The King's Robe and the Hand That Wouldn't Strike

Deep in the wild hills of Israel, in the days when Saul was still king, there was a cave. It was cool and dark and it smelled of stone, and in its shadows a young man was hiding. His name was David, and the king of the whole land was hunting him.

David had done nothing wrong. Nothing at all. But Saul was jealous, and jealousy had made him cruel, so David ran. He slept in caves. He hid among the rocks. He was tired, and he was hunted, and some nights he was very afraid. Do you remember Jonathan, the prince who wrapped David in his own royal robe because he loved him? That warm robe of friendship must have felt very far away now, out among the cold stones.

And then it happened.

King Saul walked into the very cave where David was hiding. Right into it. He never saw David there in the shadows. He set down his spear. He lay down to rest. The man who wanted David dead was lying there, alone, with his back turned.

David's men whispered, "This is it. God has handed your enemy to you. Take him."

And David crept closer. So close. Close enough to reach out his hand.

You can feel it, can't you? All that running. All that fear. And here, at last, was the chance to end it. One strike, and the throne God had promised him would be his. One strike, and he would never have to be afraid again.

He reached out his hand.

And he cut off a corner of the king's robe. Only the robe. That was all.

Then David crept back into the dark, and his heart pounded, and even that felt like too much. "I should not have done even this," he said. "He is the king. I will not lift my hand against him." He would wait for God. He would not grab the crown by force. He would not become cruel to escape a cruel man.

Later, when Saul had gone, David stood far off on the hillside and called out, holding up that little scrap of cloth. "Look," he cried. "I had you in my hand. And I let you go."

And the king who hunted him wept like a child.

David had all the power in the world to hurt, and he opened his hand and let it fall. He chose mercy when he could have chosen the sword. That is one of the hardest things a person can ever do.

And it was pointing, like a finger down a road, to Someone still coming.

Because one day another King would come, the King from heaven, with all the power of heaven in his hands. People would hunt him too. He could have struck them down with a single word. He could have grabbed his crown by force.

But he opened his hands instead. He let them be nailed open.

That is the upside-down way the real kingdom is won: by a love that will not strike, a love that looked, for a little while, like losing, and was winning something far bigger than a throne.

And David? He kept waiting, and God kept his promise. The man who would not snatch the crown was given it at last. Turn the page, and you will see him again, not running, not hiding, but dancing for joy right down the middle of the street.