God’s Shield of Protection

If you ask anyone around you, almost everyone has a story. A bike that skidded just short of a lorry. A test result that came back clear when the doctor was not hopeful. A trip cancelled at the last minute, and only later we found out what we had missed. Some of us escaped damage we still cannot put into words.

We call it luck, or timing, or a close shave. But when we look back honestly, we know it was not us. It was God covering us with His shield, often when we did not even know we needed one.

David knew this better than anyone. A king was hunting him, and not just once. In 1 Samuel 19, Saul openly tries to kill David, and he tries five times, each attempt bolder than the last. God answers each attempt with a different shield: a friend (Jonathan), a wife (Michal), a prophet (Samuel), and finally God’s own Spirit.

There are many spiritual lessons for us in this encounter about how God can be our shield.

Favor as a Shield

The same David who was being chased by Saul is the one who wrote this psalm:

[Psalm 5:12 NIV]  12 Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

David says it was God’s favor that was his shield. What he wrote in Psalm 5:12 is what we see God doing in 1 Samuel 19.

What Is Favor?

• Favor is God’s goodwill, kindness, delight and acceptance resting on a person. It is not earned. It flows from God’s own pleasure.

• Favor comes from His sovereign choice. We do not decide who receives it. He does.

• In Psalm 5:12, the shield is the large shield that covers the whole body. God’s favor surrounds the righteous on every side, not just from the front.

• In 1 Samuel 19, David’s shield was not his strength or his strategy. It was this favor: “the LORD was with David” [1 Samuel 18:12, 14, 28]. Every attempt Saul made broke against it.

• In the New Testament, favor is God’s grace, seen fully in Christ, who “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” [Luke 2:52].

Let us look at how God protected David.

Shield One: A Friend from the Enemy’s House

1 Samuel 19:1-10 - Read this thru

[1 Samuel 19:1-2 NIV]  1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2 and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there.

Jonathan was Saul’s son, the crown prince. Saul gave the order to kill David to him directly. Yet Jonathan was the one who warned David. Why would the king’s own son guard the man the king wanted dead?

Why Jonathan Guarded David

The answer is in chapter 18. Jonathan’s protection in chapter 19 grows out of what happened in chapter 18, and so does Saul’s hatred. The same events produced two opposite responses.

[1 Samuel 18:1 NIV]  1 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.

[1 Samuel 18:3-4 NIV]  3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

There are four reasons Jonathan stood guard over David.

1.     His soul was knit to David. The word means “to bind or tie together” (18:1). The same idea appears in [Genesis 44:30], where Jacob’s life is “bound up” with Benjamin’s. This was more than ordinary friendship. Jonathan’s life was tied to David’s life.

2.     He had made a covenant with David (18:3). Under the covenant, David’s enemy became Jonathan’s enemy, even when that enemy was his own father. Jonathan protects David in chapter 19 because the covenant obliges him to.

3.     He surrendered his own claim. When the crown prince gave away his robe, sword, bow and belt (18:4), he was laying down his right to the throne. Jonathan saw that God had chosen David, and he chose God’s will over his own family’s ambition.

4.     He recognised a faith like his own. Compare what Jonathan said before he fought the Philistines with what David said before he fought Goliath. Both men believed the battle belongs to the LORD. Jonathan saw in David the faith he had himself.

[1 Samuel 14:6 NIV]  6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”

[1 Samuel 17:47 NIV]  47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

Same Evidence, Opposite Hearts

• Saul saw that “the LORD was with David” and became afraid and hostile [1 Samuel 18:12, 28-29].

• Jonathan saw the same thing and became loyal.

• The same evidence of God’s hand hardens one heart and binds another.

Jonathan’s Plea

• Jonathan pleaded with Saul to spare David [1 Samuel 19:4-7]. His plea had three parts:

• David has not sinned against you.

• What David has done has benefited you.

• The LORD worked a great salvation through him, and you rejoiced when you saw it. Jonathan reminded Saul of what God had done, then asked why Saul would shed innocent blood.

Saul swore by the LORD’s own life that David would not be put to death, then broke the oath within a few verses. Promises made in a moment of feeling do not change a heart that has not repented.

David, meanwhile, went back to fight the Philistines (v8) and back to playing for Saul (v9). He kept serving faithfully even while he was in danger. Then the spear came again. It was the third spear thrown at him (18:11 twice, 19:10).

Lessons to Learn

• If God could raise up the crown prince to defend David before the king, He can raise up someone close to our enemy to stand for you and me when we are in trouble.

• There is no point putting our trust in men. Saul swore he would not kill David, and then went back to trying to kill him. Men change their stand, but God does not change His.

  [1 Samuel 15:29 NIV]  29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

• When God says He will do something, He will do it. He does not change like us. He will do it at the right time.

Shield Two: The Snare That Became a Window

1 Samuel 19:11-17 - Read this thru

[1 Samuel 19:11-12 NIV]  11 Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.

Saul planned for Michal to be a snare to David. He gave his own daughter in marriage, hoping she would bring David down.

[1 Samuel 18:21 NIV]  21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”

• The person Saul placed in David’s house as a trap became the one who let him down through the window.

• What the enemy places in your life as a trap, God can use as a way out.

• This is the snare God turned into a shield.

A Prayer from a Surrounded House

Psalm 59 gives us David’s side of the story. The psalm’s title ties it to this very night, when Saul’s men watched the house. While they waited outside, David was praying inside. He wrote worship out of the night his house was surrounded.

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” Of David. A miktam. When Saul had sent men to watch David’s house in order to kill him.

[Psalm 59:1-2, 9-13 NIV]  1 Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who are attacking me. 2 Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood. … 9 You are my strength, I watch for you; you, God, are my fortress, 10 my God on whom I can rely. God will go before me and will let me gloat over those who slander me. 11 But do not kill them, Lord our shield, or my people will forget. In your might uproot them and bring them down. 12 For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies they utter, 13 consume them in your wrath, consume them till they are no more. Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob.

See David’s heart in the middle of the battle. Let us pray for this kind of heart toward God.

• He relies on God as his fortress: “be my fortress against those who are attacking me.”

• He does not trust people to help. He calls on God: “Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood.”

• He calls the Lord his shield, and in the same breath he pleads for the enemy: “But do not kill them, Lord our shield.”

• His prayer does not ask for revenge. He leaves the outcome to God’s righteous works: “let them be caught in their pride.”

God answered this prayer with His favor as David’s shield. And this prayer sent David to Samuel.

Practical Lessons from David’s Prayer

• Do not kill them. We often pray for the enemy’s stronghold to be destroyed. David prayed “do not kill them” (59:11) and left the destroying to God’s righteousness (59:12-13). He did not ask for quick revenge. He asked God to deal with them in His way and His time.

• Pray before you plan. On the night of danger, David’s first move was prayer, not a counter-attack (59:1-2).

• Make God your fortress, not people or position. “You are my strength, I watch for you; you, God, are my fortress” (59:9). Wait on Him before reacting.

• Pray against the sin, not the person. David’s target was “the sins of their mouths,” their pride, curses and lies (59:12). The real stronghold is the sin. Pray that God breaks the pride and the lies, not that He crushes the people.

• Leave vengeance to God.

  [Romans 12:19 NIV]  19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

• Aim the prayer at God’s glory, not our relief. David’s goal was “Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob” (59:13). Ask yourself: “If God answers this prayer, who gets known?”

• Jesus took this further. David prayed “spare them.” Jesus taught and prayed “forgive them.”

  [Matthew 5:44 NIV]  44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

  [Luke 23:34 NIV]  34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

• Practise it. When someone opposes us at work, in church or at home, pray for them by name. Ask God to bring down the pride and the lies, leave the timing and the outcome with Him, and keep serving faithfully, as David kept serving Saul.

• Prayer gives direction. This prayer did not send David into revenge. It sent him to Samuel and into God’s presence at Naioth (19:18).

Shield Three and Four: The Prophet and the Spirit

1 Samuel 19:18-24 - Read this thru

[1 Samuel 19:18 NIV]  18 When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.

I

n Crisis, David Ran to the Man of God

David did not run to an army or to a hiding place. He ran to the prophet who had anointed him [1 Samuel 16:13] and “told him all.” When God’s promise seems to be falling apart, go back to the place where God spoke the promise, and pour out everything before God’s servant.

Naioth: A Dwelling of God’s Presence

Naioth means “dwellings” or “habitations.” It seems to have been where the company of prophets lived with Samuel at Ramah, his home [1 Samuel 7:17]. David took refuge in a dwelling of God’s presence.

God Disarms the Enemy by His Spirit

[1 Samuel 19:20-21 NIV]  20 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied.

No sword was drawn. This time God did not need Jonathan’s words or Michal’s window. Three times, armed men arrived to seize David, and each time they found themselves prophesying instead. When God chooses to protect, the arresting party becomes a worshipping party.

The same thing happened to the Jesus - Son of David.

[John 7:45-46 NIV]  45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.

Saul’s messengers went to arrest David and could not. The same way the temple guards went to arrest Jesus and came back empty-handed. Until the Father’s appointed hour, no hand could take Him [John 7:30].

Saul Among the Prophets: Power Without a Changed Heart

[1 Samuel 19:23-24 NIV]  23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

The saying is repeated, but its meaning has turned. “Is Saul also among the prophets?” was first said at the start of Saul’s reign [1 Samuel 10:10-12], as a sign of God’s favor. Now it is said again, over a king lying stripped and powerless on the ground. The same words that marked his beginning now mark his humiliation.

Two Men Stripped of Their Robes

• Jonathan took off his robe willingly, in love and surrender to God’s chosen king (18:4).

• Saul had his garments stripped off under God’s overpowering hand, while resisting God’s chosen king (19:24).

• Surrender gives the robe away. Rebellion has it taken.

A spiritual experience is not a changed heart. Saul prophesied, yet he left Naioth still set on murder (chapter 20). The Spirit coming upon a man for a moment is not the same as the Spirit dwelling in him and transforming him.

Lessons to Learn

• If God is for us, who can be against us?

[Romans 8:31 NIV]  31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

• If God is for us, no weapon prevails. Five attempts, five failures. A friend, a window, a prophet and the Spirit shielded David.

[Isaiah 54:17 NIV]  17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.

Surrounded by His Favor

Every one of us has a story we cannot fully explain: a moment we should not have walked away from, and we did. That was not luck. That was His shield.

Psalm 5:12 says God’s favor surrounds the righteous. By His grace, He keeps shielding all of us, even as sinners who did not deserve it. But that does not mean we can go on living in sin. Grace is not permission. Let us get rid of sin, so that we walk under His favor rather than presume on it.

As we walk in His will, we will have struggles. There will be Sauls with spears, houses watched at night, and messengers sent to seize us. Our strength will not hold. Our strategy will not hold. Only His favor can protect us as a shield.

David had four shields:

•      A friend from the enemy’s house.

•      A wife the enemy meant as a snare.

•      A prophet who had spoken the promise.

•      The Spirit, who disarmed the enemy without a sword.

The four shields all came from one source: the favor of God.

David knew this from experience, and he wrote:

[Psalm 3:3 NIV]  3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

Saul had the spear, the soldiers and the throne. David had the favor of God — and that was enough.