Cave of Deliverance

May 24, 2022    Pastor Daryl Zachman

Tests come in all shapes and sizes. Our patience can be tried. A temptation catches our eye. A lucrative opportunity comes our way that requires a little compromise. God allows temptations in our lives to prove us and to show us what we’re made of.

David had been tested by the Word of God. The LORD said that he would be king, but Saul was doing everything in his power to stop it. Now he was hunting David to kill him! How long would it be before God removed Saul and established David? Then the day came when God delivered Saul into his hand.

As David and his men were hiding in the back of a cave, Saul came inside to relieve himself. Go figure the odds! David’s men urged him to kill him.

“Now’s your opportunity!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today the LORD is telling you, ‘I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.’” (1 Samuel 24:4, NLT)

David quietly cut off a piece of Saul’s robe, but then his conscience troubled him.

“He said to his men, ‘The LORD forbid that I should do this to my lord the king. I shouldn’t attack the LORD’s anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him.’” (1 Samuel 24:6, NLT)

Saul had thrown a spear at David three times; he had driven him from his home and his wife; he had kept David and his men running for their lives. It would have been so easy for David to unleash his fury on Saul. But he restrained himself, not wanting to lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed. And he was troubled just cutting a piece off Saul’s robe.

But David did use the opportunity to convince Saul that he had no evil intent against him. Because David refused to harm Saul, even Saul recognized that David was more righteous than him and that he would become king. Then Saul returned home.

If God delivered your enemy into your hand, what would you do? Would you give him what’s coming to him? Or would you give him over to God? Have you stumbled across an incredible opportunity? Paying attention to the voice of conscience goes a long way in keeping us from sin...and regret.