Discernment and Mercy - 1 Samuel 29
May 4, 2025
Logan Schwandt
Part of Sermon Notes
May 4, 2025

Discernment and Mercy - 1 Samuel 29

David was in a bad situation.

28:1 In those days the Philistines gathered their troops for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, “You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.” 28:2 David replied to Achish, “That being the case, you will come to know what your servant can do!” Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard from now on.” —1 Samuel 28:1–2 (NET)

Saul was in a bad situation.

28:18 Since you did not obey the LORD and did not carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this thing to you today. 28:19 The LORD will hand you and Israel over to the Philistines! Tomorrow both you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines!” —1 Samuel 28:18–19 (NET)

Despite this warning from God, Saul led Israel to battle.
- Think about how we can ignore warnings from God, walk into sin knowing the consequence, and yet we still do it anyways.
- When we struggle to trust and believe that God’s plan is better for our lives, we tend to settle with a messy situation.

David Is Rejected by the Philistine Leaders

29:1 The Philistines assembled all their troops at Aphek, while Israel camped at the spring that is in Jezreel. 29:2 When the leaders of the Philistines were passing in review at the head of their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were passing in review in the rear with Achish.
29:3 The leaders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the leaders of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me for quite some time? I have found no fault with him from the day of his defection until the present time!”
29:4 But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said to him, “Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don’t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men? 29:5 Isn’t this David, of whom they sang as they danced,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands’?”
29:6 So Achish summoned David and said to him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you are an honest man, and I am glad to have you serving with me in the army. I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion of the leaders, you are not reliable. 29:7 So turn and leave in peace. You must not do anything that the leaders of the Philistines consider improper!”
29:8 But David said to Achish, “What have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day that I first came into your presence until the present time, that I shouldn’t go and fight the enemies of my lord the king?” 29:9 Achish replied to David, “I am convinced that you are as reliable as the angel of God! However, the leaders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us in the battle.’ 29:10 So get up early in the morning along with the servants of your lord who have come with you. When you get up early in the morning, as soon as it is light enough to see, leave.”
29:11 So David and his men got up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines, but the Philistines went up to Jezreel. —1 Samuel 29:1–11 (NET)

Point 1: Discernment

Verse 3: The Philistine leaders look around and say ‘Why is he here?’

  • David should have been the one asking this question. How did David fall so far that he is in a position to go to war against his own people?
  • King Achish trusted David, his men did not.

Discernment: the ability to distinguish truth from error, right from wrong.

Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right. —C.H. Spurgeon

1: Godly discernment

: guarding us from being spiritually deceived.
2: Godly discernment .
3: Godly discernment leads to .
4: Godly discernment leads to .

14:6 The scorner seeks wisdom but finds none,
but understanding is easy for a discerning person. —Proverbs 14:6 (NET)

  • The one who rejects God won’t find His wisdom.

In this text, we see King Saul, King Achish, and David show a lack of discernment. It is the military leaders of the Philistine’s that demonstrate any level of discernment.

What do I do if I struggle with discernment?

11:14 When there is no guidance a nation falls,
but there is success in the abundance of counselors. —Proverbs 11:14 (NET)

  • Surround yourself with Godly people.
  • Surround yourself with people who love truth more than they love you.

Point 2: God’s Mercy is Great.

Verse 6: David had won over King Achish, but he gave the wrong testimony of the LORD.

We can live our lives where we point people to God, or we can point them toward a false version of God.

  • King Achish references God when he talks about how honest David is, when David’s entire time with King Achish has been a lie.

Verse 8: David wonders why he has lost the kings trust.

Verse 11: David leaves the battle.

God David.

  • God’s providence works on our behalf…Sometimes even when we are walking in sin.

Why did God have mercy on David?

25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; —Psalm 18:25 (ESV)

Maybe, just maybe… God had mercy on David because David showed Saul mercy.

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved!—2:6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 2:9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them. —Ephesians 2:4–10 (NET)