1 Sam 24:5-7 David had the opportunity to kill Saul who had been pursuing him. Despite this, he didn’t kill nor harm Saul. However, he cut off part of Saul’s robe. This caused David’s heart to trouble him; he reproached himself.

When we sustain injury we might feel pain and experience bodily harm. Self-reproach is an attack on our hearts; it’s not physical. This is brought about because we’ve done something wrong or improper; it makes our hearts feel uneasy and regretful.

This is something all men will experience in their hearts. God has given this. A man’s heart can discern whether what he has done is right or wrong. When we do something wrong, our heart rebukes us and tells us to turn back. This feeling in our hearts is a reminder God gives to Man.

David had done two things that had rendered his heart uneasy. From these two matters, we’ll learn lessons on faith.

1. David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe Why did his heart feel so much regret? 1 Sam 24:6 “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” Even though Saul continually tried to kill him, God didn’t allow David to fall into the hands of Saul. Now the tables were turned and David could kill Saul. Even though the people around him urged him to kill Saul, he didn’t want to harm the Lord’s anointed. By cutting off Saul’s robe, David didn’t harm Saul but he reproached himself still because he revered God and respected the man God had anointed.

1 Sam 24:12, 15 David then let God judge and to plead his case. This is how David righteously faced his enemy and respected Saul who was anointed by the Lord.

But in 1 Sam 25 when David faced Nabal, he did not act in this way. David sought Nabal’s assistance but Nabal refused. When David was met with this kind of evil, he didn’t treat Nabal the same as how he treated Saul. He was ready to kill off Nabal’s household. Thankfully, Abigail travelled ahead to speak to David.

1 Sam 25:30-31 Abigail was a woman with wisdom and foresight. She knew how to discern between right and wrong. Even though she was Nabal’s wife, she didn’t support her husband because she knew he was wrong. She also knew that David taking judgement on his own was wrong also. Although David had the power to deal with Nabal easily, this might bring peace to his heart at that point in time but the death of Nabal may cause his heart to not be at ease in the future. David received Abigail’s counsel. After 10 days, God executed judgment on behalf of David.

If David had really killed Nabal, he would have undergone self-reproach. But because he didn’t, God took care of it and gave him peace.

Two incidents. David didn’t dare to harm Saul but was very ready to harm Nabal. Sometimes the way we react depends on the person, this is because we all act as our own judges. From David’s self-reproach, we can see that it is God who is the best judge.

1 Cor 4:3-5 In Paul’s service, he was often criticised and judged by others. When people did so with malicious intent, he was grieved in his heart. When we’re criticised and judged by others, we’d feel unhappy. But let’s learn from Paul. He says this is a small thing. It shouldn’t be something that turns our lives upside down and cause grief in our hearts. Sometimes a single sentence can cause us to grief in our hearts and make us lose our appetite, because we treat the judgements of others as a very big thing.

Paul was able to see this as small because the one who judges him is the Lord. When people judge him, he examines himself: have I done anything wrong before God? If I haven’t, then that’s alright. Also, when we get the opportunity to do something to others, don’t. We’d just end up in self-reproach. Leave it to God to judge.

Don’t use our own standards to judge what’s right or wrong. Before it’s revealed whether a person is right or wrong, our faith and patience is tested. If you are indeed guiltless, you’ll receive praise from God in the future. This will allow us to spiritually nurture ourselves and learn. Have a heart that gives God the authority to judge.

Sometimes we may feel that we have such a heart but others don’t.

Pr Ho’s testimony: He was pastoring a church with 500 members. He was told that a truthseeker has took offence against him and didn’t come to church for a month because of that. Pr Ho reflected upon himself. He felt very bad that something he did had caused such a bad reaction. He went to talk to the truthseeker personally after that and found out there had been a misunderstanding. The truthseeker has asked Pr Ho some questions to clarify his understanding. At the same time, other members wanted to talk to Pr Ho. After Pr Ho answered his question, he then turned his attention to the other members. Little did he know the truthseeker felt very unhappy about that. He felt Pr Ho despised him and preferred to talk to other members of higher status. Pr Ho apologised for what he had done to cause the truthseeker to feel that way.

We may think we have high expectations of ourselves, but there’re times we falter also.

This is why Paul says whether we’re right or wrong, the judge is the Lord.

In the second case, if David had taken things into his own hands, he would have taken the authority to judge from God.

1. David’s heart reproached him after he numbered the people/took a census 2 Sam 24:10 The objective of the census was for people to know how great his army was and hence how great he was. 1.3 million. To a king, seeing the strength of his kingdom was a moment of glory. Likewise during national day, armies are usually put on display. Out of arrogance and the pursuit of glory, David numbered the people. His purpose was different from when Moses conducted the census; this was to perform God’s will. David did so out of his on pride.

What is worth learning is that David was able to understand what he did was wrong in his heart. A different reaction to his Bathsheba sin. After defiling Bathsheba, he tried to cover it up and even resorted to murdering her husband Uriah. After all this, he thought no one knew. It was only after Prophet Nathan told him he had done wrong, did he repent. But in the census matter, without anyone telling him, he repented.

David had done a wrong thing when he numbered the people. Fortunately his conscience helped him realise his wrong, repent and confess his wrongdoing. This prevented him from committing wrong after wrong. If your conscience is unable to rebuke you, you won’t be able to repent from your wrongdoing.

1 Tim 4:1-2 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,”

When they do wrong things, their conscience won’t rebuke them because their consciences have been seared with a hot iron. If our conscience is sensitive, then we’ll come to a realisation. For those not used to heat, we’d feel uncomfortable. But those who usually work in the kitchen are used to it. When our soft hands touch a hot pot, we feel it’s very painful. But for some people they can pick it up just fine.

If our conscience is not sensitive, we feel just fine doing wrong. If there’s no truth in our hearts and our mouths are used to speaking what’s not according to the truth, and our conscience no longer rebukes us (or perhaps we shut out this voice), we may end up doing worse and worse things.

We need to learn how to listen to the voice in our hearts and listen to what this voice says, so that in all our actions, we will do what’s pleasing to God.

Conclusion David was a man after the heart of God. He didn’t become his own judge and king. He left the matter of deciding what’s right and wrong for God. When he did something wrong, he quickly confessed his sins and repented. Therefore David’s self-reproach provides a lesson for us.