The second time David had an opportunity to kill Saul occurred when Saul was again pursuing him. Saul and his men were encamped in the wilderness not far from David. While they slept, David and a loyal captain, Abishai, crept up close to Saul’s camp. Abishai volunteered to kill Saul, but David stopped him, asking, "Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?" (1 Samuel 26:9). Instead of killing Saul, David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head. 

David was angry that Abner, Saul’s military commander, had left Saul exposed to danger while he slept. After David and Abishai reached the hill opposite Saul’s camp, "he called out to the army and to Abner" (verse 14). David rebuked Abner, asking: "You’re a man, aren’t you?... What you have done is not good. As surely as the Lord lives, you and your men deserve to die, because you did not guard your master, the Lord’s anointed. Look around you. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were near his head?" (verses 15-16).

David was concerned for the safety of Saul, despite the fact that Saul hunted him to kill him. David was careful to seek God’s will, not his own. David trusted God, knowing that when God was ready, he would put David on the throne of Israel. David accepted God’s will, even when it hurt. 

After he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for Uriah’s murder, the son born of Bathsheba became ill. David fasted and prayed for his son seven days, but the child died on the seventh day. The servants were afraid to tell David. They had urged David to eat while the child was still alive. They were afraid of what he would do when he found out his son had died: "For they thought, ‘While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate’" (2 Samuel 12:18).

David surprised them. When he discovered that his son had died, he bathed, changed clothes and ended his fast. His servants were confused. It seemed to them that his grief should have been greater after the child died. But David’s fast was not a ritual or a show of grief. It was an earnest appeal to God to allow the child to live. When the child died, David had God’s answer. David accepted that answer. And after the answer came, David worshiped God (verse 20).

Perhaps the best-known story about David is his encounter with the Philistine giant, Goliath. This story demonstrates another trait of David that made him so dear to God. This story shows how great David’s faith was. Goliath, who stood almost 10 feet tall, had defied the armies of Israel, making them look cowardly and foolish. At that period in history, it was customary among some peoples in the region to select champions to fight in place of the armies. When both armies agreed to abide by the outcome of personal combat between two champions, neither needed to engage in battle.

Goliath, taunting Israel every morning and evening, offered himself as the champion of the Philistines. For 40 days he asked the Israelites to provide a worthy opponent, but no one dared face a warrior of such stature (1 Samuel 17:1-11, 16). All were afraid; all lacked faith.

At the time, David was too young to be in the army. He was left to tend his father’s sheep. His father sent him to the Valley of Elah, where Saul and Israel’s armies were gathered, to take roasted grain and bread to his three older brothers, and cheese to their commander.

When David arrived, he heard the taunts of Goliath. He was outraged and indignant. It was not the proud and boastful indignation of youth, but righteous indignation at the insult to God and at the reproach on Israel. David asked, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (verse 26).

David wasn’t a warrior, and he knew it. But David had a weapon Goliath didn’t have — faith in God. He was willing to face Goliath because he was unwilling to see the Philistine giant mock the living God. David knew that it wasn’t his fight, but God’s. He trusted in God for protection when he faced Goliath: "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied" (verse 45).

Then, unlike the men of Israel who had fled from Goliath (verse 24), David ran toward the giant. He didn’t wait for Goliath to approach him, but ran forward, eager to take away the reproach from Israel. God was with David and with Israel, defeating the arrogant giant and routing the shocked Philistine army.

King David was the only servant of God described by God as "a man after my own heart" (Acts 13:22). Yet, David wasn’t without sin. How could God call an adulterer and murderer a man after his own heart? The answer is the greatest lesson we can learn from the life of David — repentance. Although David sinned, he always repented.

After David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged to have Uriah killed, the prophet Nathan confronted him with his sins. David didn’t excuse himself, as Saul had done when he spared the best of the Amalekite livestock against God’s will (1 Samuel 15:3, 9). When David was confronted with his adultery and murder, his answer was simple and straightforward: "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Samuel 12:13).

Later, David wrote one of his most moving psalms to express his remorse. In Psalm 51, David asked God to forgive him and to extend mercy to him. But more than that, the psalm gives us further insight into David’s passionate approach to life: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (Psalm 51:1-3, NKJV).