1 Samuel 24: 1-13                                                                                                                                  Pentecost 6 / Independence Day

July 4, 2010                                                                                                                                                   Rev. Charles F. Degner

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, "David is in the Desert of En Gedi." 2 So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.  3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, "This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.' " Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe.  5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. 6 He said to his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the LORD." 7 With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.  8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 9 He said to Saul, "Why do you listen when men say, 'David is bent on harming you'? 10 This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, 'I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the LORD's anointed.' 11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. 12 May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. 13 As the old saying goes, 'From evildoers come evil deeds,' so my hand will not touch you.

  In Psalm 25: 7, David wrote:  “Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.”  

 

There is a sin in my youth that sometimes comes back to haunt me, and makes me pray as David prayed.  When I was a sophomore in high school, I attended Luther Preparatory School in Watertown, WI.  That year the sophomores and freshmen were in one dormitory, and the dorm supervisor was not a very strong person.  Being sophomores, we thought we were really smart – and when our dorm supervisor treated us like children, we rebelled.  We made life miserable for him.  In the middle of the night we would roll pop bottles against his door and wake him up.   As the year progressed, we got wilder and noisier and more rebellious until the school had to pull him out and put someone else in his place.  We practically destroyed him as a person and we probably destroyed his ministry career as well.  I think back to those days with great shame.  Lord, do not remember the sins of my youth or my rebellious ways!

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