“I know a shortcut!”
We’ve probably all heard this at least once in our lives and regretted following the ill-advised path. The “shortcut” ended up wasting valuable time or even got you completely lost. You would have been much better off just going the way that was certain to get you to your destination.
Shortcuts can present themselves in ways that are less literal but with very real consequences.
We see this in 1st Samuel 24.
Saul had shown himself unworthy to be Israel’s king. The Lord rejected him and chose David to be his successor. Saul decided he was going to prevent this succession by killing David. David escaped Saul’s presence when it became clear that Saul’s mind was set on murder.
David fled from place to place, doing whatever he could to survive. He even pretended to be insane on one occasion (drooling on his beard) in order to get away from another rival king. He collected a ragtag militia along the way—a group of malcontents that thought their life would be better under a new king.
That leads to the scene at hand:
When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.
1st Samuel 24:1-7
Saul thought he finally had the resources and information available to find and execute his rival. But nature called while he was leading the hunt. Not only did nature call; it called collect. This was the kind of call that required privacy. He went into a cave to “relieve himself.”
The King James Version translates this literally with an ancient euphemism: “Saul went in to cover his feet.” I still remember this from my childhood.
Little did Saul know that he had walked into a trap. David and his men were in this same cave Saul had chosen to use as his port-o-potty. There was Saul, exposed (literally) and in the most vulnerable state imaginable. He was probably too busy trying not to make a mess of things to notice anything else.
This scenario presented David with the perfect opportunity to eliminate Saul (apologies for the pun—you didn’t deserve that).
David had the sword of his most famous rival, Goliath. It must have been an impressive weapon, and one quick strike would have forever ended the conflict with the man who unworthily ruled Israel. Saul would not have known what hit him, and David could have walked out into the daylight as Israel’s new king (just as God had already promised).
Killing Saul was the logical thing to do. Killing him was the most expedient thing to do.
David’s men even argued that it was God’s will.
Speaking of David’s men, David could have been rid of Saul by simply standing back and doing nothing.
Saul, after all, was the reason that these men were hiding in a cave instead of enjoying the perks of being royal soldiers. Any one of them would have been more than happy to exterminate him and end their suffering.
But this wasn’t God’s way, and David knew it.
David symbolically attacked Saul by mutilating his robe (the robe was a status symbol in the ancient world). Even that caused him to feel guilty, and he did not allow anyone else to get near Saul.
David knew it wasn’t his place to take matters into his own hands.
He wanted to become king God’s way and in God’s time. He refused to take any shortcuts.
Therein lies the lesson for us.
You will inevitably encounter a shortcut on our spiritual journey—a way that looks easier than the way you know God has told you to go.
An example or two comes to mind:
A single believer gets tired of looking for a godly match. She chooses to get romantically involved with an unbeliever, figuring she can convince him to follow Jesus.
A man accepts a lucrative new job opportunity even though he knows God has told him to wait for something else.
These are just a couple of examples.
Sometimes the shortcut is blatantly unscriptural or foolish. Other times it is just less than God’s best.
Either way, just one act of disobedience can negatively change the trajectory of our lives.
Lord, forgive me for those times when impatience has turned into disobedience. Grant me the wisdom to stay on the path of Your choosing, even when alternatives routes present themselves.
