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Covenant: Honoring the Process
We must learn to honor the process that God has to bring us into his covenant purposes.
1 Samuel 24:1-22
When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats' Rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And afterward David's heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord 's anointed.” So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way. Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’? Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.’ See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand shall not be against you. After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! May the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.” As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house.” And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
What is God teaching us?
What can we learn from this Biblical examples?
There will be moments in your life when you want to take your own destiny into your hands.
Most people have some measure of ambition in life.
Some of it is God inspired.
Much of it is not.
There is a difference between being anointed to execute a task and having the capacity to steward it well.
Before God allowed David to become king, he would take David through a process to learn godly leadership.
Could it be that where you find yourself today is in a similar season of process and character development?
David’s men were ready for him to fulfill a position.
God wanted David to go through a process.
Be careful of peers who are trying to puff up your head to the exclusion of God’s wisdom from those who have gone before you.
In their impatience, our peers, like David’s men, often don’t know what they don’t know or what you need to know to fulfill your call in God successfully.
David’s men said of Saul when he was in the cave that it was time for David to kill Saul and assume the throne that God had promised David.
David’s men were looking only to their ambition to interpret the situation and not to the ways of God.
The ways of God are important because as Moses prayed when leading the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt,
Exodus 33:12-13
Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”
Meaning God had given Moses a task, but Moses knew he would need God’s favor and ways to fulfill it.
David had that recognition and we need to have it as well.
David’s men had the right goal, that David should be made king, but the wrong process.
Yet David was convicted by the Holy Spirit when he cut off a piece of Saul’s robe, getting close enough to threaten Saul’s life.
When we don’t trust God in the process, it is sin.
Why is it sin?
And better yet, what is sin?
“What is sin?
It is the glory of God not honored.
The holiness of God not reverenced.
The greatness of God not admired.
The power of God not praised.
The truth of God not sought.
The wisdom of God not esteemed.
The beauty of God not treasured.
The goodness of God not savored.
The faithfulness of God not trusted.
The commandments of God not obeyed.
The justice of God not respected.
The wrath of God not feared.
The grace of God not cherished.
The presence of God not prized.
The person of God not loved.
That is sin.”
John Piper
All of these descriptions are characteristic of us when we don’t trust God in the process as the commander of our destinies.
Yet David rose above this when he corrected his posture towards Saul after cutting off a piece of Saul’s robe.
Where did David get such a thought that what he did was in error?
Why did David come to repentance?
David got this thought from the word of God in which he was commanded to base his convictions.
Exodus 22:28
“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
This did not mean that David agreed with everything that King Saul did as a leader, or even more, that God approved of it.
God had left Saul, had already pronounced judgment on Saul, and it was only a matter of time before this was seen.
If David had been willing to forcibly take the kingship by killing God’s anointed in King Saul, David would have set a precedent for the forcible insurrections that we see modeled in godless monarchies throughout history.
What David was learning was how to trust God through the process.
This would create in David the character he needed for true leadership blessed by God.
Psalm 78:70-72
He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance. With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.
What you see in David’s kingship is a recurring theme of success and triumph.
David was able to experience this because God was with him, meaning that David was living in God’s pleasure.
It would have been a sacrifice of this standing if David forsook the pleasure of God for an expedited ascension to the throne through ungodly means.
Yet do we truly believe that it is God who exalts one man or woman, and brings another down (Psalm 75:7)?
Or have we put our ultimate trust in idols of human governments and human scheming to accomplish our ends?
“Suffering always reveals idols of the heart.” ―James MacDonald, Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God’s Changeless Truth
David would not forsake the process for an idol of position.
The question is for us:
What idols have times of testing and waiting revealed in our hearts?
Covenant Process and Character
Our covenant relationships help encourage us in God’s order, God’s process, God’s character and God’s timing.
When we speak of the word character, Biblically it is a term used for that which has been tested by circumstance and proven to be both trustworthy and reliable.
How does covenant relate to character in the midst of God’s process that we must come to honor?
Covenant provides security while we are being shaped.
It provides stability while we are being challenged.
It provides consistent direction when our focus is tested.
Covenant provides positive and godly accountability to keep us on course.
In uncertain times it was God’s covenant devotion to David that kept David steadfast while on the run from Saul.
It was David’s covenant interactions with his men that helped forge the character of God in them all.
This character helped David and his men, and helps us be grounded in:
1. God’s order which teaches us the healthy dynamics of relationships, including respecting God-given authority
Whether it be with a parent, a spouse, a coach, a workplace employer or a ruling official, God has order that is to be honored, despite leadership’s imperfections.
Unless they are telling you to break the commands of God, their leadership is to be respected.
We must show mercy for others even while we realize there is hope for us.
This is what David did for Saul, leaving the judgment of Saul in God’s hands.
When challenged to take Saul’s life, David responded to his men saying:
“The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord 's anointed.”
We need to understand that every leader is in process and if God has called you to be one, so are you.
The question is for character to be formed -
Have you done the things your leaders have already asked you to do - things that they believe are in order to help develop you?
Our covenant relationships help develop the character of Christ within us.
David continued to do the righteous thing following the ways of the Lord and leading those he influenced to do the same.
When you continue to make the difficult, righteous decisions, it creates an atmosphere, an environment for others to rise to godliness as well.
This is how David’s covenant with his men helped turn them from those who were simply known for being discontent, in debt and in distress to those who would be known as David’s mighty men, extending his Kingdom all across the land.
It was through David’s covenant with God that he was able to display the Holy Spirit fruit of long-suffering, otherwise known as patience and rest in that trust.
How do most people come against the authorities that mishandle them?
They do so by cutting their leaders down, little comment by little comment, just as David cut off a piece of Saul’s robe.
Yet this was this sin from which David turned.
David encouraged his men to do something different and embrace God’s order.
David bowed down before Saul to pay Saul homage, respecting Saul’s God-given authority.
As the people of God, we must develop a CULTURE OF HONOR CULTURE to combat the natural human tendency towards cynism and rejection of healthy authority.
It is part of God’s redemptive testimony left to be expressed through the church.
Why is this important?
Just as we can not love God who we can not see if we can not love our fellow man who we can see (I John 4:20), we are deceiving ourselves to think that we can submit to God’s authority which we can not see if we do not respect the authorities which we can.
THERE IS A WAY TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWERS - GOD’S WAY.
DAVID HAD HIS MOMENT OF SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER SAYING,
“May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.”
David helped his men honor God’s order by maintaining the delicate balance of being vocal while remaining godly and trusting the Lord to avenge him.
At the same time, and this is what people often miss, David made his intentions of peace clear to Saul.
David began by acknowledging Saul’s authority saying, “My lord the king!” and “See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it.”
David continually verbalized the fact that he did not want to be at odds with Saul.
Thus David did his part to bring character to God’s covenant process.
2. God’s process teaches us to be fully present and active while waiting waiting for change.
David was not waiting to be king to act and lead in the character of a godly king.
The take away for us is this:
Be all in, in the stage and season in which you find yourself as if you will be there forever.
You may not be, but it provides you the confidence knowing that you gave God your all while He had you there.
Be sure of this:
Proverbs 12:24
The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.
You will definitely not be promoted or see better days if you’re doing a half-hearted job where you now find yourself.
3. God’s character teaches us how to live during the process.
The process of God helps develop the character Christ in your life.
We often treat character as optional.
Character is a non-negotiables to God.
We have 30+ year olds still talking about the pains of adulting.
Yet the transition of that ship should have sailed a long time ago.
When it hasn’t, our character can be detrimental and it would have been for David’s men had David not stopped the attempt on Saul’s life.
“People destroy with their character what they’ve built with their gift unless real transformation has occurred.”
-Graham Cooke
Think of several of the high-profile disruptor companies over the past couple of years that have had to undergo major overhauls because of the reckless culture the gifted founders created (Wework, Uber, etc.)
It is through tough moments that we see true sanctification in our lives.
This sanctification process is like:
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. God’s timing teaches us that God will put us in the places that HE wants us when both we and those with whom we are to be in relationship are ready.
When David did the right thing and offered mercy to Saul, Saul did not immediately turn to what was right.
Yet God was still working.
Saul was confronted with and momentarily acknowledged the justice of David’s cause, giving ear to David.
Saul acknowledged David as more righteous than himself and even affirmed the fact that God would make him king.
David’s righteousness de-escalated the situation and momentarily softened Saul towards David when Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.
Yet Saul had no come to Jesus moment.
He did not permanently relent from the pain he was causing David, but merely gave him temporary relief that day.
As you are in process, you will experience similar things.
Just remember that God is still working, his promise hasn’t changed, and this is all part of the process.
The lesson David needed to learn is that it was a matter of timing.
Trusting in God’s covenant process, David developed the character to make a promise to Saul to the benefit of Saul’s family even while David was waiting on his own conditions to improve.
We need to learn the same lesson.
Why?
Because God is ultimately Lord of the process.
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
The Lord of the Process
For Jesus to truly be Lord of our lives, he must be the Lord of our covenant process.
Just as David had to learn to wait on the Lord for his promotion, so did Jesus who would be exalted as the ruler of all the earth.
In the same way, we must allow Jesus to be the Lord of the process to bring us into his covenant promises.
Though David was the anointed successor of Saul, for a period of time David had to deal with the shortcomings and failings of his predecessor.
God the Father was using this process to shape David just as the Father used Christ’s condescension to make Jesus a merciful and faithful high priest to fallen humanity.
Of Jesus, the Scripture said:
Hebrews 2:17-18
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
And again it says:
Hebrews 5:7-10
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
The cross of Jesus Christ is where the cave of Wildgoats’ Rocks is realized for us.
Just as David’s faithful service to Saul was returned with murderous spite, so Jesus is often rejected by a world that he came to heal and save.
But just as there was a day of reckoning for King Saul, so there will be a day of judgement for every man and woman to give an account to God.
David trusted in this and was exalted as king while Saul perished.
By his resurrection from the dead, Jesus has also been declared the eternal, exalted king of the line of David and those who oppose him will be crushed at the culmination of human history.
Yet just as in the cave of Wildgoats’ Rocks David restrained his vengeance to see Saul go free, so Christ suffered the process of God’s crushing at the cross for our sins, that those who would repent of their rebellion against God might also go free.
Let’s humble ourselves today and so honor the process that will develop the character to bring us into God’s covenant calling and promises.
Second City Church - Covenant, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020
