Grace carries the COST when JUSTICE is delayed.  

In 1 Samuel 24, David has the opportunity to END his persecution by killing Saul, the king who is hunting him. Instead, David refuses to seize the kingdom through violence. He ENTRUSTS his VINDICATION to the Lord, even while continuing to live with the consequences of Saul’s HOSTILITY. That is the nature of PROVIDENCE. God keeps his promises in his time, not ours.  

  • David's men think they have a word to act on. 
  • David acts on what God has actually revealed, that Saul is his anointed and that he is the Judge.  

So David SURRENDERS to the truth as he knows it. 

Our ACTION, or our RESTRAINT, is not only for personal gain. It is for the realization of the kingdom and in representation of the King. 

Psalm 57:  How lament demonstrates faith 

  • Lament is DIRECTED to God. The complaint is spoken to him, never about him behind his back. That is trust. People who have given up on God stop talking to him.
  • Lament is HONEST about providence. David doesn't minimize the lions. Honesty about the gap is the opposite of the men's shortcut in 1 Sam 24:4, which denies the gap by forcing the promise.
  • Lament holds the PROMISE while describing the PAIN. Verse 2 is in the present, "God who fulfills his purpose for me," in the middle of verses 4 and 6. Both are true in the same breath.
  • Lament ends in WORSHIP without an ANSWER. The song in verse 7 doesn't depend on the outcome. 

The turn in 24:7… Then Saul left the cave and went on his way. —  Nothing has changed, and the heart is steady. Faith holds both, and it speaks honestly to God while it waits. 

GRACE that costs can only be given by someone who TRUSTS that the cost isn't the END of the story. Without FAITH in the promise, giving up what you're owed is just loss. With it, the cost is an expectation in what God has said He will do. 

David trusted God enough to WAIT, but Jesus trusted him enough to DIE, and rise.  

  • David: He is anointed by grace. He trusts the promise while hunted, and he extends mercy and a promise of kindness to the man who hunts him.
  • Jesus: He is loved by the Father and trusts the promise (Matt 26:39 "yet not as I will, but as you will"). He extends grace at great cost.
  • Us: We receive grace we didn't earn, trust the promise while living in providence, and are invited to extend it to our own “Sauls” 

Assess & Apply:  

  • Identify the grace to give. Who has something coming to them from me, whether an apology, an answer, a consequence, or a chance to be put in their place?
  • Name the cost and place your faith in the promise. What will I absorb if I don't collect? That might be being misunderstood, losing the last word, staying unvindicated, or carrying the loss. What has God said that makes it safe to carry it?