Mike Bickle emphasizes the importance of trusting God's leadership in times of mistreatment, using David's response to Saul as a model. He highlights that how we react to false accusations can either deepen our relationship with God or lead to bitterness and spiritual dullness. Bickle encourages believers to recognize that God owns their lives and is responsible for their promotion and timing, urging them to commit their spirits and times into God's hands. David's refusal to harm Saul, despite having the opportunity, illustrates his reliance on God's judgment rather than taking matters into his own hands. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a heart posture of trust and surrender to God's perfect leadership.

It's one of those glorious life-changing moments in David's life, and the reason this is so important for us to really lay hold of this chapter, I've looked at this chapter time and time again, more than many of the other chapters, paragraph A, because one of the most important aspects of our spiritual life is how we respond when we're falsely accused. And here it is, Bible 101 straight from David's life on how to do that, because every one of us is going to be mistreated or falsely accused many times throughout our life. If we respond in the right way, we grow deep in God. But more than that, I mean that's enough, it releases more of the activity of the Holy Spirit if we respond right. If we respond wrong, which is our natural way to do, there's a residue of bitterness that builds up in us without us even knowing it. And it causes us to live with a dull spirit. Most believers, in my opinion, after a few years, they have a residue, a small residue or a large one, of bitterness working in them and they're not even aware of it. And it causes dullness and burnout and it causes a jadedness in our heart. Paragraph B, the foundational principle, is that as believers we no longer have the primary ownership of our life. When we said yes to Jesus, He bought us and He owns us. Here's the point, He's willing to take responsibility for our life because He owns us. He will help us to fulfill the will of God in our life. He says, I own you, so therefore I promise I will involve myself in the details of you fulfilling the will of God. That doesn't mean making our life happy all the time, but fulfilling the will of God in our life. He will be involved when we're mistreated in the important issues of our life. In Psalm 31, this is one of the Psalms I think is closely related to this passage of Scripture in 1 Samuel 24, David prayed the prayer that is very familiar because Jesus quoted it. He said in Psalm 31, into your hand I commit my spirit. Then he says in verse 15 something similar but a little bit different. He says into your hand, my times are committed into your hands. So verse 5 he said I commit my spirit. Verse 15 he says I commit my times. Now what David was doing here in Psalm 31, when he says I commit my spirit into your hands, he was actually engaging in spiritual warfare. Because paragraph D, when he committed his spirit into God's hands, he wasn't talking about I'm going to die and go to heaven. And that's not all that Jesus was talking about on the cross. Jesus was referring to this Psalm, even using it the way that David did as well. David was saying I'm committing everything that is deeply important to my spirit. I'm committing it to you. And when Jesus did that obviously, I mean his spirit was going to go to God. But there was a bigger subject matter on Jesus's heart. His promise to be King of the nations, he was committing to the Father's hand when he embraced the cross saying, Father I'm committing this whole cause to you. But it's more than that. He went on in verse 15, we're still in paragraph D. He said my times are in your hands. Not only do I ask you to involve yourself in bringing to pass the will of God in my life, I'm trusting you with the timing of it. Because the method and the timing of how God does this, it's remarkable because it's almost never the way that we think it should be. But the Lord says, if you will trust me, I will actually engage more on your behalf. Actually when David says I give it to you, I'm not fighting Saul, but I'm calling you into the battle. That was actually a, he was engaging in spiritual warfare. He was involving God in the problem in a direct way. Many believers they don't do that. They take the issue into their own hands and then the Lord says, well if you're taking it in your hands, I'll take my hands off of it. But if you'll put it into my hands, if you'll commit it to my hands, I'll get involved but you got to take your hands off now. That's tricky stuff because everything in our natural mindset wants to put our hands on it to fix it. Particularly we're talking about when mistreated is what we're talking about. I'm not talking about somebody, you know, not studying for their test and then trusting the Lord to get an A on it. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when mistreated asking the Lord to intervene to settle the score in His time and His way. Paragraph E. Now the issue, here it is, this is a probably one of the most important statements of this particular session. Here's the issue. Who did David look to as his primary source for promotion, for resource, for blessing to solve the problem? Who was David's primary source? And the answer was that David was to look to God to be his primary source. David did not need Saul's favor for David to fulfill the will of God. Now God might use Saul and give you favor, but David didn't need Saul's favor to do the will of God. Paragraph F. Our temptation, I mean, nobody could stop David from the will of God. Saul could not stop David. All of the armies of the Philistines could not stop David. Satan himself cannot stop David. The only man that can stop David is David by resisting and neglecting God's leadership in his life. Beloved, there is no adversary that can stop you from the will of God. The only one that can stop you is you. Now they can be a hindrance, but the Lord says they don't have the power. I own you. You're mine. I'm responsible. I am your source. Not getting favor from that leader, whether in the church or the marketplace or in the government. It's not the favor of a particular leader. It's me, says the Lord. I am the source of your promotion. And when I settled the issue in my own life, not that it's ever totally settled, but when I settled the issue that no man can stop the will of God in my life, nobody, no matter how many people are mad, glad, or sad, and whatever combination they come, nobody can stop the will of God in my life except for me. That will give you a tremendous confidence if you lock in on that. One of David's real defining characteristics, one of David's real defining characteristics is that his confidence that God would intervene. Another one that's at the top of the list with David is, which I've said a number of times, his tremendous confidence in God's mercy when he failed. David had several key characteristics that really defined him. But this confidence that God would help him. This was a remarkable confidence. He's a young man in his twenties and he already has his confidence. Now we're going to find in paragraph G the next three chapters. Chapter 24, this session. Chapter 25, our next session tonight. Chapter 26, the one after that. They all have the same similar, a similar theme. And if you know that, you'll read those chapters in a different way. God is testing David. David, who will you look to as your source? How will you respond to your adversaries? Because if I am your source, says the Lord, you'll look to me, you'll respond differently. You won't, you won't get, have the same negative emotions towards your adversaries if you don't think they have the final word. If you think they do have the final word, you'll have frustration, anger, anxiety, all kinds of negative emotions. Paragraph D. Now David is going to give two chances to kill Saul in his life. I mean he's, God's going to give him an opportunity to kill Saul, his adversary. Right here in chapter 24 and then later in chapter 26. And on both of these divine appointments, now notice these are divine appointments. We often think of a divine appointment as God setting up a situation that's going to be a blessing. But this was a divine appointment to see how David would respond. It would result in blessing down the road. The encouraging thing, paragraph H, on both of these two divine appointments, on both occasions, opportunities to kill Saul, David didn't do it. No man could have got in the way. David drew back and he feared the Lord. He says, Lord I won't touch, you're anointed, and I won't take matters into my own hands with an adversary. These two divine appointments, and actually the third one as well, which is our next session in chapter 25, they would impact David's future in a very dramatic way. There's only a few times in your life where you will have a real fierce adversary. I'm talking about a particular person or a small group of people. It doesn't happen all day, every day. It happens a few seasons in your life. And it's very rare that God would give you an opportunity to silence them in a way that's outside the will of God. But if you get that opportunity, the Lord is watching. All the angels assigned to you are watching. And that is a time you don't want to fail. You want to respond right. Because David's entire future was going to be impacted by the way he responded to this divine appointments. Paragraph I. Now notice, in David's life, but the same will be true in the lives of many believers, the Lord allows sudden reversals of circumstances. My 40 years of pastoring, I've watched that. It seems like one person's in the position of, the power position of influence. A few years later, it's exactly turned around. And the guy that was not in influence, now he is. And then the Lord says, I'm testing you now. And they do funny things. And then 10 years later, it's reversed again. I encourage people, whether you're on the bottom or the top of the position of power, respond to the Lord as your Lord and as your source. Don't get too preoccupied with what position you have. For instance, we're here in chapter 24. David is going to surround Saul. He's going to trap Saul. Most of you are familiar with the chapter. He's going to be the one surrounding Saul. The chapter before, chapter 23, Saul was surrounding David. This thing goes back and forth several times. And every time, Saul chose wickedness and David chose righteousness. And the Lord was watching. And the Lord's testing David and Saul in both positions, the position of influence and power, as well as being the vulnerable position, where they are at the mercy of the other one. God was testing both of them in each situation each time. Top of page 2. Let's go ahead and look at the story. Now while David, he was hiding in the wilderness, right before the context, chapter 23, right before, we're going to jump in right here, chapter 24, tell a very familiar story. David had been hiding and he fled now to the wilderness of En-Gedi. Paragraph B, verse 1. Now it happened. Saul had returned from following the Philistines, because remember in the chapter before, Saul had David trapped in the wilderness of Moab. And David was trapped and God raised up the Philistines to divert Saul. So Saul had to go chase the Philistines and then David escaped to En-Gedi. So now Saul's done fighting the Philistines in that short-term battle, military conflict. Now he's returned back to Gibeah, his capital. And he's back home and he says, man I had David right in my hands and he escaped because the Philistines attacked us and I was diverted. So Saul's intelligence network, they got word to Saul, verse 1. Take note, David has been located. Our intelligence network, our spies, I mean they literally had spies all through the land trying to get intelligence, trying to get information. Where is this guy hiding with 600 men? I mean it can't be that hard to find 600 men in a desert or in a wilderness. We found him. He's in En-Gedi. That's down at the far south end of the land of Israel. Verse 2. So Saul, he's in Gibeah. He's about 30 miles away right now. He gets 3,000 soldiers. Can you imagine 3,000 armed men coming after one man? Of course David has 600 with him. So really it's 5 to 1 odds. But they're coming after David. They're not after his 600. They'll let them go. They went to seek David. Verse 3. So Saul, he's gone, come down to En-Gedi. That 30 mile trip, 3,000 soldiers. And verse 3, he enters a cave. And Saul went into the cave to attend to his needs. He went to the bathroom is what's going on here. And more than that, many commentators think that he actually took a nap as well. It's a hot afternoon. It's in a cave. He takes a little rest to reprieve. Now the interesting thing, against all odds, because in En-Gedi there's many, many caves in that area, David was hiding back in the recesses of that cave. Now many of these caves in En-Gedi are quite large. I mean you could fit a large group of men. I mean they could, they go back hundreds of yards. So Saul comes walking into this cave from the glare of the sun. He looks into the cave. And the cave's all dark and black, you know, I mean pitch black because of the, his eyes have not adjusted. He's kind of walking in. Here's David and a handful of his men. Now their eyes are adjusted and they're looking outwards. They got the sunlight behind Saul. And there's this big tall man. They go, oh my goodness, it's Saul. He's coming into this cave right now. And they're just absolutely shocked. I mean of all the caves in En-Gedi, what a cave for Saul to choose. He takes off his garments. He puts down his weapons. He's completely vulnerable as he attends to his needs. And even takes a nap. He takes a rest. He looks around. Everything is safe. His bodyguards are outside of the cave. He's absolutely vulnerable at this point in time. Top of page 3. Paragraph A. The men said to David, they're back there. We don't know if 10 or 20 of them back there. Maybe more. They're whispering because Saul is, you know, he's lying down I'm imagining at this time and resting. His garment is off. His weapons are laid down at the side. And they're going, this is remarkable. They're whispering, David, this is the hour we've waited for. This is the day the Lord has said to you. Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hands. I mean, here he is. And Saul is lying there. And they're appealing to a prophecy. We don't know where that prophecy is in Scripture except for just a little, I have it in the notes here. The Lord said that he would deliver the Philistines into David's hands back when he was going against Keilah back in chapter 23. The chapter before God says, attacked Keilah. I will deliver the Philistines. That's the only, that's the only promise that's recorded that David would have victory over his enemies. So they're either taking that prophecy or some other one that's not known in Scripture. And these men are saying, David, this is the day. Now they're applying that prophecy. They said, all you have to do is kill him. The only man in the way between you and the king, the kingship, the throne, is that man lying down there sound asleep. It's the only obstacle you have. Kill him. We're out of poverty. We don't have to run from cave to cave like we've been doing the last couple years. You're on the throne. God clearly brought him to you. Of all the caves in Israel, surely this is the Lord. Now it's a remarkable thing that you could interpret a circumstance one way or the other way. And of course it's a hundred, hundred percent vote on David's team. Kill him. This is the prophetic word. David arose. Look at here at the end of verse 4. I mean, imagine. I mean, first to go up there, because he's not quite sure Saul is asleep. Maybe he's snoring. I don't know. David walks up. I mean, how dramatic. There's Saul right there. David pulls out his knife. His guys are going, yes! We're on the throne. We're at the throne by the end of the day. Out of poverty. Out of this crazy, vagabond lifestyle. David pulls out his knife, waiting for him. His men are waiting for David to thrust it into Saul's body, but he only cuts off the robe. A little bit of the king's robe. And he comes back. They go, David what are you doing? We don't want a piece of his garment. We don't want a souvenir. We want this man out of the way. What are you doing? David, verse 5. He says, oh man, I shouldn't even have done that. His conscience was troubled, because he'd cut Saul's robe. And the reason his conscience was troubled, we have this in the notes. You can look at it on your own. Because to cut the king's robe was actually to disrespect the office of the kingship. And there's several reasons why. So David was actually disrespecting the anointed office of king of the covenant nation. I mean, here's the covenant nation with the God of Israel, who's the God of the universe. God has anointed a king. And the robe was a sign of the king's authority, which was a sign of God's authority. And David went, verse 5, that's not okay with me. I can't touch God's authority in a way that's outside of the will of God. Because to touch Saul, and to touch the robe in a wrong way, was to touch the divine authority behind it. Now David's strength of his spiritual life, and the strength of his kingship, was his tender conscience. This is what made David, David, was he had this awareness of God watching, and this desire to be pleasing to God. Now David's team is upset at him. David, you blew it. We're gonna be condemned to the wilderness for how, who knows how many more years. Because you became afraid, and you got all squeamish. And David said, I didn't become afraid or squeamish. I was fearing the Lord. I'm not afraid of Saul. I don't want to be on a position that's not, has the will of God, and the blessing of God behind it. Beloved, you can manipulate circumstances, get in a position, but if the blessing of God's not on you in that position, that position will be like a prison to you, of pressure, and continual troubles, and the anxiety of staying in a position that you're not sure that God put you in, is a tremendous anxiety. Many of God's servants are in positions, and they're constantly in turmoil, and unsettled. They're, they don't know if they're succeeding, or failing, or they're gonna keep the job, and job security. And the Lord says, if you settle the issue that I put you there, you don't have to constantly be in this anxiety all the time. Find out my will for your life. It may not be a big position, but whatever position it is, you can be sure if it's God's will, there isn't a power in hell that can move you from that position, no matter what it looks like in man's side, in man's arena. Let's go to, go on, now let's continue. Verse 6, and David said, the Lord forbid I should do this thing to my master. Said, it's not just that Saul is my enemy, he is my enemy, but I see something more in Saul than my personal enemy. This is again what made David's life strong spiritually. He said, I see the call of God on David, I mean on Saul. I don't just see his mistreatment of me. I see something bigger than his mistreatment of me. He's more than my enemy. He's God's choice. And of course God's raising up King David as a young man in the seminary of Saul. Like I've said before, when God wants to raise up a David, He enlists them in the seminary with a Saul in that seminary, a seminary in the spirit that has Saul in it. Because He wants David to determine who his source is. Is his source Saul's favor and the favor of the government, the favor of the army, or is David's source God himself? Verse 7, this is a powerful verse. David restrained his servants with his words. I mean he might have had 10 or 20 guys, maybe 30 or 40, we don't know. But here is a sign of excellence in leadership. He used his influence against all the others standing against them and he won them over to do the will of God that was costly, instead of them winning him over to do what was easy and what was popular in their eyes. It's really easy in leadership. You got to, the momentum is to, let's move forward and let's cheat a little bit. It's not that big a deal. But David, he had this ability in the grace of God. This is a, this is a tremendous ability of leadership. He turned them around from this wrong persuasion and restrained them. And again, this is paragraph 2 under B. This was one of the most important days in David's life. Right here. What he did, if those men would have won over David to do it their way, David's entire kingship and his future would have been radically different and David would have been responsible for it, not those men, because he yielded to them. Turn it up page 4, verse 8. David arose afterwards, went out of the cave. I mean Saul's got it from his nap. He's put his garments back on, his robe back on, fixed his, you know, his military equipment, his military belt with a sword and everything. And he walks out, totally, completely unaware that his life could have been over lying in that cave. Goes out of the cave, called out, Saul! Saul's come out of the cave and he hears a voice behind him and all kinds of emotions come to Saul. He's thinking, who was in the cave? My bodyguards were not there. I was completely exposed and vulnerable in that situation. I mean how shocked is Saul? My Lord the King! It's a friendly address to Saul and Saul looks back and David bows down. Saul's heart is beating fast. I'm sure he goes, because still Saul's soldiers are down the way and David's men are right there and Saul's still within distance. I can imagine Saul standing there. There's a little distance between them. Verse 9. David said to Saul, why are you listening to the slanderous reports against me? That's what he means here. You're listening to the words of the man. They're slanderous. There's lies. There's people in your leadership team, Saul. They're telling, they're spinning the truth about me. David said, it's not true. I'm not seeking your harm. I'm not trying to take your place. Those are lies. Look. Verse 10. You've seen it. The Lord delivered you in my hand into the cave. They go, some of my men urged me to kill you and I had to push them back emotionally, I mean in the conversation, and say no, in order to spare you. And the reason I'm sparing you is because I fear the Lord, Saul. And because you are my king. He says, my eyes spared you. I will not stretch out my hand against the Lord. You're the anointed of the Lord. Saul, I see something more in you than the others see in you. They see the head guy in authority that can make or break their career. That's not what I see. I see God's hand on you and that's what I'm respecting. Verse 12. David said, here's one of the great statements of David. You want to underline verse 12 and verse 15 because he repeats himself. This is the big statement right here. This is the Psalm 31 statement. Into your hands I commit my spirit. I commit the cause to you is what he's saying. He said, Saul, I'm not gonna come against you with weapons. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna use my power base to defeat you. I'm not gonna use my power base, my network, my influence, my weapons. I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna let the Lord judge between you and me. And the word judge means I'm gonna let the Lord decide. Some translations use the word decide. You know, let the Lord be the arbitrator and let him give the decision. If he wants you to be king, you're king. If he wants me to run from cave to cave the next 20 years, I'll run cave to cave. Let the Lord decide. He goes, I'm not gonna take matters into my own hands. I'll let the Lord avenge me on you. But I want to commit this to you, Saul, in the presence of witnesses. My hand will never touch you. I won't use my resource, my network, my influence to hinder you. I won't do it, Saul. I say that in the presence of God. I say that in accountability to the team that I'm, I've assembled and raised up here. I'm accountable to this statement. Verse 15, therefore, he says it again. This is again the, one of the classic David statements. Matter of fact, this statement, or something very like it, is the most quoted statement of David in the whole 1st and 2nd Samuel. If you read 1st and 2nd Samuel, I'm not talking about the Psalms now, just the 1st and 2nd Samuel, the story of David, this is the truth that David utters the most from his lips in the story, the narrative of 1st and 2nd Samuel. This truth of, I won't engage myself to come against my enemies. I will let the Lord determine. I'm talking about, this is a conflict. I mean, he's going to fight the enemies of Israel, but he's talking about his own personal conflicts, his own career advancement, those kinds of conflicts. He says, I won't put my hand to. He goes, let the Lord be judge. Let the Lord, in other words, let Him decide. Another way to say it, let the Lord intervene. Let the Lord lay it out in His time and His way. If He settles it this, this year, good. If it's in 10 or 20 years, good. I'll leave, my times are in His hands. Remember, Psalm 31, verse 15, my times are in your hands, not just my spirit, my life purpose, but my times as well. Father, I trust Your leadership in my life. Your leadership is excellent. Paragraph B. Now you can look at this more in detail on your own, but David's appeal right here before Saul to reconcile their relationship. And it appears that it's reconciled here. Now we know that Jonathan spoke up for David back in chapter 19, and there was a momentary reconciliation, but it didn't last. Now this is David and Saul direct face-to-face. And this is one of the best appeals for the reconciliation of a conflict anywhere in the Scripture, right here from the lips of David. The only example that is perhaps better is in the very next chapter from the lips of Abigail, but we'll take a break and come. That's the only one that's probably better than this one. And when we want to study how the Bible gives a model on how we make an appeal to an adversary, you want to read chapter 24 right here. And if you want an even more excellent example, read chapter 25. Well, I don't know. They're just different. I don't know if one's better than the other. They're just different. We'll look at that in a moment. But you'll notice when you read the details of this, and we're not going to go to the details because of time. That's why we give you the notes. The first thing he does is that he affirmed his love and loyalty. Now how do you speak tenderly to a man who on probably ten occasions now is trying to murder you? We're talking about a man who wants you murdered. We're not talking about a guy who's slandering you on the internet or stealing your money. We're talking about somebody trying to absolutely, I mean literally kill you. And David takes a step back and he approaches him in this tender humility. I mean it's remarkable. And in the exchange, as you read it, David doesn't emphasize Saul's culpability or his responsibility. He doesn't emphasize what Saul did. Saul, you're a jealous man with a demon that has murder in your heart. That's what you might have been tempted to say. He didn't talk about Saul's jealousy. The fact that he had a demon. David says, I know you've got a demon hanging out with you because I've played the harp multitudes of times to drive it away. But he didn't emphasize Saul's responsibility in the conflict. But he appealed to his heart tenderly. I mean this is unusual. This is rare. He presented the problem. He said, Saul, it's the men that are telling you lies. Now that was true. There were men in his court telling lies about David. That was true. David wasn't making up a situation. He was focusing on the other person's contribution to the conflict, not Saul's. That's a remarkable thing. Then he makes a statement here. Again, paragraph H. Let's look at that again. He says, let the Lord judge between me and you. This, one of the great defining characteristics of David's life. The fact he would not take matters into his own hands in personal conflicts like this. Again, this issue of letting the Lord decide, letting the Lord intervene in his timing, and David's confidence in God's mercy when he failed. I mean these are two of his most outstanding characteristics, defining characteristics that show up over and over and over in his life. Top of page 5. The only weapon that David is using in this encounter with Saul is prayer. He's making a, he's calling on God. God, you get involved. I'm not going to kill him. You get involved. I let you decide. When he said, I let you decide, actually David's engaging in spiritual warfare. He's calling God into the conflict. Because again, how we started this session, the Lord says, if you commit it into my hands, and you take your hands off of it, I mean trying to solve it in a fleshly way is what I mean by taking your hands off of it. Meaning, you, I mean you make appeals and all that, but in taking your hands off of it in terms of using fleshly human means that are outside the will of God to solve the problem. God says, you give it to my hands. Take your hands off. I will involve. If your hands stay in the process, and you're using fleshly means, my hands will come off of it. So when David called on God, he was invoking the Lord's activity into the conflict. Paragraph L. I give a little bit of summary. First, David honored Saul. Now he's honoring Saul's position, not Saul's character. Next, he's claiming it's the lies. He's focusing on others that contributed to the breakdown of the relationship, instead of accusing Saul. Third, he appeals to his own actions to prove his innocence. Now I want to encourage you, ask the Lord, when you're in a conflict, say, Lord, give me a situation where I can show my innocence, and I can show my desire to bless in this relationship. But here's the, here's the issue. If you ask the Lord for that, He might really give you that, and you really then need to bless that enemy. I've asked the Lord a few times. Let me show where my heart really is. Give me an opportunity to manifest my goodwill for an adversary, and lo and behold, the opportunity presents itself, and I don't even, not sure I want to show myself this way. So this is not a small thing that David showed his innocence. That when the opportunity came, he actually walked it out in the way described here in the Scripture. Fourth, he committed no retaliation, meaning I'm not going to pay you back through any revenge, any bitterness. I'm not going to harm you verbally, physically, economically. I'm not going to boycott you, protest you. I'm going to take my hands off of it, and I'm going to bless my enemy and involve the Lord in the process. And then number five, he's saying, Lord, I'm going to wait on your timing and your intervention. Paragraph five, I mean, Roman numeral five, verse 16. So picking up the story again, Saul, he's standing there, turns around, recognizes David's voice. He said, is this your voice, my son David? Now interesting, you've been following the story. He's been calling him the son of Jesse every time he refers to him in a derogatory way. He won't even say his name. But he says, Saul's heart is tenderized by this. I mean, even the most hardened man, the most hardened adversary can become tenderized when using the opportunity. You really do show extravagant kindness. But again, I've asked the Lord, let me have that opportunity. And the Lord says, okay. And then maybe I want to tone that kindness down to maybe not extravagant, but adequate kindness. And the Lord might whisper, make it extravagant, and you'll be like David. Saul lifted up his voice, and he wept. And he made a confession. Verse 17, Saul, David, I get it. You're in the right. Oh my goodness, I'm in the wrong. You've rewarded me by saving my life, sparing me right now, even when your men wanted to kill me. You rewarded all of this animosity I've given you by treating me kindly. I mean, here it is, Matthew 5, 44, bless your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Do good to those who come against you. He said, verse 18, you have shown this day that you have dealt well with me. He goes, the piece of robe. Saul, David had the robe in his hand. He goes, Saul, look. Look at your robe. It's cut. I've got the other piece right here. My innocence is proven clearly to you. Verse 20, Saul says, now I know. I know. You'll be king. No man would let me off the hook unless he feared God. The only reason you're doing this, David, is because you fear God. And if you fear the Lord at this level, where you could get rid of me, but you won't, he goes, then for surely you're going to prevail. There's no way a man like me can stand against a man like you when you're responding to God this way over and over again. Now remember, David ran around in the wilderness probably five to seven years. We're not talking about one adventuresome summer out in the wilderness. We're talking about five, six, seven years of running cave to cave, risking his life. I mean, his life being threatened by Saul. Verse 20, he goes, I know. You're going to be king. Verse 21, I want you, he says the very same thing Jonathan said back in chapter 19. Swear to me you won't kill my descendants. And again, the reason why, because when a new family ascended the throne, and that family, then their sons and their sons and their sons would be king afterwards, and a new dynasty was started, almost always they exterminated the previous dynasty. Cut them off, killed all of them, so there could be no political intrigue and challenge to the throne. He goes, promise me that you won't cut off my descendants. I know you're going to win. Verse 22, Saul made the promise. He made the oath to Saul. It's really an extension of the covenant he made to Jonathan. Saul went back to Gibeah, the capital. David went to the stronghold, probably Adolim, or the place where he was just previously in chapter 23, verse 19. One of the different caves and hideouts. You know, Saul might have said, David, it's over now. David says, no, no, no, I'm not sure we're going there. Turn to the top of page 6. Turn to, go to paragraph, right in the middle, paragraph J. I call it Saul's sweet rebellion. And I know that's an oxymoron, but I've seen a bit of sweet rebellion over the years. And what I, what I mean by sweet rebellion, there's a momentary spiritual sentimentality. Paul, Saul weeps, admits David's integrity, confesses his sin, acknowledges God's supernatural help in David's life, blesses David, prophesies David's victory, is sad over his sin and failure. But it's not a permanent, it's a temporary sadness. Saul is sad because he got caught. Saul is sad because of self-pity. Saul is not sad because he sinned. He's sad because it didn't work out and his life is hard. That's way different. And the reason I say that, I've witnessed this over the years. I don't mean a person as violent as Saul, but where people have a certain sentimentality, and my principle is here, paragraph J, you want to forgive with kindness people that are acting, I mean in a persistent way outside of the will of God. But that's not the same thing as trusting them. You can forgive and bless and treat kindly and totally forgive, but that's not sort of the same thing as David moving back to Gibeah and moving back into the family estate with Saul. Let's look at Roman numeral six, just a few thoughts and we'll end it with this. Here's the central principle. Peter referred it, applied it, I mean to Jesus. Second, first Peter, I mean chapter two, verse twenty-three, he said, when Jesus was reviled, accused or threatened, but accused, I mean put down, Jesus did not revile in return. He said, Jesus, you're a, all these negative things, Jesus didn't fight back, you know, fact for fact. Jesus did not revile in return. He didn't utter threats. When I get in the next position of power, I'm cutting you out completely. Jesus used no threats. We want to be tempted, we're tempted often to use our position of power to give veiled threats. Jesus had no threats, because that's not how I operate. But Jesus entrusted himself to the Father. He said, Father, this is the David principle, you judge. In other words, you decide. You intervene and change the circumstances the way you want to. I'm going to bless, I'm going to show kindness, and I'm going to trust you and you intervene the way you want and the timing you want and I will trust your leadership throughout the process. That's what Jesus did. It's not an accident that in Luke 23, Jesus quoted the very psalm of David, Psalm 31. And he said, into your hands I commit my spirit. And again, he didn't just mean I'm going to heaven when I die, he included that, but he means my whole purpose and all my promises given by the Father, I'm committing them to your hands while my enemies are coming against me right now. Because I know my promises from you are secure, God. Paragraph B. When we commit ourselves in this way, we're actually making a transaction with God. And when we make this transaction where we say, God, you own me, therefore my reputation, my money, my future, it's yours. And if I look to you, that makes you responsible. Not me using fleshly manipulation, you're responsible. And the Lord says, if you respond to me that way, you will bring me into the conflict in a far greater way. I want to encourage you, I'll just end with this. I want to encourage you, as you read 1 Samuel 24, and I encourage you to read it over and over, and then again 1 Samuel 26. And we're going to hit a low spot in a minute after we take the break, we're going to come back to 1 Samuel 25. David does the opposite of this, but I'll save the drama and the trauma for the next session. But I'll encourage you, read this. I remember as a young man, I began to teach the life of David when I was 20 years old, because I heard it when I was like 18 or 19 from some guy. I was captivated. And I would teach this, my little Bible studies of 10 and 20 and 30. And what was really happening, I was learning it. I thought I was teaching them, they couldn't remember anything, but I was getting it. And what I was doing, line day, just point by point, 22, 23, 24, I was signing up. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I didn't do it all that great, but I set my heart to do it. It's the point. I want to challenge you right now as we pray, that you're going to set your heart. I'm going to respond like David does in chapter 24. Let's stand. Father, here we are. We come before you. And Lord, I ask you, in the name of Jesus, even now, Lord, God, I ask you for, that we would give ourselves to you. We commit ourselves to you even now, that we will let you decide. We will let you judge. We will commit our spirit into your hands and commit our times into your hands. Lord, whether it's a relationship with conflict or mistreatment verbally or slander or rejection or finances or somebody took your position. Lord, I say that your leadership is perfect. No man can keep the will of God from happening in my life. I trust your leadership, Lord. And I invoke your presence to be involved. You are my source, God. Not that leadership team. Not that position in the marketplace, in the ministry, whatever. You are my source. Not the favor of that leader. And so I thank you for your leadership. And I say, I trust your leadership. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.