1 Samuel 26:18–25

And he said, “Why does my lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand? Now therefore, please, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ So now, do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed I have played the fool and erred exceedingly.”

And David answered and said, “Here is the king’s spear. Let one of the young men come over and get it. May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. And indeed, as your life was valued much this day in my eyes, so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the LORD, and let Him deliver me out of all tribulation.”

Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, my son David! You shall both do great things and also still prevail.”

So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

David has the upper hand in this conversation in an amusing way. All of Saul’s men are wondering how they failed to detect the intruder. The cave incident didn’t have that element; Saul was alone then.

The cave incident makes sense to them, but this one doesn’t. A military camp doesn’t get penetrated like this. It’s a total failure of discipline, even function. So, they’re all standing there thinking, “What the …?”

Their failure makes a mockery of the whole mission.

So Saul repents even more deeply than the last time, saying, “Indeed I have played the fool and erred exceedingly.” A king calling himself a fool has to be some kind of record.

There’s a relationship between full-up repentance and seeing oneself as a fool. People who think they just need to try harder don’t get it. True repentance is unbearably painful. It’s no minor “oops.”

You can feel Paul’s full-up repentance in his epistles. But there’s something else; he knows he’s forgiven. This combination gave his preaching amazing power.

Peter had the same unbearable pain, and that prepared him for a totally committed ministry. Saint Patrick and Martin Luther have similar stories. Many great saints do.

If you’re going through a time of intense regret, shame, embarrassment, and/or repentance, take heart. The LORD is up to something. No pain, no gain.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday ones are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to the DEEP click here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.