If I were writing this story here is how it would go. After David defeats the giant, the nation celebrates. Saul hands over the crown and everyone lives happily ever after.
But that is not how the story goes.
Fresh off slaying the giant, David faces something he didn’t expect. Spears thrown at him from the man he had been faithfully serving.
“Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, ‘I will pin David to the wall.’ But David evaded him twice.” (1 Samuel 18:10–11, ESV)
It is one thing to face an enemy on the battlefield. You expect those spears. But what do you do when the spear comes from someone close to you?
Hurting People Hurl Spears
Before you rush to judgment, know that Saul was not just an angry king. Saul was a broken king.
Saul’s disobedience caused the Spirit of the Lord to leave him. In that absence, darkness and pain came rushing in. Saul was now spiritually empty, trying to lead without the presence. That is one of the most dangerous places a person can live.
Saul did not have a spear problem. Saul had a heart problem.
When your pain goes unhealed, eventually it looks for a target. And sometimes that target is the people closest to you. This is not an excuse for what Saul did. Sin is still sin. But David was able to look deeper than the sin and see the pain the king was in. He had empathy.
When you can see the wounds behind the weapons, something shifts in you. Instead of seeking retaliation, you find the grace for intercession.
The Real Test Is Not Dodging the Spear
Saul tried at least six times to take David’s life. At some point, most of us would say, “Enough. I’m done. Have at him.”
But David never did. Not because he was weak but because he understood something critical. Every spear thrown at you comes with an invitation to step into the same spirit that just came at you. David could have picked it up and thrown it back, but in doing so, that same poison would have entered his own heart.
Get this. David was not dodging spears. He was guarding his heart.
Jesus was asked by Peter, how many times must I forgive my brother, seven times? Jesus’ response still convicts us. Not seven times. Seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:22, ESV)
Jesus was calling his disciples to live without spears in our hands.
God Reshapes Spears Into the Tools That Form Kings
What if the very things being used against you are the very things God is using to shape you?
“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” (2 Corinthians 4:17, ESV)
God doesn’t waste anything. He uses all things for our good. That means the spear “is preparing” us. God didn’t shape David on the throne, he shaped him in these moments when he was dodging spears.
Look at what those years produced. A man secure in his identity. A man with self-control under pressure. A man who honored authority even when that authority dishonored him. A man so committed to God’s presence that his greatest prayer was not “don’t take my crown.” It was “take not your presence from me.” (Psalm 51:11, ESV)
Saul cared about the crown. David cared about the heart. And because David guarded his heart, God trusted him with both.
David was shaped in the adversity.
Protect Your Heart
So how do you actually do that when the spears are coming?
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23, ESV)
First, refuse to take every spear personally. Most people are not reacting to you. They are reacting to their own wounds. Saul was not really fighting David. He was fighting his own insecurity, his own fear, his own grief over what he had lost.
Second, refuse to pick up the spear. Every offense is an invitation. You do not have to accept it. Sometimes guarding your heart looks like staying silent instead of responding. It looks like a phone call you don’t want to make. It looks like restraint.
Third, stay rooted in God’s presence. That is the real difference between Saul and David. God’s presence left Saul. It remained with David. You cannot stop every spear from being thrown. But you can keep your heart in the right place.
Here is where David is so unlike us. David picked up a stone to fight Goliath. But he refused to pick up a spear to fight Saul. He knew who the enemy was. And he knew who wasn’t. He made sure he remembered who the real enemy was.
That is the test. Not whether you can survive the giant.
Whether you can survive the spears without becoming the one throwing them.