In this message we will continue to see how David was persecuted and tried by Saul.
Through all of Saul's persecution, David did not fight or do anything to avenge himself. The only thing he did was flee. As Saul was seeking to kill David, Jonathan and Michal helped him flee. Through them God sovereignly provided David with certain kinds of information. In everything related to David, God was sovereign.
From David's experience under Saul's persecution, we need to learn an important lesson. This lesson is that in the church life there should not be anything of the flesh; there should be no anger, no devices, no conspiracies, and no plots. The church is the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17), and in the church there must be the divine authority with the proper order. No one should overthrow this order. As we will see, David feared God and did not dare to overthrow the order arranged by God. It would be a shame for us to say that we are in the Lord's recovery, yet we do not know that there is a God-ordained order. Rebellion and fighting annul the church life. With us there should be no rebellion, no anger, and no fighting. We should just live Christ in the spirit that we may live a church life according to the divine, ordained order.
We need to learn the lesson of crucifying the flesh. Avenging and fighting back are matters of the flesh. In Ephesians 4:26 Paul said, "Do not let the sun go down on your indignation." This means that when the sun sets our anger should also set. No anger should linger. This is the revelation in the Bible, and we should practice it.
In the kingdom of God the flesh has to be ruled out. Galatians 5:17 says that "the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." Verse 24 says that "they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts." Verse 21 says that those who partake of the things of the flesh "will not inherit the kingdom of God." If we are partakers with the flesh, we are through with the kingdom and will have no share in it. Things such as jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, and divisions are foreign articles in the kingdom. In the church life, therefore, there should not be any foreign articles.
Let us now see what is recorded in 1 Samuel 21 through 24 concerning David's being persecuted and tried by Saul.