MAR 18 2018 | David the Fugitive S1E7 | 1 Samuel 26

Sea Change Church · David the Fugitive S1E7 · "1 Samuel 26" · Adam Stadtmiller · March 18, 2018
1 Samuel 26
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Good morning, church. My name is Adam Bogey, a.k.a. Adam 2.0. I facilitate the men's ministry. We're going to be reading from 1 Samuel, chapter 26, starting in verse 1. Then the Ziphytes came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon? So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lie with Abner, son of Ner, the commander of his army.

Saul was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks, Adam. Men, if you want to be a part of a thriving and active ministry with other men going forward in your lives, talk to that guy right there. He's solid. And meet him. His name's Adam. And say hello. We'd love to get you involved and get you connected with that.

There's a lot of good stuff going on. Let me pray. And then we'll jump into this massive story of David on the run. Lord Jesus, we want to thank you, God, as you open up your lines of communication to our hearts, Lord. In a world full of static, God, we tune in directly to you now. We ask for a clear signal that you would speak to our hearts and our minds.

And we bless you in Jesus' name. Amen. We're in this massive story of David on the run. David will be on the run about eight years from King Saul while he has already been anointed as the king of Israel. But at the moment, there are two kings of Israel, and both of them have been anointed. One is Saul. And there is a way in which Saul creates a culture around him, a culture of clinging to the kingdom, a culture of having to make sure that there are no adversaries, a culture that has to, anybody who comes up against him that might take from him, not trusting in God, that he has to control and to protect.

You have David, on the other hand, who is creating a culture of a shepherd, a culture of one who ultimately has trust that the anointing that God has laid upon him, the calling that God has laid upon him, will pan out. And if it doesn't pan out, God is still good. And David never wants to reach out and claim victory on his own. He is a man who trusts in the culture of heaven, the culture that will say, I know who you are.

You cannot run from my purpose if you are submitted to me. And if you are submitted to me, my purpose for you will come down and lay at your feet. Remember that David's purpose found him while he was out in obscurity, out in the field guarding the sheep. But yet God comes to him and found him there. And if God can find him in that place, then God can find him in the crags of the wild goats.

And that's where he's hiding. Imagine what it would be like for a couple years, perhaps, hiding in ravines, hiding in these massive caves that they have over in that part of the world in Israel. Imagine how cold it would get. We know that it snows and it gets cold. And imagine David waking up in the quietness. And much like Jesus in the wilderness, David went into the wilderness by himself.

He never invited anyone to follow him. But yet the brokenhearted came to him. And it says that he became their captain. But he never asked to be their captain. But while these people followed him, they wanted something from him that he was not willing to take on his own. They wanted the kingdom back. They were enemies of Saul, many of them. Many of them were in debt.

They should have been in prison. Maybe they would have been executed. And they came unto David. And they would encourage David regularly to take the kingdom that was rightfully his, which is interesting because sometimes we reach out and we want to take kingdoms that are not ours. So many of us want to reach out and grab something that has not been given to us.

But David was not even willing to reach out and grab something that was rightfully his if it was not done with God's anointing and in God's timing. This is the one thing that we can learn from the life of David. Is that David never trusted in his own ability to win the victory. David always gave it to God. And so we see David here. And he's running from a man.

And if you've read the book, and I encourage you, if you haven't, write this down. I got the audio book yesterday and re-listened to it. It's 112 pages, I think. It's by Gene Edwards. As I was reading it, I remember I read it when I was in college or in seminary. And I believe that this book has had more influence on the, other than the Bible, the trajectory of my personal life than any other book.

I think there's been so many times where I have remembered the call of this book about being the kind of person that has a culture that will not reach out and throw a spear. And he talks, and this is stealing from Gene Edwards, The Tale of Three Kings is the book. Write that down, Tale of Three Kings. You can get it on audible.com. Listen to it in an hour and 14 minutes, I think.

And as you listen to that, it begins to speak about two cultures. Saul had a spear-throwing culture. And he would throw spears. And David was a warrior. And when a spear gets thrown at you, what are we supposed to normally do if it misses you? You pick up the spear and you throw it back. And eventually you become the kind of king that becomes excellent, well-versed in the art of spear-throwing.

David definitely flung a stone at a giant when God told him to. He defended against the enemies of God. But when someone attacked him personally, he was willing to say, God, they might be my enemy, but I don't know if they're yours. And that was key. David would never become one who took the kingdom by spear-throwing. He would dodge, he would move, and eventually you would ask the question, as Gene Edwards writes in the book, he says, when do you leave a kingdom where someone is throwing spears at you?

And if you've ever met a pastor on a staff or on a Christian organization or in a business or any of us, you come to areas where you think, God, is it time for me to move on? You feel that there is perhaps a spear-throwing leader that is above you, and you ask, God, when is now the time? David, it says, and Gene Edwards highlights, that David didn't move, did not leave, until Saul extricated him from the kingdom.

That's saying, I will kill this dog, basically, and I will come against him. And so, interesting that Saul calls David the same thing that Goliath called him. You know, Goliath, actually, Goliath says, I'm a dog. You come at me with sticks. But Saul pushes him out of the kingdom, and David leaves alone. From that point on, Saul continues to slander David.

We're going to talk about slander today, because it's an ugly word. And it is something that King Saul was so good at throwing not only physical spears, but at throwing verbal spears. I believe that slander is the lingua franca, the common language of our day. It is impossible to go into the grocery store when you're checking out, not to look to your left.

I don't know why it's usually on the left, but it is on the left. And you look to your left, and there is all the slander of things that are true, that are not true, that is there to your left. It is impossible these days to run for a political office without having slander be a part of the campaign. I wouldn't say it's impossible, but a recent study said that it is nearly impossible that if you do not move into the tactics of slander, that you will most likely not get elected.

Slander is when someone comes against you for a reason. You'll see it later. Go down your notes a little bit before we look at Psalm 54, which is the corresponding psalm. Know that we are continuing to look at the backstory. So if you study these psalms, these are the psalms that were written exactly when this story was happening. And slander is this spiritual way of life.

Excuse me. Slander is the next one down. Excuse me. Slander is meant to destroy you, to rob from you, to diminish you in the eyes of others. And this is something that Saul was excellent at and something that David stayed away from. We'll talk more about slander, but slander is a weapon of our day. And it is the, I would say it is the native tongue of Satan.

As we'll see in a moment that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And when we speak against someone else, God sees us speaking against someone he's created. Even if what you're saying is right. You do not have the right to throw a spear of slander at somebody just because you're correct. If that makes sense. David's model was never talking, never speaking against the Lord's anointed.

Now he would talk to God about it. And if you do have slander and you do want to speak, then you know what? Take it up with the Lord. You know, it is on occasion a right to protest. But I think we need to protest before the throne of the Lord for a long time. Before we step out and make a move. And this is something David did regularly. We're going to look at the corresponding psalm here.

And this is the key to the message. If there's a note today, and perhaps of the entire series, is David won passive victory through spiritual activity rather than physical assault. When he was a child, he stepped out in an unconscious competence to rescue the armies of the living God. But when someone attacked him personally, without God's anointing or calling, David would never raise the hand against them.

He would go to a spiritual activity, a spiritual battle. The Ephesians 6 type of battle that harvest prayer, that harvest worship, that harvest free will offering. We'll see this pattern in the corresponding psalm. A little back story before we go into the corresponding psalm. David has saved Saul's life once. Saul was in the cave, and David snuck up on him and took a piece of his robe from him.

And then Saul leaves the cave. And if you remember that story that David comes out and says, Hey, I could have killed you, but I let you go. And Saul was convicted in his heart. He says, You are more righteous than I. He actually speaks a prophetic word about his kingdom to David. And then Saul basically leaves him alone. And David is hiding in the caves.

He's still in Israel. But the Ziphites are upset with him. These are relatives of Nabal. Now, we spoke about Nabal and Abigail last week. And they're relatives of Abel. And though David did not raise a hand against Nabal, perhaps they were upset. And so, as you would say in England, if you've been to England, they're stirrers. They want to stir the pot.

Do you ever know anybody that just, they're just a stirrer. Like, when they're around, they're just stirring something up. You know what I mean? Like, you know, they come into the room. They've got to bring something up. They've got to, like, just have a comment. A little something to say. Always a stirrer, you know. So, I remember when I was in England and somebody did something.

And a guy in the corner looks up. He goes, Stirrer, mate. Stirrer. And I was like, Oh, okay. Now I learned that word. That was more Australian than British. But nonetheless, just speak like a pirate. Either way, it works. Just. We have some British friends in the house today. No offense to the British. We love the British. I'm an Anglophile myself. The corresponding psalm speaks of this stirring of the Ziphites.

They go to Saul. And they're like, Saul, hey, remember, you're pretty ticked at this guy. Now, Saul was being mellow at the moment. But then he remembers. See, we have the words. Our words have the power of life and death. You can bring life over someone. And you can bring death over them. And they stir up Saul. And Saul thinks, yeah. Yeah, I remember about him.

I'm going to go out and come against him. And he takes, I believe, 3,000 soldiers down to seek David. And he camps outside. And David sneaks down. We'll see at the end of this message. David sneaks down with his men. And God has put a sleep over Saul and his men. And David stands there. And David takes his spear. And David takes Saul's water jug. And one of David's men, as we'll see, once again, encourages David to strike the Lord's anointing.

And to seize what is rightfully his. This is a huge temptation. When you're right, making the correct decision when you know you're right. My pastor I worked under one time, he said, sometimes I would know somebody was right. But because I didn't know them yet, he goes, I would say no just to see how people deal with no. Because he says, you do not know anyone on your staff until they've been told no when they know they're right.

He wasn't doing it to be manipulative. He wasn't doing it. He says, I just need ways to determine can I trust this person. And oftentimes after a while, he would lean back in and say, you know what, we're going to release this now. Because he says, I'm not looking for talent. And I'm not looking for the correct thing to do. I'm looking for hearts.

And that was a massive lesson for me. We want to build our life with people around us that have a heart for God. That's the one thing about David. David had this massive heart for God. I mean, it was just, he loved God so much. He loved serving God through some really major failures in his life. But ultimately, when we get to heaven, God is going to look at our actions.

But it even says in the sheep and the goats passage, and I believe it's Matthew 17, where, or 18, where Jesus says, you know, hey, you, you know, the people will get to heaven. He'll say, you know, we did this. We did this. And it all looked like such great stuff. But he'll say, hey, I'm going to number you amongst the goats. Basically, because I never knew you.

Your heart was not with me. But that also doesn't mean that we can just have these great hearts for God and do whatever we want. I've told this story multiple times where 10 or I guess it's been 13 years ago, my wife came to me and she goes, I know you have a heart for God. But at some point, I need your actions to reflect your heart for God.

That's a wake-up call if you've been married, FYI. And if you haven't prepared yourself for that moment, you will be left unequipped. And we've spoken about that. When your moment of opportunity or challenge comes, you can't prepare for it. Wisdom is something that needs to be gained as we go. And so we see this in this passage here that David was not a spear thrower.

David was against slander. And some corresponding highlights in the Psalm 54. David says some things as he's writing because these Ziphites have stirred him up. And David has chosen not to come against the Lord's anointed. So he takes his spear and he takes his sword and then he goes away and he wakes up the camp. And we'll read about that in just a moment.

But once again, God was given him. He gave, God gave him, he tested him. He gave him the kingdom. It would be so easy in that moment to think, God has given this to me. And all the men with diminished or lesser insight of what God was actually doing, were saying, David, now is your moment. Snatch it. Snatch your moment. Take your moment. I'm going to say, if your moment of opportunity comes, should you take it?

Have you had that opportunity where that moment comes? Should you take it? And it takes deep spiritual insight to know, is this God's moment? Do not be afraid though, because God will lead you into those things. Psalm 54.1, the back story. As David's writing this, Ziphites have gone and they've slandered David. I highlighted a few passages, a few words here.

Save me by what? Your name. And vindicate me by your might. Vindicate. Has someone ever spoken against you? Has someone ever slandered you? You will know the faith of an individual when they don't, when they understand deep in their heart that they don't always have to stand up for themselves. And you don't always have to rebuke someone who slanders you.

You know, Jesus had people speaking about him all the time. David had people speaking about him all the time. And Jesus was comfortable knowing his reputation rested with the Father. What's your reputation with the Father? And if you know your reputation with the Father, and you have a conscious competence, or a conscious, not competence, but understanding, of your place as a child of God, being who the book says that you are, then people can slander you all they want because God will vindicate you in his way.

And sometimes God uses slander. He uses the oppression. He uses the broken vessel. And that's what David was, a broken vessel. And he's eight years on the run. With the crown right at his hand that he could have reached out for, God was breaking David. Because God says, I want a king that doesn't break things, but I need a broken king. And had David gone straight from killing Goliath into the kingship, we might have had a tyrant.

But God used him and broke him on the run. And so he says, your name, and vindicate me. Save me by what? What saved him? Your name. Giving God the margin for victory. That when you feel like you're being oppressed, have you ever gone to the Lord and say, God, I'm not going to move? Save me by your name. I've got to say, it's a much more powerful system than trying to figure it out on your own.

If I can just craft the right email, it feels so good to send it, doesn't it? Until after you send it. Then you don't sleep. Right? Oh, but it felt good. You were just riling it up. You're there all by yourself. In the spirit of your own consolation. Whipping it up. Conjuring up. Crafting the right words. And it's just going to be a great spear. And then you send it.

Let me give you a little hint. When you're writing that email, never put the person you're sending it to in the message box. Okay? It's too easy to accidentally send it. Oftentimes, I will just write it on Microsoft Word. And I probably send one out of a hundred. If that. Because you can say, hey, free speech. Say whatever you want. If you're willing to clean up the mess.

Your name. Vindicate me by what? By your might. How much do you trust? You'll know if it's a faithful person. If they're willing to be attacked. I'm not saying just being passive and laying down and playing the victim. Or just allowing yourself to be a victim. I'm saying when you know. In this type of circumstance. You know that God can save you. Arrogant foes are attacking me.

The arrogance. The arrogance of our day. So arrogant our day. So much arrogance. They're attacking me. Trusting in God for deliverance. Trusting in God for deliverance is an elixir for arrogance. I love that. When you don't strike back. When you don't throw the spear. It is humility. It is a lesson in humility. And I want to say. If you want to be humble.

And we do. We want to lay. We want to lay before the Lord and say. God you saved me. And if you want humility. Let God start fighting your battles. It doesn't feel as good in the moment. But it's glorious when it comes back in return. David's constant deflection of personal praise. His men were giving him all this praise. Giving it instead to God. Kept him from the sin of pride.

Pride is so devilish. It'll sneak up on you. And you'll be trying on its clothes. You'll be dressed in all of its attire. And not even know you put it on. So difficult. Especially when things are going well. Right? The better things go. The harder it is not to have pride. As people come in. And they're like. Hey you know. I hear. I hear things are going really good at the church.

And things are going well at the church. You guys see it. You're a part of it. It's fun. Right? But it's so easy. Well I was at this church. And it just wasn't quite. Whatever. We have our own reasons why. And there's other people that have left this church. That are saying that about us. And they come. And it's so easy in that moment to go. Yeah let me just agree with you.

Because that feels so good. But pretty soon you're six months in. A year in. Five years in. And you're just wearing the sin of pride. We want to be really careful for that. We do not have the secret sauce. Jesus Christ. The blood on the cross is the secret sauce. I did not mean to rhyme that. But it rhymed. God. Yeah. Book title. Things that don't sell.

Hashtag. God's it. Giving constant praise. Holding the kingdom loosely. Holding your kingdom loosely. Being able. At any day. If the Lord says. I'm done with you. I'm moving you on. It's time. What if you were at the height of your success. And this is. Jesus was such a great model of this. He'd be somewhere. The crowds would be massive. In churches. We love crowds.

Crowds means you're doing well. I mean Disneyland gets crowds every week. Right. It doesn't mean they're doing anything for Jesus. But we love crowds. Churches love crowds. Pastors love crowds. We love crowds. We love whatever it is. And Jesus so often. The crowd would be whooped up. His handlers. His 12 handlers would be there. Perfect. We could strike right now.

And we could take over. And become the most popular. You know. Pharisee. Or leader. In the entire. All of Israel. And it'd be like. Where's Jesus? Where'd he go? Because he had more important things. He'd go head out. And spend time with his father. My question is. Are you willing to. Maybe your business is just going amazing right now. Maybe you're a real estate agent.

And you're at the top of the board. It's like. You're not getting steak knives. You know. You're getting the Cadillac. You know. When it comes to. What you're getting. You know. When it comes to handing out the Christmas bonuses. But God's saying. I'm done with you here. Do you know when it's time to go? And sometimes. Even when it's great. It's time to go.

David knew. He held everything loosely. Flying now through Psalm 54. Surely God is my help. The Lord is the one who sustains me. I love that. Sustenance of God. Are you being sustained on your own. Or by God. He offers. It says. In 54.6. I sacrifice a free will offering to you. Why would you offer to God. When things go bad. See. So many people. They go through a divorce.

Or. They go through hard times. And immediately. It's. The church. God's let me down. It's. You just. They walk away from God. But David. When he's on the run. Says. I'm going to give a free will offering. A free will offering. Means. He didn't have to do it. Because the law commanded it. He just decided. I'm going to. Whatever it was. Pull out his pocket book.

Whatever it was. An offering. A sacrifice. A sacrifice. Of praise. Whatever it was. He said. I'm just going to give a free will offering. Because. Giving in the old testament. Was under compulsion. You had to give. Or you would break the law. Now you no longer have to give. All of our offerings. Can be free will. Offerings. He says. I will praise your name.

Lord. For it is good. He knew the goodness of God's name. Which would save him. Verse seven. You've delivered me. From all my troubles. Does he say. Half my troubles. All. All my troubles. Now. What's interesting. Is he's still on the run. At this point. But he says. You've delivered me. He gives God. Complete credit. For deliverance of all of his troubles. And my eyes have what?

Looked in victory. In triumph. Upon my foes. The spiritual way of life. Trusting the Lord. To win your battles. Is especially effective. When dealing with slander. Today we're highlighting slander. Like I said we would. It's meant to destroy you. It's meant to rob from you. It's meant to diminish you. In the eyes of others. It's a political tool. It's a religious tool.

It's a relational tool. That gives us. Control. We use slander. Because the spirit of pride. We know something. And it feels good. To have knowledge. It puffs us up. When you speak about something. You're about someone. Or some event. Or some church. Or some. Political leader. Who God. The scripture says God. Every political leader. Of all time. Has been. They're there.

Not because of your vote. They're there because God put them there. The scripture says. FYI. That when we speak against anyone. Not only are we speaking against God. This doesn't mean that we can't speak in truth. But when we're doing it as slander. To diminish them. We are puffing ourselves up with pride. It is of knowledge. I know more than they do.

It is a judgment. It is. It is going beyond the judgments of God. And saying. These are the judgments of God. But here's my personal take on it. Let me give you a little something. Let me give you a little stab in the side besides. Is your tongue free from slander? It is the language of Satan himself. And we must be careful. It says slander has become the spirit of our age.

Psalm 54.5. In this 54. David coming out of a warring culture. And we need to be careful that we don't put the New Testament and the Old Testament. Because they do correlate. But David was a man of war. And this is why God wouldn't allow him to build the temple. And next week we're going to talk about the difficult topic. About David just being a man of war.

Plundering people. The amount of death and bloodshed that was on his hands. It's a difficult thing that we need to talk about. But he says. You've delivered me from all my troubles. My eyes have looked in triumph. Going down to 55.5. Sorry. Let evil recoil on those who slander me. In your faithfulness destroy them. That's interesting. I don't know if that's a prayer we pray anymore.

I don't know. I would pray the first half of that. That their evil would recoil upon them. But perhaps not that they would be destroyed. But perhaps that they would be saved. We're going to be moving into a series on Jonah soon. It's going to be called Uber Whale. And it's kind of creative, right? Stole it from Harry. And we're going to talk about this spirit of.

Can you care for someone you hate? Can you care for someone you disagree with? And living in a world where disagreement is quickly turning to slander and hate. Revelations 12.10. This is really an interesting verse. Then I heard a loud voice speaking about slander. In heaven say, Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God.

The authority of his Messiah. For the accuser, the accuser, the slanderer, that's Satan, of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before God night and day, has been hurled down. Night and day, Satan, the scripture says, stands before God and accuses the brethren. And when we walk in slander, and there is never a need to ever slander. Ever.

Never. Not one reason. Even if you're right. We become a mighty chorus that sings in the background as he plays his tune before God and accuses the brethren. We have no right to do so. This doesn't mean that we can't have truth. This doesn't mean that we don't go one-on-one to a person. This doesn't mean that we can't go to the Lord. But believing that God's victory through prayer, through free will offering, through whatever it is, is going to be stronger than the pittance of Satan's language that you have to offer up.

It is anti-spiritual, anti-Christian. It is afoul of the things and the maturity of God that he wants for his people. Let us not be a church of slander. And if you hear slander in the church, then come to the person one-on-one. And say, hey, something came to my attention. I was concerned. And I'm not here to, you know, pile on. But I want to know, where is that coming from, perhaps?

We need to be able to do that as a group. Slander has no ability to stop, then. This is something the submitted believer needs to know. If you are slandered, slander has no ability to stop the life's trajectory of the submitted believer. Jesus was slandered while he was on the cross. Save yourself. You know, you said you could do this, blah, blah, blah.

Slandered. Nothing could stop the trajectory of a believer. No matter what anybody says about you, it does not matter. The submitted believer will never be stopped. No matter what they say. No matter how they say it. You do not need to pick the spear up. And I wish that Christian political leaders understood this. And no matter if studies are coming out.

That nothing can stop God's trajectory for your life. And who he will rise up when he rises him up. For what purpose? And that we could walk in integrity and not have slander. Turning the page over. Coming in for a landing. Trusting our outcomes to the Lord. I'm going to read the rest of the text here. And when I finish with 1 Samuel 26, 21 through 25, we'll have the worship team come up.

Well, here's the opportunity that I said he had to strike. And as we're thinking about David here with a spear. He could have killed Saul with his own spear. Imagine the scene. And then put yourself in the scene. With the person or the event or the place where you have the ability now to strike it down. And to take that thing that perhaps might be yours rightfully.

And would you have been as righteous in the position of David? Imagine yourself there as we read this. And imagine yourself. Make it personal. Because we want to put you into the narrative. Then Abishai said to David, God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now that might have been true. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear.

And I will not strike him twice. And if you know Abishai, that was true. But David said to Abishai, do not destroy him. For who can put his hand out against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? And David said, as the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him. Or his day will come to die. Or he will go down into battle and perish. Powerful. David's saying, it's there in his hand.

And David said, he'd only been on the run maybe a year and a half or two years at this point. Six more years would lay before him. As he hid. He would have to, after this event, he would have to leave Israel. His beloved Israel. And he would go to the territory of the Philistines. And live in Philistine territory. Because this is the only place he could be safe from Saul.

We go in. God does give David the victory. After he comes and he wakes them up. David says, excuse me. It says, then Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will no longer do you harm. Because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Full stop. Is the life of your enemies precious? I mean, it's, what I see happening in culture is terrifying.

Because the life of people who disagree with you is no longer precious. Is the life of the person who hates you. Who has come against you for so many. You might be a family member. Is their life precious? One, because they're created by God. Two, because we always believe in the hope of redemption. And three, do we pray that God would save and rescue them.

Powerful voice. Hard to live by. But it will take you. Living this way. Will take you through the crucible. Of brokenness with God. You will come out of a situation like this. If you, if you want to grow in depth. Deep spiritual roots. As these opportunities come up. And they come up for all of us often. Lean in. To loving that person. As Jesus says. Lean in to letting them have the battle.

To win the battle. Letting God win the battle. And holding loosely the thing that might be rightfully yours. He says in the end here. And David answered here. And David answered and said. Here is the spear, O king. Let the, one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord gave you into my hand today.

But I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight. So my life may be precious in the sight of the Lord. And he may deliver me out of all tribulation. Then Saul said to David. Blessed be you, my son David. You will do many things and you will succeed in them. So David went his way. And Saul returned to his place.

The word of the Lord. Let's have our worship man come up.