I’M COMMITTED
Opening Prayer
“You’re my all, you’re the best, you’re my joy, my righteousness; and I love you, Lord” (Graham Kendrick).
Read 2 Samuel 1:1–16
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
After the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. 2 On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.
3 “Where have you come from?” David asked him.
He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”
4 “What happened?” David asked. “Tell me.”
“The men fled from the battle,” he replied. “Many of them fell and died. And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”
5 Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
6 “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit. 7 When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’
8 “He asked me, ‘Who are you?’
“‘An Amalekite,’ I answered.
9 “Then he said to me, ‘Stand here by me and kill me! I’m in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’
10 “So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”
11 Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. 12 They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
13 David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?”
“I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite,” he answered.
14 David asked him, “Why weren’t you afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”
15 Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died. 16 For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head. Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the Lord’s anointed.’”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
How committed are you to Jesus and his ways?Earlier, “Samuel [the prophet] took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, ‘Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?’” (1 Sam. 10:1). All that and whom is anointed by God—set apart for his special purposes—is sacred.
The nation is now in mourning for King Saul and his son Jonathan. None feels the pain more keenly than David. He has the Amalekite messenger killed (15), either because he has murdered Saul (not as the messenger just reported) or because he has violated the Lord’s anointed (16). This jars with us—we know not to shoot the messenger, especially one who might just be innocent! The challenge to us is how ruthlessly David is committed to what God wants—but I’m not advocating, in our zeal for the Gospel, that we start killing people!
Every day, through our thoughts, words and actions, we express our commitment to Jesus. This may look odd to some—for instance, thinking the best of people when they have failed, saying kind things in the face of hostility, demonstrating love sacrificially when not bothering would be easier. But who knows where it might lead?
Apply
Are there areas of your life in which you need to choose your commitment to Jesus over the ways of the world?
Closing prayer
Let’s pray that our “oddness” will be the start of our friends and family coming to Jesus.
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Discovery is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.