Adrian
Old-Sunday Worship June 28th, 2026

      • Psalm 100ESV

  • Hymn of Praise
  • Hymn of Praise

      • Genesis 22:1–14ESV

      • Genesis 22:1–14ESV

  • Hymn of Meditation
  • Hymn of Meditation
  • Doxology

      • 1 Samuel 24:1–10ESV

  • “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”

    1 Samuel 24. 1-10
    “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”
    K. Adrian Scott
    June 28, 2026
    Introduction.
    Our text finds us in the saga of Isreal’s first king Saul’s insane jealousy over his armourbearer, his right-hand man, David. It’s odd for Saul to be possessed with this jealous spirit because David was a very loyal servant of the king. Additionally, David was also the dynamic leader of Israel’s army, and because he was so successful in that position, conquering one enemy after the other, David became a very popular person in Israel.
    King Saul’s jealousy has now reached a boiling point, and he has resorted to a murder plot to take David’s life. There are two human passions that can become very dangerous to the one who has these feelings – one is love, which in its extreme can becomean obsession for another human being. The second human passion that can turn dangerous if left unchecked is hatred, which often stems from irrational jealousy.
    Context.
    Saul has begun to turn into a mad man and a person who is so threatened by David’s great talents and his popularity that he has begun to imagine things that are not actually happening.
    Question: How does a person work under those kinds of circumstances rather it be David or any other human being?
    So, now under these circumstances where this loyal servant David, who loved the King and has served him well, has resorted to having to physically run from the king who has employed his servants as spies so they can track David’s locations. David, thenhas to find obscure places, often caves in the mountain rock where he can hide from Saul to save his own life. All for no good reason. No matter how much good we try to do, there are always going to be people possessed with evil intent who will try tohinder our growth as a person, particularly our spiritual growth.
    The Text, Telling the Story.
    v. 1; “When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.”
    There are other people within the King’s administration who are loyal to Saul who also want David dead. These people obviously have “drunk the Kool-Aid” and believe the misguided and uninformed information Saul had been telling them.
    Here Saul, like Satan, is not only our Accuser but “he goes back and forward seeking who he can devour” (1 Peter 5.8). And in killing David there will be collateral damage as well. We should take note that David, the messenger of God, is not chasing Saul, much less trying to kill hm, but King Saul is desperately trying to take David’s life.
    V. 2; “So Saul took three thousand select men from all Israel and went to find David and his men in the region of the rocks of the mountain goats.”
    Saul makes certain to take what he thinks is enough fire power to finally capture and kill David, the man he hates. Saul takes 3,000 “chosen” men from all of Israel and began to seek David out as well as David’s men in front of what they called the “WildGoat Rocks.”
    V. 3; “He came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave. Saul went into it to relieve himself.”
    This is a sad day in the life of a threatened king whose threats do not come from a political or military rival, but his own mind. And this is an even more sad day for a loyal and should have been a trusted political military ally, but due to the insecurity of his “boss” who is the king of Israel, his job is not only on the line, but his life is now in serious jeopardy!
    David hasn’t come home for dinner, and his wife has not heard from him. And neither has his family heard from him because he is ducking in and out of caves and rock cervices trying to stay alive because the king has employed an army of soldiers to find and kill him.
    “Saul went into it (the cave) to relieve himself.” For privacy Saul goes into the cave to relieve himself or, as we would say it today, “use the restroom.” Saul felt safe so he did not take any guards with him as his position of king would allow him to do, so he went into the cave alone. What the mighty king did not know was David, who was not only the man he wanted to kill, but was himself a mighty and crafty warrior who had won many great victories for the king and the people of Israel. That David was in the cave, but Saul did not know it! But not only was David quietly resting in the cave as Saul enters it, but David’s fighting warriors, something like the special forces of Israel, were quietly hiding in the same cave as David their leader, and the man they were protecting from Saul.
    Our biblical history tells us that as Saul’s Army General, David had secured tremendous victories for the nation. He had famously defeated the giant Philistine Goliath and then secured more victories over the Philistines. David had also led his army to victories over the Arameans and the Edomites where he killed 18,000 men of Edom. And David also to the great delight of the nation of Israel recaptured the capitol of the nation, Jerusalem and reestablished it as the spiritual center of Israel.
    That David, the wise, crafty and fearless warrior was not sitting in the cave worried about Saul, but what he was thinking about was how he could get out of the circumstance he was in with Saul without killing him. The mighty David had all of the power and ability he needed to kill the King, and had every right to, especially since Saul was out to kill David.
    v. 4; “David’s men said to him, ‘this is the day about which the Lord said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him whatever seems appropriate to you. So, David got up and quietly cut off an edge of Saul’s robe.”
    In other words, this is the call for justice and judgment coming from David’s warriors. They saw it for what it was; David was now close enough to kill Saul, an opportunity to take care of Saul one final time; to put an end to this nonsense. David’s life, they thought, can be easier if he, David, would just say the word! David had the power of life and death in his hands! The soldier’s sat with their swords, and they are ready to rid David of his menace, Saul. All they needed was for David to give the ‘OK.’ They reminded David that he had the right to take Saul’s life because he was authorized by God himself to execute judgment and take Saul’s life. After all, this is exactly the position every warrior wants to be in; the position of having an advantage over the enemy and Saul is defenseless. David’s men tell him that this is the day they have all been waiting for; the day when he can avenge the life of Saul, and it appears that God has put Saul right into your hands without effort.
    David’s men are ready to unleash all of their frustration out on Saul. After all, it is because of Saul that these men have been away from their families and are also running for their lives! They are dirty, often hungry and thirsty and they want to go home. They are also angry, tense, as warfare would do to you. They are tired and frustrated, and now they have their opportunity. David’s men argued for taking Saul’s life from the legal/moral perspective. They knew they had the right according to the laws of warfare and now they have the opportunity! Further from this perspective, they only thought of it from the perspective of justice; that is giving a person what they deserve because of their actions, and in their mind, Saul certainly deserved death which was the cost of justice, but all David wanted was for Saul to know that he had been close enough to touch him!
    Question: When has the Lord touched you, and did He get your attention?
    v. 5; “Afterwards David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off an edge of Saul’s robe.”
    Notice that David had not cut or harmed Saul but simply cut off a piece of Saul’s robe. Did David out of pride cut Saul’s robe to prove a point to Saul; to prove he was smarter than Saul or a better soldier than he ever was? Did David’s conscience bother him because he wanted to prove he was a better person than Saul for not taking his life even though David had the opportunity and on the other hand, Saul attempted to take David’s life many times? Was David being prideful or self-righteous? Or perhaps, David saw the cutting of the King’s robe as being disrespectful to the office of King. We do not have the answer to these questions but there must have been a reason David’s conscience bothered him. But, by cutting off a piece of Saul’s robe, David is doing one thing for certain, Saul will know David, the one he hates an wants to kill for some unknown reason, was in the cave with him and was close enough to the king to touch him, and if he was close enough to touch him he was close enough to have killed him.
    If the answer to any of these questions is yes, David has misplaced confidence because this entire arrangement of his new enemy, Saul walking into the cave when David and his warriors were already there was not his doing, but it was the providence of God that sent Saul there. Neither you nor I have any idea what danger the Lord has kept us from. How God has employed His angels to direct traffic around your vehicle; to shield us from stray bullets, keep deadly diseases from our homes and the death angel from stopping by your home, protecting your children and our women from evil men; protecting our finances from extortioners, and our identity from thieves. This is the Lord’s work, not ours!
    When God’s providence is working in your favor, be sure to give glory to God and not to ourselves!
    v. 6; “He said to his men, may the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, by extending my hand against him. After all, he is the Lord’s chosen one.”
    David saw his men as an extension of himself, so he exhorted them to treat Saul as he did, with mercy and not justice. David did not want to kill Saul out of passion, but mostly out of reverence, or the fear of the LORD. David did not want to be responsible for dealing harshly with the LORD’S anointed. His feeling was, if the LORD chose Saul, which the LORD did, certainly the LORD will chastise Saul, but not by me.
    v. 7: “David restrained his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and started down the road.”
    David’s decision was not just one he had to abide by, but one he expected his men to respect and follow also. No one was to touch King Saul! It appears that David was thinking, ‘when Saul goes down, it will not be by my hand. If God wants Saul dead, then God will have to get someone else to do it. I am not going to touch the LORD’S servant.’ Here David is used in Scripture as a reflection of the great restraint Almighty God exhibits toward God’s children despite our many spiritual shortcomings, our moral failings, and our repeated sins. God uses great restraint, called patience, even at times when we like Saul, are most vulnerable; unsuspecting and even indefensible! How many close calls have you and I had, but Almighty God allowed us to walk away from? How many times could we have been taken out, destroyed or eliminated, but God would not permit it and we did not even know it? O, the patience and providence of God.
    Even though Saul had sinned against David multiple times including attempts to take David’s life, David still shows Saul that he is a man of mercy and compassion. David would have been completely justified in taking Saul’s life in that cave, but by his merciful heart he did not. David not only had the right to take Saul’s life, but he also had the opportunity as well. How many times have we sinned against our holy God and God could have taken our lives, but God did not. How many times could the Lord have rejected us, but He did not. Here is another lesson in this text, and it is this – Our God is a God of mercy!
    What David wanted from Saul was not his physical life, but David wanted fellowship with Saul because he loved him, just as the Lord desires fellowship with us. But like Saul, we had rejected that fellowship. David had lived in hopes of having fellowship with Saul despite his threatening and rejection. Likewise, God in God’s desire to fellowship with us pursues fellowship with us to the very end.
    While David’s men favored justice, David favored compassion, and in that David reflects the divine mercy of God! Mercy says, ‘God did not give us what we deserved, but God has chosen to show us compassion, and by giving us His Son, Jesus, who is the true and complete revelation of God’s boundless mercy and inexhaustible grace.
    Whereas we formerly rejected the divine fellowship with God and God’s faithfulness toward us, just like King Saul did to David, God did not exact the sentence of justice upon us, but “laid on Him (Christ) the iniquity (perverseness) of us all” (Isaiah 53.6).
    The Proposition.
    Saul leaves the cave not even knowing that David and his warriors were also in the cave. Saul did not know David touched him, or cut his robe, and let him walk out! God has had many opportunities to
    Do you know how close God has been to you? Did you know that God has been with you everywhere you have gone and remains with you right now? To those whom the Lord has called Himself, the Lord will not stop pursuing you. Reach out, because He is close enough to touch you!
    Do you sense God’s nearness? Can you sense God’s presence? Do you ever hear God’s voice? We cannot see God, but God is near because He wants to save you not harm you.
    Lamentations 3. 22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” And the in Deuteronomy 4.31 we hear these words, “For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with our fathers that He swore to them.”
    Like David’s secret occupation of that cave when Saul entered and showed him mercy, so the Lord our God would not allow evil to harm us, but in mercy he spared us because the Lord wants fellowship with us because He loves us.
    The Close.
    How will you respond to God’s mercy? Will you accept or reject Him?

      • 1 Samuel 24:1ESV

      • 1 Peter 5:8ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:2ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:3ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:4ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:5ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:6ESV

      • 1 Samuel 24:7ESV

      • Isaiah 53:6ESV

      • Lamentations 3:22–23ESV

      • Deuteronomy 4:31ESV

      • Acts 3:19ESV

      • Romans 8:39ESV

  • Song of Affirmation

      • Exodus 15:2ESV

Adrian
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