Sneaky Temptation, Saul is after David. At this point in our story, David was a fugitive running around with a group of guerrillas in the cave of Adullam. David stayed in the strongholds of the desert while Saul hunted him day after day.
What is God doing during this time?
God was preparing David to be a king, and he is putting him in circumstances that are going to give him the right kinds of lessons. It was hard for David, and he was frustrated. Saul tried to kill David, and he mobilizes the entire army to march and besieged David and his men. Then something cool happens, the Philistines attacked, and they begin to raid Israel, and so Saul leaves to fight. After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-Gedi.
Saul went into the cave to relieve himself, but as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in the cave. David’s men whispered to him, So David crept forward, and he cut off a piece of the hem of Saul’s robe.
Sneaky Temptation it is when things in front of you seem right, useful, and it looks like the right thing to do. Sometimes, people hurt you, and you want to cut them back.
God gets blamed for dumb stuff that we do. David’s heart changes him forever. He never becomes the man that God wants him to be. We don’t know what God has in mind then we do things our way, and we get a hit of it, and we blamed him all the time.
Peace isn’t representing God’s will for your life, peace is representing you, gave in to the battle, and you lost the war. When I’m stepping out into what God wants into my life, there is not a lot of peace, and it is always filled with conflict and turmoil. God gets the blame when we get ahead of him.
David gives us here, a beautiful picture of how to deal with people who hurt us and to take revenge. David doesn’t do everything right, but he handles this situation with class and skill.
He cuts the robe, and then David feels ashamed. David’s conscience began to bother him.
We even rationalized the decisions that we make. You can fool yourself, but you don’t fool God. The most dangerous lies you will ever tell are not to other people, the most dangerous lies you’ll ever say is the acrobatics, that you did in your mind and convince yourself that you’re not that guilty.
There is no such thing as a small sin. All sin separates us from God, and he doesn’t wink at any sins.
David stands up, and he proclaims the truth. The judgment is always God’s, and we actually can’t change the enemy, but we can make sure that the enemy has the right facts. David takes here he is loud about the truth he says it in front of everybody.
He could have whispered, sneaky, and he could have tried to do things to undermine Saul, but instead, he stands up the truth he acts integrity, he refuses to harm.
Saul proclaims in front of his entire army, and says, “you’re better than me you’ve repaid me good for an evil you have been amazingly kind to me David, for when the Lord put me in your place where you could have killed me. May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today. I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. ”
David’s choice probably caused surprise among his men. They were ready to attack Saul. Saul’s death would take a quick end of their troubles though David would not allow it. He respected God, and so, he recognized Saul as his king.
God is a better politician than you’ll ever be. God knows how to get you where you need to be, at the right place, at the right time, better than you ever could.
Sneaky Temptation by Scott Kruse
Rock Church serves the communities of Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead. We meet at West Acres Cinema, Sundays at 10 am. At the Rock, you can belong before you believe.
