I love the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17). It is so useful for teaching the value of courage, trust and faithfulness that it is found in virtually every Sunday School curriculum.
However, I do not believe that this was David’s greatest moment. To find that, we must look a little deeper.
For many years, Israel wanted a king. After much debate, God finally allowed them to crown Saul (1 Samuel 11). Following a good start, it became apparent that Saul was not going to live up to his potential. Therefore, God sent Samuel to anoint a new heir to the throne, a young man who had a heart for God: David (1 Samuel 16).
As you may expect, this makes Saul extremely jealous and he decides that, to protect his position, he must kill David. After 11 attempts on his life, David flees Jerusalem to hide in the wilderness. Saul chases after him and that is when David’s greatest moment happens.
One night, David and one of his army commanders sneak into the enemy camp and, surprisingly, find themselves standing over the sleeping king. Saul’s spear was stuck in the ground right beside his head. This is David’s chance.
He can kill the king and claim the throne. However, that is not what he does. Instead, he takes the spear, retreats to a safe place and calls out to the king’s army. When Saul wakes up, David says, “Here is the king’s spear…. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed” (1 Samuel 26:22-23).
As great as David was against Goliath, he was even greater in his dealings with Saul because he acted with mercy. In fact, this was the second time David could have killed Saul but refused to do so (see 1 Samuel 24).
Mercy is not weak. Mercy implies that you are powerful enough to treat someone harshly, but, instead, you treat them better than they deserve. That takes immense strength.
God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4). We are saved and blessed because of God’s mercy (Titus 3:3-5 and 1 Peter 1:3-4). Mercy changes lives (John 8:1-11).
The greatest moments happen when mercy is lived out.
“Father forgive them. They do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
