Sermons

After David had won a great victory in the war against the Amalekites and was staying at Ziklag, an Amalekite young man came to him, held out Saul’s crown and bracelet, and lied that he had killed Saul. In fact, Saul had taken his own life to escape the shame of dying at the hands of foreigners, but the young man tried to use that death to win a reward from David. Far from rejoicing at the news, David judged him by his own mouth, which had testified that he had killed Yahweh’s anointed.

The young man judged David by his own standards, and so he wrongly thought he could deceive him. A person’s decisions cannot go beyond what that person has learned so far and who has shaped them, and because the young man did not truly know God or David’s faith, he did not realize that his lie would mean his death. Even though Saul’s death worked in David’s favor, David set his feelings aside and judged coolly according to God’s law, and that carefulness was the reason he was established as king of the united kingdom.

Out of a desire to prosper, the world tries to use God and his people, but a person’s words are that person, so a lie once spoken cannot be taken back. David did not avenge himself on his enemy but waited patiently until God would judge, and at the end of that patience he received the throne as his reward. Enjoying God’s grace without giving thanks and craving still more is the same sin as this young man’s, and the church must live relying on God alone, with the wisdom to repay the grace it has received.