1 Samuel Chapter 24 – The Will of God (I)
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2
“What is the will of God?” is a question that we often ask ourselves when faced with difficult decisions in our lives. The will of God is not always obvious to us. It is even less obvious that the will of God is always good, acceptable and perfect.
Sometimes, it is what the world offers us that seems good, acceptable and perfect. We might even mistake what the world offers as the will of God. How do we then prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God?
Let us learn from the practical example of David in the next three chapters from 1 Samuel 24-26. In all three stories, he was presented with an opportunity to kill. In all three stories, David determined that it was the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for him not to seize the opportunity to kill.
In the first story in 1 Samuel 24, Saul brought with him three thousand men in hot pursuit of David and his men. Coincidentally, Saul enters the same cave that David and his men were hiding in. An opportunity had clearly presented itself, but what was the will of God? If we had been in the shoes of David, what would we have done?
David’s men
What was the will of God to David’s men?
4Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’
Without a shadow of a doubt, killing Saul was the will of God to the men of David.
- Saul was the source of all their problems. He had been relentlessly seeking after their lives. And he was the reason for their constant fear and running. 1 Samuel 23:3 Look, we are afraid here in Judah. Killing Saul would solve all their problems. They would no longer need to fear for their own lives or run anymore.
Obviously, this was the will of God! Is this also not how we often judge whether it is the will of God? Will the outcome be favourable to me? If it is favourable to me, it is the will of God. If it is unfavourable to me, it is not the will of God. - This was clearly a God-given opportunity. Otherwise, out of the many caves in En Gedi, why would Saul enter this one?
It was clear to everyone that the hand of God was involved (to his men in vs 4; to David in verse 10; and even to Saul in verse 18). If God has given us an opportunity, is it not clear that it is the will of God? Why should we not take it? - The men of David believed that killing Saul would fulfil the Word of God. Since God had already rejected Saul and promised David that he would be king, what was wrong with actualising the promise of God? Otherwise, how would the kingdom be delivered into David’s hands?
If Saul had not been the king, David and his men would have every right to kill him out of self-defence and even Saul himself recognised this. 19For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely?
David
But what about David? What does he think is the will of God?
6And he said to his men, “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.” 7So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul.
David comes to an entirely different conclusion from his men. He concludes that killing Saul was not the will of God.
- David knew that whether an outcome was favourable or not was not the criteria for judging the will of God.
In life, when we ask God for his will, are we actually intent on finding out the will of God or do we just want the outcome to be favourable to us? Here, we see that David spared the life of Saul despite this being totally unfavourable to him. - David knew that even a God-given opportunity was not the criteria for judging whether it was the will of God.
We often use this as a criteria in spite of the clear commandments of God. Otherwise, we would often ask, why would God present me with such an opportunity?
The story here tells us that even if an opportunity came from God, God’s will might not be for us to act on it. God might have presented it to us to see whether we would honour Him and not act on it! - What then was David’s criteria for judging the will of God?
His one and only criteria was whether his action would please and honour God. His reasoning was that if God had anointed Saul, then Saul could only be removed by God alone.
Even though God had promised him the kingdom, it was not God’s time if it meant that he would have to seize the throne by killing Saul. Honouring God meant that David must honour the anointed of the Lord. Honouring God meant that David must seek the best interests of Saul.
Would we have sought the best interest of the man who was seeking your life?
Discerning the will of God is often difficult not just because our judgments are clouded by our personal interests, but also because there are different voices vying for our attention.
There is the voice of God telling us the will of God. There is also the voice of the world spoken through the voice of the people. And sometimes, the voice of the people overpowers the voice of God.
There is a Latin phrase: Vox populi, vox dei which means that “The voice of the people is the voice of God.”
That was exactly the case with Saul when he was sent to kill the Amalekites. Saul acted upon the Word of God only until the people’s voice overpowered the voice of God. However, David never mistakes the people’s voice for the voice of God.
He attaches the highest importance to the voice of God. Therefore, David was able to ultimately prove the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. What about us?
Whose voice do we attach the highest importance to? Is it the voice of God or is it the voice of the world?