Last week we learned that God is
the One protecting us. If we dwell and abide with Him, all the
promises in Psalm 91 are ours for the taking. God wants us close to
Him, He wants to look after us. But if we are like wayward sheep
running for the cliffs, He will certainly come after us and look
for us, but we might have a few 'speed wobbles' in the process J.
He wants us to avoid those 'speed wobbles', He doesn't want to see
us hurt. So the best is to rather stay close to Him and His perfect
will for our lives.
Now, back to David. He and his men
went to dwell in the strongholds of En Gedi. Saul heard of it and
after fighting with the Philistines he and three thousand men
followed David there. Saul was searching for David and in the
process he had to tend to his needs. He went into a cave alone. Now
as it happened this was the exact cave where David and his men were
hiding. David's men got very excited and urged David to go and kill
Saul as he was very vulnerable at that very moment. They believed
that God placed him in David's hands. But David refused:
"The Lord forbid that I should
do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my
hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord." 1 Samuel
24:6
David simply cut off a piece of
Saul's robe. And when Saul left the cave, David followed him out.
He stooped to the ground and bowed before Saul and showed him the
piece that he cut off. He declared that he could have killed Saul,
but he didn't, because he wouldn't lift his finger against the
anointed of God. Saul realized that he could have been dead, and if
it had been him in the same situation he would certainly have
killed David. Saul showed remorse and even declared that he now
knew for certain that David would be king of the land. He left for
home and for the time being stopped chasing David.
David's act here was just as heroic
to me as when he defeated Goliath. He could have buckled under the
pressure of his men. He could have believed them when they told him
that this was from the Lord, but David had such a close
relationship with God that he knew it was not the right thing to
do. He stood up under group pressure and did the right thing, which
is truly amazing, given the situation Saul has placed David in.
Today people might urge us to do
things that we don't feel is from the Lord. They might even quote
verses and proclaim that what they are saying is from God, but it
is always important to hear from God yourself. You have the ability
to hear Him even better than David did, because His Spirit lives
within you. Do not buckle under the pressure, even if it is
something that you really want to do. I am certain that David
wanted to go home and didn't want Saul to chase him anymore, but he
knew that this wasn't the way to do it. We need to also listen to
the Voice of God and make sure that what people are urging us to do
is certainly from Him.
Then just another thing I want to
point out here is that David knew that he couldn't touch the
anointed of God. And today we are His anointed. Jesus is the
Anointed One and He lives within us therefore we are anointed too.
And because we are anointed the enemy can't touch us either. He
cannot do anything to us. It is only when we allow him to that dire
things happen to us, when we do not abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. Do not allow that to happen. Anoint yourself with oil on
a daily basis if need be to remind yourself of your standing in the
spiritual realm. You are anointed as royalty, children of the
Almighty God and no evil can prevail against you. Hold on to that
truth.
Father, give us the wisdom to know
when to act, when something is from You and when it isn't. We need
Your Divine guidance on a daily basis, please speak clearly to us.
And thank you so much that we can walk with our heads held high,
knowing that we are royalty, Your anointed! Hallelujah! All because
of Your wonderful Son, Jesus. Amen