I. A man of prayer (Ps. 57)
A. David prayed for protection (v.1-3)
B. David prayed with praise (v. 4-6)
C. David prayed in perseverance (v.5-11)

II. A man of perspective (24:1-7)
A. David understood God’s providence. (v.1-4)
B. David knew God’s will. (v.5-7)
a. God’s Sovereign or Secret Will
1. It is certain and cannot be missed
2. It is secret (exceptions prophecy and eternal state of the saved and lost)
3. It is exhaustive it covers everything that has and will happen.
4. It is perfect because God is the originator.
b. God’s Moral or Revealed Will
1. It governs one’s moral life and decisions
2. It governs attitudes, thinking, emotions, and behavior.
3. It is fully revealed in the Bible
4. It is able to equip the saints for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
C. David’s Response to God’s Will
a. David knew He was going to be king.
b. David knew that God had appointed Saul as king.
c. David did not know how God would remove Saul from the throne (Sovereign Or Secret Will) but he knew that the unilateral act of killing Saul would violate God’s moral will.

III. A man of purity (24:8-15)
A. David had the right attitude and actions
a. His Compassion toward Saul (v.8-11)
b. His Confidence in God (v.12-15)

IV. A man of piety (24:16-22)
A. David dealt kindly with Saul
a. By Sparing Saul’s life (v. 16-20)
b. By Sparing Saul’s Line [cf., 2 Sam. 9:9] (v.21-22)

V. Principles for Christians
A. Trust God- He can be trusted, even in the hard times of testing.[Heb. 12:4-11]
B. Pray to God- God answers prayer and uses prayer to change our perspectives.
C. Trust in God’s Plan- God is too wise to make a mistake and too loving to be unkind.
a. In those areas specifically addressed by the Bible – the revealed commands and principles are to be obeyed.
b. In those areas where the Bible gives no command or principle (non-moral decisions), we are free and responsible to choose our own course of action.
c. Any decision made within the moral will of God is acceptable to God. He will work through our decisions to accomplish His purposes in our lives.


Charles Haddon Spurgeon, David’s Prayer In the Cave Online. Accessed April 20, 2019. https://www.spurgeongems.org/vols37-39/chs2282.pdf
Tom Constable, Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable Psalms 57. Online. Accessed April 20, 2019. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/psalms-57.html
Earl Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, and H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 686.
Allen P. Ross, “Psalms,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 836.
R. C. Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1992).
Haddon Robinson, Decision Making By the Book (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1991), 44.
Earl Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, and H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 376.
E. Stanley Jones quoted by Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 453.