After God’s Heart (Part 4) (1 Samuel 18:6-9, 12-19)                                                                   2008.11.16    Pastor Edward Cheng

As we’ve been following the life of David, we’ve been able to observe several different character qualities in him that are absent or different in Saul – character qualities that we know set him apart from Saul and help to define what it is to be “after God’s heart.”  As we look into chapter 18 today, we find another one of such qualities.

For the Christian who desires to live life after God’s heart, the author teaches us in this chapter that there is no place for ulterior motives in your speech or actions.  There’s no place for putting on a façade of service or kindness or generosity when in the background these things are done for other purposes (i.e. self-gain).

The Schemes of Saul

  The chapter opens up with David and Saul coming back from defeating Goliath and the Philistines.  They are greeted by the women of the city with shouts of acclamation as they return home victorious.  However, it seems as though the shouts for David are more honoring than they are for Saul, a fact which is not lost on Saul (18:8-9).  What results is a series of schemes in which he verbally tells David that he wants to honor him while in his heart lie plots to have him killed by the hands of the Philistines.  We see this first with his offer of Merab to David as a wife (18:17).  On the surface it seems as though Saul desires to offer Merab to David as a way of showing him honor for the faithful service David has provided for Saul.  However, immediately following Saul’s pronouncement to David, the author tells us really what’s in Saul’s heart: For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him.  Let the Philistines do that!” (18:17).

We see another instance of Saul’s lack of integrity shortly after this incident as he now offers Michal, his other daughter, to David.  Again, on the surface it seems as though Saul is pleased that Michal and David fall in love.  However, as we allowed a glimpse into the heart of Saul, we see that once again Saul’s heart is full of schemes to have David killed by the Philistines.  Outwardly he presents himself to be a friend of David while inwardly his heart plots David’s death.

Finally, we see this type of attitude and character (or lack thereof) a third time when Saul presents to David a challenge in order to win the hand of Michal.  Saul asks for the foreskins of 100 Philistine soldiers, a price that is exorbitantly high and supremely difficult to achieve.  Saul knows that in attempting to retrieve the foreskins it’s like that David will die in the battle (18:25).  Thus, once again, we see the two-faced personality of Saul.  He says smooth words with his tongue, while in his heart lay other schemes of self-gain.

David’s Pure Heart

Thank God that we are not left with only the actions of Saul.  For in David, we see a purity of heart such that what he says IS what he thinks.  For every action of Saul that we would consider a scheme, David is shown to be completely pure in heart, word, and action.  Each time he was offered one of the daughters of Saul as a wife, David’s response was completely humility: “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?... Do you think it’s a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law?  I’m only a poor man and little known” (18:18, 23).  We notice that with David, the narrator never has to tell us what David really thinks in heart as he did with Saul.  Each time when Saul opens his mouth, the narrator has to interject for us what Saul is really thinking because his words do not tell us the full story.  We have to take a sneak peak into his mind.  However, with David, what you see if what you get.  There is no need for that sneak peak into David’s mind because he doesn’t have that scheming mentality.  In a sense, he’s much more straightforward and simple.  He says what he means and means what he says.

This seems to be at the center of what David and Saul are teaching us this morning.  Our society seems to teach us that “playing” people and manipulating people for your own gain is a good thing; that we should look for opportunities to schmooze with people and talk nice to them when really in our heart we despise them or just simply don’t care.  However, for the Christian who desires to walk after God’s heart, purity of heart and the genuineness of one’s actions are paramount.  There is no place for scheming and plotting in the Christian’s life.  There is no place of putting on a good façade when the boss is looking only to make fun of him and tear him apart behind his back.  We pray that God would purify our heart so that with all of us, what you see is what you get.