Reaction, Restraint, And Retreat

When anger flares, opportunity knocks, and fear whispers an easy out, which voice wins? We follow David through three defining pivots—reaction to insult, restraint under pressure, and retreat into a counterfeit refuge—and uncover how God meets us at each turn. The story begins with Nabal’s contempt and Abigail’s brave, wise intervention that cools David’s rage, then moves into a midnight scene where David spares Saul again, choosing a clean conscience over a quick crown. Finally, the tone shifts as David crosses into Philistine territory, stops asking God, and starts surviving by instinct. It’s honest, uncomfortable, and deeply human.

Along the way, we connect Scripture to real life with a candid look at how our inputs shape our inner world. If this journey through 1 Samuel 25–27 helps you spot your own reaction, restraint, or retreat season, share it with someone who needs the same clarity and hope. Subscribe for weekly devotionals, leave a kind review to help others find the show.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Purpose Of The Devotional
• 1:08 Setting The Stage: 1 Samuel 25–27
• 2:14 Reaction: Nabal, Abigail, And Mercy
• 5:20 Restraint: David Spares Saul Again
• 8:05 Retreat: David In Philistine Territory
• 11:20 A Modern Parallel: Media And Fear
• 13:20 Three R’s Applied And Prayer
• 16:30 Closing Encouragement And Requests

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello, hello. You're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast, episode 76. This week's devotional is titled Reaction, Restraint, and Retreat. The three Rs. Let's go. Hi, I'm Jesse Morgan. I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart. My journey in love for Jesus Christ, my savior. Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hawk Podcast. This is a weekly devotional I started back in May 2024, but the inspiration for it came much earlier. It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born four months early in 2023. Through that challenging time, God worked in ways that truly amazed me. On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith woven together with Scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives. My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted, and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through. So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together. Let's all pray within. Episode 76, key passages. Uh, 1 Samuel 25 through 27. Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. And we are picking up where we left off. We're still learning and doing David. So um let's continue the ride. So last week we really focused on mercy over revenge. And this week feels like David on the Run Part Three, which is about revenge again, but this time it's mixed with something and other things, so it's a little bit deeper. So these chapters we're diving into, like I said, is chapters 25 through 27 in 1 Samuel. And it can be summed up honestly in about three words reaction, restrain, and retreat, the three R's. These words really carry the heart of what God is gonna show us this week, I feel. So hopefully you're you are blessed as much as I was just writing this script. So the first one we're gonna focus in on is reaction, 1 Samuel 25. So in this chapter, David is still on the run. You think after all that happened in chapter 24, if you remember from last week's podcast, Saul spared David's life. Or take that back, actually the opposite. David spared Saul's life so that it looked like Saul was finally gonna like move on and not, you know, try to pursue David anymore, right? Uh, no, that didn't happen. David still doesn't know where he stands with Saul. So David is still living out in the wilderness with about 600 men, it says in verse 13 of chapter 25. So while in the wilderness, David and his men have been protecting the shepherds who belong to a wealthy man named Nabal. So David sends messengers asking for food and supplies from Nabal. It see, it honestly is a reasonable request after offering their protection. But Nabal responds with disrespect. He says to David in verse 10 through 11 of chapter 25, he says, Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? Why should I take my bread and water and give it to men coming from who knows where? And then David, the man after God's own heart, let me just say that, snapped. You ever seen that show snapped? It's like he snapped. He was ready to kill every single male in Nabal's household. He was ready to burn it down. He was so livid about that rejection. But Nabal's wife, Abigail, hears what her what her husband had done. So she gathers the best of the best, crops and everything, and she takes action and she goes to see David. And this happened around uh chapter 25, verse 18 through 20, and it and it says that she bowed down to David and said, Please pay no attention, my lord, to the wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name, his name means fool. And then she pleads in verse 28, please forgive your servant's presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty, dynasty for my Lord. And after those words, David was moved by her wisdom and humility. And he says in verse 32 through 33, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. God and then later on, God handles Nabal Himself. It says in verse um 38 that about ten days later the Lord struck Nabal and he died. And then after that, it's a this is an interesting twist. David marries Abigail. So chapter 25 is all about reaction and how God steps in to stop us from doing the wrong thing in a heated moment. God can use anything to get your attention to steer you back into the right direction. And it took Abigail to do that for David. I mean, if Abigail was not used by God, he would have gone in there and killed everybody in Nabal's house. And it wouldn't have been right to do that and to take that into your own hands. But God used Abigail, and God can use anybody, anything to get you to get back on the right track sometimes. Because we all do it. We snap, we lose it, we get upset, and God will use something so simple to calm you down and get you back right. So that concludes our reaction section. So on to uh 1 Samuel 26, which I'm labeling this chapter restrain. So now as we move into restrain, it honestly blows my mind that we're back at this again. It feels like a repeat of 24 a little bit, but King Saul is still chasing David. After all the tears and blessings from chapter 24, Saul slips back into pursuing David. So David sneaks into Saul's camp one night because he sees his men camping out looking for him, of course. But David sneaks into the camp with one of his men and finds the king sleeping with his spear stuck in the ground beside his head. And of course, David's you know guy whispers to whispers to him and says, and verse uh verse eight chapter 26, it says, Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear. Uh but David stops, stops him, and David says, Don't destroy him. Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? Instead, David takes Saul's spear and water jug and leaves. From a distance, David calls out to Saul, showing him the spear and rug. I mean, the spear and jug, proof that David could have ended Saul's life right then and there. And the and King Saul responds by saying in verse 25, You will do great things and surely triumphant. David chooses restraint here. He refuses to take control of something that belongs to God. And that's just a reminder to all of you that self-control is also a sign of spiritual maturity, and that maturity is in motion. And just and just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it. Think about that. So now on to 1 Samuel 27, which I'm labeling this chapter retreat. So David's story takes a major shift in this chapter, honestly. And it's a side of David we don't always see and we don't really talk about at times. And after all the running, hiding, crying, and chaos, I just really feel like at this point in this chapter, David has hit a breaking point. He's emotionally exhausted, most likely. He's spiritually drained, his patience is very thin. We saw that in chapter 20, uh 20, 26 and 25. Um, and fear is starting to take over a bit for David. And David says to himself, and in uh 1 Samuel 27, 1, he says, One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is escape to the land of the Philistines. And that right there, back it up. The best thing I can do is what David is saying. Not the best thing God told me to do, not the best thing the Lord instructed me to do. No, he said, the best thing I can do. So David goes to the king of Gath, which is in the Philistine territory, and he allows David and his 600 men a piece of land to live in. And so they lived there for about 14 months. And boy, it it has changed David, most likely. I I it's it's unbelievable this chapter because it just doesn't feel like the person we've we've been learning about beforehand. So as I said, he's now he's living in this town within Philistine territory. Him and his people have been there for 14 months. And like I said, it has really changed him. So check this out. David, the same David who used to ask God before making any move, starts raiding nearby regions and lying to the king of Gath about it. He's telling the king that he's attacking Israelite towns, but really he's attacking Israel's enemies and killing everyone. So there's no witnesses and no one can expose him for what he's doing. This is not the David we're used to, right? Because what's missing in this entire chapter of chapter 27, think about it for a minute. Um, I see some stuff that's missing. Uh, David seeking the Lord, uh, that's missing. David praying, that's missing, David asking, that's missing, and David listening, that's missing too. There is no inquired of the Lord in 1 Samuel 27. There is only David, tired, afraid, and operating out of instinct instead of faith. And this is what happens when faith gets heavy, I feel. I think all of us as Christians, we've gone through this. You lose patience, you stop waiting, you stop praying, and before you know it, you're retreating, not towards God, but towards the world. So David retreated into Philistine territory, a place of pagan worship, idol, idol gods, witchcraft, violence. And let me just put it painly. Uh let me just put it plainly. Like I said earlier, I'm gonna say it again. David went to the world for protection. Going to the world for protection is probably the biggest mistake you can do. And aren't we all guilty of doing that? Right? We run to fear, we run to coping mechanisms, we run to distractions, we run to things that cannot even give us peace. Those are all the things that the world tries to provide and tries to, you know, make you think that that's all you need. And in the end, that's not true. That's not all you need. You need the Lord. And I tell you, this whole story really gives me chills. Um, and I I have a really cute little relatable personal story that I want to share now that hopefully it can give you even more context of it of this. Um, and you know, really blesses you. So here it goes. Now don't laugh. I am a huge Dateline fan. I like massive, I love massive mysteries, like twists and turns. I'm I'm big into it, okay? And I love a good mystery, I love good best investigation and watching it with my sister-in-law Janine, that's probably one of my favorite things to do. Love you, sis. But life gets busy. So instead of sitting down and watching episodes, I started listening to the Dateline podcast. It's basically a show, but on podcasts, nothing special. And once you listen to one true crime story, the algorithm basically assumes that that's like your whole personality for a while. So now I've got missing persons podcasts, kidnapping podcasts, cold cold cases, murder investigations, all of it flooding my feed. And every day, every errand, every quiet moment, I was on, I was listening to a podcast. And at first it seemed harmless, just background noise, just entertainment. But over time it started shaping me. I became paranoid, I didn't want to go out after dark. I would second guess running to Target at 7:30 p.m. I felt anxious and nothing had even happened to me. Why? Because of what I was surrounding myself with, because of what I was feeding my mind. And just like David didn't realize how much Philistine culture was affecting him, I didn't realize how much fear-driven content was affecting me. And just like David found rest and ziklag, but it was a dangerous kind of rest, if you really think about it. I found comfort in true crimes, but it was a dangerous kind of comfort too. And one day it just really came to me, and you know, the Lord laid it on my spirit that these podcasts that I was listening to, this isn't helping me, this isn't protecting me, this isn't making me wise, this is shaping me more than scripture. And the sad thing was, or the sad thing is for me in my situation, I had retreated, not to safety in the Lord, but to fear. And David did the same thing. You know, these three chapters show three seasons in David's walk with God and our walk with God. And like I said before, reaction is the first one. When emotion takes over, but God sends an Abigail moment to stop us. The next one, restraint. When God calls us to trust his timing, even when opportunity is right there. And the last one is retreat. When we retreat to fear, to worldly things other than God, we're not gonna get where we need to be. So David was still anointed though, even when he was going through his his restrain era, his ish his restraint era, his reaction era, his retreat era. David was still anointed when he was going through it. And remember that you, me, we're all anointed too in the Lord. Despite our mistakes, despite what we do every day. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for reminding us that you're patient with us. Even when we react in anger, when we hold back in pain, or when we retreat in fear. Thank you, Lord, for the Abigails you've sent, those voices and moments that keep us from making decisions outside of your will. When our faith feels heavy, Lord, teach us to rest in you, not in the world. And Lord, bring us back when we wander, strengthen us when we weary. Father, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Love you guys till next time. Well, that wraps up this week's episode. My prayer is that these devotions bring you a little closer to God each day. If you felt encouraged, don't keep it to yourself. Share this episode with a friend or loved one who could use the same reminder. Be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss a weekly message. And if you like, leaving a kind review means so much. For more, check the show notes or connect with me on Instagram or TikTok at JessieMorganfaith. Until next time, this is Jesse Morgan praying off.