put the matter in God's hands was actually an act of spiritual warfare that led to a greater release of the power of God in his circumstances. It was not a passive kind of drawing back. Gee whiz, who cares? We'll see what happens later. No. David said, I get how this works and I'm gonna take full advantage of it and I'm gonna bring it use it to the optimum measure that I can in my life. Now the reason we're looking at this subject, paragraph 8, is that the way that we respond to mistreatment is one of the most significant issues of our spiritual life. And it's an issue that we deal with our entire spiritual life. In every season of our life, there's somebody who doesn't like what we're doing and they verbalize it. Now most of the mistreatment that people receive is mostly verbal. It's not only verbal, not only by any means. There's physical mistreatment and that's very, very severe and that's a very serious issue. There's financial mistreatment. But so much of it is somebody, even friend or family member, saying words that are hurtful, that are harmful, that are maligning. They give a perspective about you that is not true and they influence other people to believe in that perspective. Now if we respond rightly when mistreated, whether it's verbal. Verbal is what I'm really talking about most right here. That an adversary, somebody intentionally wanting to malign you, that's their point. Or they're intentionally wanting to block your goals and to stand in the way so you can't go forward in the vision that you believe the Lord has put in your heart. That's what I mean by an adversary. And an adversary can often are family members. They're friends. They're people that you've been in the workplace. That you've been in ministry contexts with them. An enemy, which the Bible calls them enemies, are not just somebody with horns on that lives in a remote place that rises up suddenly and they attack you with demonic rage. No, an enemy from the biblical point of view many times is talking about an adversary often that are close to you relationally and in proximity. And they want to intentionally, they're intentionally troubled by what you're doing or annoyed by what you're doing and they put you down and they say things in the way to again to undermine you. Now if we respond to this in a right way, well we grow deeper in God. But one dimension of growing deeper in God is that God intervenes more in our circumstances if we respond right. I'm going to say that again. If we respond right, God actually intervenes more. Now he's going to intervene anyway, but he will intervene more and it's a biblical principle that if we respond in the way he says, we do our part in the relationship. He says I will do more because it's a relational principle. The Lord says I want you involved with me even in these issues and I want you responding to me in the way that I that's according to who I am with love and humility and kindness. Now we respond in a wrong way. There's a residue of bitterness that slowly grows in our heart. I believe that many believers have a residue of bitterness. And what I mean by residue, just a small measure, but it's there lingering and it bothers their emotions and it stirs up their anger and kind of a awakens pain just at just surprising moments, pain and unexpected moments. Most of us assume we don't have bitterness because we typically think of bitterness as something we have when it's at a big measure, when it's chronic, when it's deadly. But there's a residue of bitterness often in a believer's life. The Lord has shown me that in my life at key times, and I was always surprised because I thought I teach against bitterness. I'm against bitterness. I'm really against that, but a few times he says you've got a residue of it in your heart. And so I ask him occasionally show me if I do because it creates a dull spirit in our life. It creates a dull heart. It gets in the way of our relationship with the Lord. But also responding wrongly, another thing is that it leads to lost opportunities where God would intervene. God will intervene less if we respond wrongly. We take matters in our hands instead of putting them in his hands. He says okay, whosever hands that it's in, that's the one responsible. You want them in your hands, you fix it. You put it in my hands and you take your hands off, I'll fix it. I like to say hey, let's both do it. I want it in my hands, but you put your hand on my hand. He goes no, no. You release it to my hands or you take it yourself and we'll solve this problem of the attack against your reputation, the attack against your position, somebody that is blocking what the will of God in your life in a short-term sense or they're seeming to be blocking it. Paragraph B. Now the foundational principle of this whole spiritual reality is the fact that is Jesus's ownership over our life. That when we see and engage in Jesus's ownership over our life, it has very practical implications in our everyday life. Paul gives this principle. Now I'll give the implications in a moment. He says in 1st Corinthians 6 verse 19, he says you're not your own. He says you don't belong to yourself. You belong to someone else. Verse 20, for you're bought, you're paid for entirely, completely purchased out of your slavery and out of your darkness and out of your sin, you've been purchased fully owned by another. Therefore glorify God in your body and glorify God in your spirit. Or in your inward life. Because they both belong to God. They don't belong to you anymore. They belong to God. Now this is a revelation that David had and when this insight touches us and grows in us, now we know Jesus owns us in one sense, but there's a time in our lives when this becomes a very real thing in our life and it grows over time as well. Now this reality that he owns us, that is both an exhortation for us to obey him because he owns us. He has the right to direct us. He owns us. That's an exhortation to obey. But it's also God's promise to intervene. He's saying because I own you, I'm responsible to intervene on your behalf. You're my property. Somebody's hurt your reputation and you have put it into God's hands. He says I am now responsible to fix that injury against your reputation. Somebody steals your money or they somehow manipulate your money, but you've given it to the Lord. In reality, the Lord says now that's my money and it's my responsibility to get it back. And the Lord promises to restore everything that's stolen from us. And he does it, of course, his way and his time. And his time is not our time and his way is not our way, but he does it. And so what's happening here is that if we, anybody that will diligently seek to diligently obey the Lord, Jesus is taking responsibility to intervene in circumstances for which they've been mistreated or maligned because they've been obedient to him. These are situations that affect, I have written here, our reputation, our honor, our money, our possessions. But we yield those to him and we transfer our right to him, we transfer it to him, but the responsibility goes to him as well. And he really does answer. Again, all the answer doesn't come in the way or the timing we want, but ultimately he does. And much of the answer actually comes in the age to come. You're like, oh, come on. Well, you might only say that because you don't really know how real the age to come is. And when that day comes in your life, you'll think, oh my goodness, there's so much being restored and recovered. I really thought that was gone forever. The Lord says, I promised you I would do it. I own you. I'm responsible for the whole thing. Now, of course, the Lord restores some of that in this age as well. Paragraph C. Now David is the premier example or one of the premier examples of the Old Testament of how to respond to God when we're mistreated. He's called the man after God's own heart because he responded in a way that pleased God. One of the major passages is Psalm 31. Psalm 31, where David, we see the inner workings of David's dialogue with the Lord in Psalm 31. When David was mistreated, in context, it's about a time when he was being mistreated. We see how he acted. Now again, he's the man after God's own heart. So the way he acts, we want to imitate it because we want that kind of heart David has, but we want the intervention of God in our life in the way David had. Look at Psalm 31, verse 5. David said, into your hand I commit my spirit. Then he went on in verse 15. He says, my times are in your hand. Now, these are two key statements from Psalm 31, and I recommend reading Psalm 31 for people that are in, when you're being challenged by somebody mistreating you. And again, particularly verbally, but it's physical, it's financial, it's other ways as well. Now when David's committed the mistreatment into God's hands, he was actually bringing God into the circumstance. He was inviting the Lord's activity in a way that would not have happened if David kept matters in his own hands. Now, what does it mean, into your hands I commit my spirit? Well, when he says I commit my spirit, he means more than when I die my spirit will be with you. He means more than that. Like you are my ultimate place I go when I die. He's saying everything that's dear to me, that's deeply important, that's what is embodied by the word or included by the word spirit. I commit my spirit, the things that are dearest to me, I commit to you, Father. And to commit them to him in the context of being mistreated, he means I'm entrusting the outcome to you, that you will intervene in the circumstance. I'm trusting you too. I commit it to you. It's not in my hands, I take my hands off. Again, I'd like my hands to stay on it and God's hands to help me. He goes no, it's one or the other. Either it's your hands or my hands, but whoever's hands are carrying it, that's the one responsible to answer. Well, it's not only that David committed the outcome into God's hands, verse 5, he committed the timing of the answer into God's hands, verse 15. He says my times, the season of which you answer and break in and change the circumstance. Instead of the word times, you could put the word the seasons of my life. The season of which the breakthrough in this situation comes is in your hands as well. Now when David did this, when Saul, the jealous king, which is the uh, it happens all the time through first Samuel, we find the the older king Saul, he's in his 60s and the younger David, he's in his 20s. So the young emerging leader David is being mistreated severely by a an older king. He's an angry king. He's a jealous king. He's very jealous of David, very angry. Got a lot of unsettled issues in his life, but he has the resource of the of the government of Israel behind him, the army. He could use the national resources to go attack David to try to kill David's what he was trying to do. And when David committed the problem into God's hands, he was invoking God's activity. That was actually an act of spiritual warfare. It was not just an act of devotion. I love you God. Therefore, I'm going to trust you. He did say that. It was an act of devotion, but it was also an act of spiritual warfare. I'm invoking your activity verse 15 in the season that you see best. And again, some of those seasons are at this age, and some of those seasons are in the age to come, and some are a little bit of both. Paragraph E. When we come, here's a summary of what I've been saying. When we commit ourself into God's hands like David did, we're making an intentional transaction with our heart, with God. And here's the transaction, that God, you will intervene to establish your will in your way, in your time. You will intervene when I'm mistreated. That's the transaction that's being made. And the Lord says, yes, I'll do it. I will intervene. But again, you've got to let go. It's got to be out of your hands. You can't hold on to it and ask me to take it in my hands. It's one or the other. Now, this is not a statement about David's leadership style, meaning some people read this, and they think David had a passive leadership style. David was an entrepreneurial leader. David took initiative in the vision of God in his life, and he took risks, and he put time and energy in. This isn't about being passive in serving God. This is not about being passive in our vision to do the will of God. This is about specifically when mistreated by somebody accusing you, you not answering the accuser by accusing them back. That's the context. The reason that's important, some young people have read this, it says, I would be like David, so I'm going to sit on the back row of the church, and when somebody taps me on the shoulder and says to serve, I will then serve. I go, no, this is not about a passive spiritual life. It's about drawing back and not retaliating when somebody slanders you. They go, oh, I said don't sit on the back row. Well, it's okay if you're in the back row. Praise God for the back row. It's not about that. That's not what David's doing. He's talking about particularly in relationship to being mistreated. That's important to understand that so you don't misapply the principle. Paul the Apostle in Romans 12, he picked up this same principle. He says in verse 19, he says, don't avenge yourself. Don't do the payback. Don't pay back the enemy yourself. Let God pay back the person attacking you. Don't pay back yourself. Then Paul goes on to say, but rather give place to the wrath of God. Now, that's an interesting concept. Give place to God. Give room for God to intervene. Somebody might say, you mean God doesn't know how to intervene until I give him room? Or what do you mean giving place, giving room? And the Lord could answer and say, no, I hold back until you call me into the situation by you trusting my leadership in it and taking your hands off of it. In that way, that's a relational principle that God established in his kingdom. It's not because God can't intervene without our permission. He says, no, I'm going to draw back until relationally you engage with me, trust my leadership, put the issue of my hands, take your hands off, then I will. You've made way for me then to intervene. Now again, we're talking about somebody slandering you. We're not talking about a passive approach to your spiritual life or your leadership style or your service or those kinds of things. Paul goes on to say, for it's written vengeance is mine and I will repay. That's a pretty strong statement. Vengeance is mine. The payback is mine. I will repay. Now Paul is quoting this from Deuteronomy 32. I believe it's verse 35. Deuteronomy 32. And God spoke this verse to Moses in Deuteronomy 32. But when he gave it to Moses, vengeance is mine. I will repay. In context of Deuteronomy 32, it was about national security. God was saying that I will intervene against the nations trying to eliminate you and exterminate you. That's the context. And Paul obviously understands that far more intense context. But he applies it. He says the principle is true, though the measure of it is far smaller. He applies it to personal relationships, even within the body of Christ. And so we don't think of vengeance against a friend, family member, God's vengeance on them. What we think is God bringing the issue to resolution and him silencing the attack. We apply this in a domestic way, in a far lower level. But this is actually a verse that is by declaring it, it's an act of spiritual warfare in the sense of that in the realm of the spirit it invokes God's activity to silence the adversary against you. He says I will repay. He promises I will repay. Now there's two dimensions to this. God will repay the adversary by silencing them. Again, we're talking about a domestic situation. We're not talking about the national security. That's not how we're applying it where God kills them. You know, somebody bothers you and God kills them. No, that's not what we're talking about at all. He says I will repay. I will silence the issue in my timing. And sometimes I say Lord, would you hurry up and do your timing? And he says no, my timing's perfect. I want you to trust my timing. But the repayment is also has a secondary dimension. He repays the believer that's trusting him, which means he restores things back to that believer. So when God says I will repay, he means I'll silence the adversary. He means I will restore the thing that's stolen or damaged or hurt in the life of the believer who's trusting me. Well, it goes beyond just refusing to retaliate. That's what verse 19 says. Don't retaliate. Don't pay back. Draw back and don't pay back and let God do the payback. Paul says yeah, but that's not the whole story. That's only half. Verse 20, he goes, let's go to the proactive sense. If your enemy's hungry, feed him. The guy's slandering you, buy him lunch. And give him a little extra, buy lunch for his family. Like buy him lunch? What are you talking about? Paul says by only refusing to retaliate, only being quiet and not answering back. That's good, but that's only halfway there. Buy him lunch. Help him out. Look for a way to help him. You think, oh my goodness, because what happens often is a believer's pretty proud of themselves. I mean in a not a horrible sense, but they're thinking, hey, the guy is slandering me. I'm saying nothing. When somebody says how bad they are, I don't say a word. My eyebrows go up. I hint a little bit, but not. I don't say a word. I legally said nothing. I went, hmm. I did that. Didn't say anything. Paul says, hmm, okay. Yeah, that's good. Well, everybody else is slandering back. Why can't I? I didn't say a word. Paul says you're halfway there. Halfway there. The exhortation isn't just to avoid not answering back. Verse 20, do good. Look for an opportunity to do good for him. Oh, you're kidding. The very mindset that looks for the opportunity shifts the whole internal conversation in our heart with God. It shifts the whole in our internal way we carry our heart. That very searching for it. I've done it over the years. Certainly not every time and not enough. I don't mean I've bought lunch for a lot of enemies. I've done it a few times, but I've searched for a way to quote buy them lunch. The searching of it will change your mindset. I'm going like, Lord, come on. Really? Yes, I want you to. Come on. Okay, how can I be a blessing? I don't even ask the question. Just keep asking the question. It will change you. It will shift things on the inside of you. Then Paul gives the principle here. Verse 21. He says don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Beloved, verse 21 is so important. You want to underline, circle that one, put some arrows and read this. He sums the whole thing up right there. He says don't. Don't be overcome by evil. Now, how are we overcome by evil? Here's how. Somebody is maligning you with their words. We'll just talk verbal right now because again, we could apply to all the different ways you could be mistreated. Someone's verbally maligning you, intentionally. They want you to undermine you. You hear it. Paul says if you undermine them back and you answer accusation with accusation, they have overcome you with the spirit of accusation. You've yielded to the spirit of accusation. You're overcome by the evil that attacked you. It got on the inside. You think accusation. You think payback. You talk payback. It's dominated your life in a certain way. Paul says now you're overcome. In just that one area. It doesn't mean you're now going to be like addicted to every sin. There's a reprobate. You're overcome by the evil that was attacking you. The fact they were attacking your reputations. They slandered you. So you had to answer back and then Paul says don't. Don't. Your heart's too precious to let it just go that direction. He said but go the other way. Overcome evil with good. That urge to slander back. That urge to pay back is overcome when we do good. When we do the verse 20. When we buy them lunch. When we're they're thirsty we give them water. By doing good it counteracts that tendency of evil. Of that slander. That temptation of slander rising up in us. Paul says it won't go away on its own. It will go away by you actively doing good. So he says in verse 20. Going back to verse 20. You need to do the proactive good. It's not enough just to be silent. When they speak bad you gotta act in the opposite spirit or that temptation to respond back bad will stay in you. Go in the opposite spirit. Now this is not just a principle that we do to you know strangers that are enemies that we don't really know. Some people think of an enemy. The guy with horns on that's you know demonized and he's the enemy. Now the enemies many of our enemies are in our family. They're in our friendship circle. They're in the workplace. They're you've been in ministry with them over the years and they turn something happens. They get offended and they begin to malign you. And so it's I would like to use the word adversary again instead of the word enemy because we can understand the word adversary. And so uh Paul is wanting us to be free from from yielding to that. But not just to somebody out there. But a lot of times this is how the way we're to operate in our marriage. A lot of folks think outside the home. I'm gonna really do this. I mean in the marketplace, in the church world, you know in the neighborhood. I'm really gonna do this. But when it comes to their marriage, if the his the wife slanders or accuses the husband or vice versa, you know, she comes in and he says, how come you always and she goes, yeah, but you always and they'll do the kingdom principle outside the home because they're sincere. But inside the home they don't do it. Beloved this passage has its greatest application in your family in your closest friends. Really it does. And I want to and Paul was saying you could overcome the temptation and the negative feelings not in a vacuum but by doing good. Well, we let's look at 1st Peter chapter 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 23 that Peter said that when Jesus was reviled when he was slandered you could put the word slander in there. He didn't slander in return. When Jesus suffered when the pharisees were causing him suffering he didn't threaten the pharisees or the Romans. But he did something inside of his heart with God that Peter is saying this is the point and this is what David exemplified. Jesus committed himself to the father 1st Peter 2 23 who judges righteously. Now, what does it mean that he committed himself to God the father to judge righteously to judge means to intervene? Jesus said they are slandering me or they are causing me suffering physically. I am not going to answer them with my own hand. I have committed my cause into God's hands. I've committed my spirit to God. God you will judge meaning you will intervene. That's what judge in this context means you will intervene righteously at the right time the right place and I trust you and therefore I'm not going to intervene to make the wrong thing right that's being done against me. I'm going to you're going to intervene for me. That's what's going on there. And so Peter is exhorting us to operate in the same spirit that when we're slandered we ask God to answer when God determines to answer. Now look at the verse there on the notes Luke 23 when Jesus said on the cross father into your hands I commit my spirit. Jesus is actually quoting psalm 31. He's quoting David. The greater David Jesus is quoting the lesser David. Jesus is quoting psalm 31. I mean that's an act of spiritual warfare, not just an act of devotion. It's both. And when Jesus said I commit my my uh, spirit into your hands. He was saying more. He was saying more. Than when I die I'm going to your presence. He was saying that for sure, but he was saying more. He was saying all of my promises my earthly promises as messiah. I'm committing the whole of it to your hands. Yes, I'm going to you when I die. I commit my spirit to you, but everything you ever promised me father in my earthly experience for the earth that's that every knee would bow every tongue would confess. He would be king of kings. I put that whole thing into your hands and i'm willing to go to death and i'm willing for you to answer it in your time, which is in the millennial kingdom in fullness. Of course it's happening in part now, but it happens at an open display for all the nations at that time. Let's go to top of page two. Let's look just for a moment at two different episodes of David's life. And they have the same lesson, but both stories are so interesting it's making the same point twice. David's life graphic graphically illustrates this truth of submitting the problem into God's hands over and over and over and God gave David many opportunities to do this many opportunities. Well, we'll start in first Samuel 24 Verse 2 Saul that's the angry king Saul again's in his 60s David's in his 20s. He's a young emerging leader Saul took 3,000 chosen men. We're talking about the green berets the best soldiers of the land And he went to seek after David and the idea meant to kill David Not 3,000 men to negotiate with David to kill him. That was the point Saul's using all the resource of the government to kill one man now some people They and I say this tongue-in-cheek. I'm Not really being mean about this, but some people go boy. I'm like a David. I mean they're coming after me I said well not really like David a little bit David had 3,000 men after him You have 3,000 blogs It's not the same and the truth is you only have three blogs to be truthful And the real truth is nobody's reading them. Anyway I know that you're kind of feel like David, but it's not exactly the same thing I mean, could you imagine being a young man in your 20s and having? 3,000 trained soldiers Pursuing to kill you and he's Jay. He's running cave to cave and he goes on for about six seven years I mean it goes on and on and on. I mean David it seems like it's never going to stop I i'm guessing it was about a six seven year period possibly eight years Well in one of these occasions again, David's in his 20s during this time Saul comes to a cave And it says in the text that Saul goes to the cave to attend to his needs But the most interesting thing by the providence of god god arranged it ahead of time David is hiding in the cave that Saul goes to David doesn't know this is going to happen This is going to be a test to see if David would take matters back into his own hands or leave him in god's hands So it says that Saul goes into the cave. He takes off his kingly robe. He lays it down And it says he attends to his needs you can read between the lines And David and just a few of his men. They have swords. They have weapons Saul doesn't have his bodyguard with him. He's in the cave and he didn't have any weapons in his hand He's put his robe down. He's put his robe over here, you know, uh, and david's right by the robe he goes David's men men go we could kill him. Look he is Totally vulnerable. There's nobody to protect him. He didn't have a weapon in his hand We're behind him. He doesn't know we're here Let's kill him This is the day this is the hour look at verse 4 says The men of david he's probably got a small group in the cave with him They can't believe it. I mean, can you imagine they're they're in the cave just talking and hiding and they don't You know, they don't even know what's about to happen. Here's this big man The scripture said he's the head and shoulders taller than the others comes walking into the cave You know, they can see the entrance of the cave this you know, this huge giant of a man It's so Unbelievable of all the caves of israel he walks in ours He doesn't know we're here. He takes his robe off puts his weapons down there. He is totally vulnerable and exposed The man said this is the day the lord said to you. I will deliver you your enemy to your hands Now there was a well-known prophecy Probably that david had quoted they heard david quoted i'm assuming Possibly a prophecy that the prophet samuel gave that's just conjecture But it's a it's something established to them. They these three or four guys i'm assuming five or ten guys go david the prophecy Here it is right in front of you Oh, I tell you the question is before how is david now going to apply that prophecy? David has committed saul into god's hands But god says i'll put him into your hands And see what you do with him And so he's been delivered into david's hands and david being the man that he is he delivers them back over to god's hands And david's men said oh, come on david. This is the answer. They totally misapply the prophecy Beloved when somebody attacks you or somebody puts you down There's always a group of people that will find bible verses and prophecies to give you a cause to attack Over the years i've always had well-meaning friends a few of them here and there. Hey, how about this verse? How about that verse? I mean god can't be glorified for what they're doing and there's always somebody that can help you turn and twist The concept so you feel bolstered to attack but it's not the spirit of the kingdom. It just is not the spirit of the kingdom And so david says in verse 6 and 7 he goes no no he stops the men he goes we're not going to do it Absolutely not verse 7. He restrained him. He goes. No i've committed this man into god's hands. I'm not answering it myself David really believed this truth This was not a casual truth that david kind of thought about occasionally He was deeply invested in this truth because it was an act of devotion But remember it was also an act of spiritual warfare He knew how god's activity would increase in his life if he responded in a certain way So verse 8 afterwards, you know david and saul's finished he leaves the cave Goes down in the valley That's how i'm picturing david's on the mountain. You know, here's a little valley and david verse 8 shouts saul verse 8 verse 10 This very day the lord delivered you into my hand in the cave David knew the prophecy but david's applying it different than his team did he has a very different application than his team had He goes but I didn't stretch out my hand against you because david knew it was a test And god will allow you sometimes to be in the situation to triumph and he's saying but you gotta strike with your own hands And the lord says are you gonna let me do it? Are you gonna do it again? We're talking about Slander reviling we're not talking about Somebody breaking into your house who are gonna harm your family physically and you quote bible verses at him Theologically you can shoot somebody Breaking into your house wanting to kill your family that theologically that's permissible to do And so that's not this is not a theology of how to handle somebody about to kill your family something like that Because some people confuse the passages This is about Being maligned and mistreated in your pursuit of the will of god in your life Anyway, there's more to the story. I don't want to give all the qualifiers here Verse 12 david says one of the most powerful statements In verse 12. He says let the lord I mean, he says saul look and saul's looking up and wait and saul's going. What do you mean in the cave? Yeah, I was in the cave what cave he goes. Well look at the bottom of your robe Saul looks down at his kingly his royal robes and there was a little piece cut off Because remember saul took his robe off to attend to his needs and david cut the robe and he goes saul I have the end of your rope. I was in the cave and saul goes Oh my goodness And david says here's the act of devotion to god, but again the act of warfare Where he's the spiritual warfare not physical. There's nothing physical about this warfare He says let the lord judge between you and me Let the lord avenge you Avenge me on you. I my hand will not be against you. Let the lord judge Let him see and plead my case let him deliver me out of your hands now when david says let the lord judge He means let him decide let him intervene One translation says let the lord decide David says it's out of my hands. I've committed you into god's hands Let's look at the second episode just uh, even more, uh brief because it's the same story Told in a different episode or the same lesson Well some months passed by And here we are in uh roman it's roman number three. So I mean, uh first samuel 26 verse 2 Saul went down to the wilderness of zeph. He's got the same 3 000 men. They're still trying to kill david But this time instead of in a cave Verse 7 saul is sleeping down in the camp the king's camp with 3 000 men and bodyguards and Watchmen, I mean everything's in place But we find out later down in verse 12 That god caused a sleep from the lord to come on all 3 000 of the men So saul falls asleep his bodyguards fall asleep all the guards of the camp follow everybody falls asleep So 3 000 men, they're all just snoring and david I guess and david is is there and The lord makes it clear to him somehow that hey, this is a sleep from the lord So david Gets one of his work his his teammates Abishai here in verse 8 And he says to him. Hey come along with me and if you read the whole story abishai He asked hey who wants to go with me? He goes i'll go with you. He's one of david's closest, uh companions so verse 8 abishai goes david This is a sleep from god Come on, wake up. I mean the cave. Okay. I was wrong in the cave You see it was good that you let saul go But now god's vindicating you I mean some months later god put him to sleep Why did god put him to sleep so god could wake him up david? This is for you to kill him. Come on Verse 8 he's delivered you your enemy into your hand there. He is rationalizing again Then in verse 8 he adds the word, please He's saying david. I know you're a nice guy, but this is affecting our family our children We're all being hassled because you're hassled answer for us, come on get with it verse 9 Verse 10 david says back to him the lord will strike him I won't For they have all verse 12 fallen asleep from the lord and so verse 23 David does that same principle May the lord break in and repair May the lord do this for you and the story goes on and and david again did not answer now His team took the prophecies and they misapplied it Because david wanted god wanted david to have ample opportunity To excel in this spiritual truth because the lord's logic is david you're going to be the king over israel I need a king that sees me as their lord and their source I want a king that operates in the spirit by which my kingdom operates so he gave david ample Opportunity to exercise this reality and to prove this principle that david would excel in it And god may give you opportunities or allow the opportunity For you to answer your enemy, but beloved it's a test to give you opportunity to excel Because god's called many of you to be leaders and he wants leaders that bring blessing to the body of christ Not that are petty about their emotions and they get offended and they get defensive and they go How dare them say that and well i'll do this and he says no You're a part of the eternal kingdom. You're related to the king of kings You're operating in a different spirit. What are you doing? So Particularly leaders, but it's everybody but many of you have a call of leadership He wants you to excel in this so he gives you time and time again to operate in this Well just in conclusion the last moment or two here first samuel Is about david In his 20s from 20 to 30 about age 20 to 30 Second samuel is david over age 30 from age 30 to 70. So first samuel he's in his 20s and the Angry king against him is in his 60s. So a jealous angry king Against him in first samuel second samuel. It's reversed now He's in his 60s and there's a young leader raising up absalom his own son Who now is in his 20s, that's an ambitious young leader with a rebellious spirit So when david's in his 20s He has an old angry king which by the way is his father-in-law It's a family member and then when david's in his 60s He has a the same spirit of saul, but in a young ambitious man. That's his own child his own son and in both situations david acted like david and he does that a number of other times, uh throughout this because He excelled in this reality of Giving the cause to god invoking god's presence In the situation trusting god's time and not operating in the spirit. That's contrary to the kingdom of god Now there's a book I want to recommend It's called the tale of three kings the tale of three kings by gene edwards How many of you read the tale of three kings keep your hand up high high real high? I want everyone jealous of you. Okay, just for just to have a second No, not really a bunch of you read it. It was written in about 1980. I was about 25 years old I remember we caught off the press. They somebody sent it to me. What's this the three kings king david king saul King absalom and the story it's only about 50 pages. I highly recommend it and I read it over and over Uh in my 20s that you know those first five or ten years I read over and over and over and every year or two I'll just read it again. It's only about 50 pages quite interesting fast fun reading actually david in his 20s before an older king Trust god and yield to god david as the older king being attacked by a younger king. He operates the same way Every single time because the lord's saying i'm raising up leaders in my body that excel in this reality Amen, and amen Let's stand