I love the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17).聽It is so useful for teaching the value of courage, trust and faithfulness that it is found in virtually every Sunday School curriculum.聽聽
However, I do not believe that this was David鈥檚 greatest moment.聽To find that, we must look a little deeper.
For many years, Israel wanted a king.聽After much debate, God finally allowed them to crown Saul (1 Samuel 11).聽Following a good start, it became apparent that Saul was not going to live up to his potential.聽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.聽After 11 attempts on his life, David flees Jerusalem to hide in the wilderness.聽Saul chases after him and that is when David鈥檚 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.聽Saul鈥檚 spear was stuck in the ground right beside his head.聽This is David鈥檚 chance.聽
He can kill the king and claim the throne.聽However, that is not what he does.聽Instead, he takes the spear, retreats to a safe place and calls out to the king鈥檚 army.聽When Saul wakes up, David says, 鈥淗ere is the king鈥檚 spear鈥�. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord鈥檚 anointed鈥� (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.聽In fact, this was the second聽time David could have killed Saul but refused to do so (see 1 Samuel 24).
Mercy is not weak.聽Mercy implies that you are powerful enough to treat someone harshly, but, instead, you treat them better than they deserve.聽That takes immense strength.
God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4).聽We are saved and blessed because of God鈥檚 mercy (Titus 3:3-5 and 1 Peter 1:3-4).聽Mercy changes lives (John 8:1-11).聽
The greatest moments happen when mercy is lived out.
鈥淔ather forgive them.聽They do not know what they are doing鈥� (Luke 23:34).
