Run to the Presence
1 Samuel 19:1-12 (KJV)
19 And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.
2 But Jonathan Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:
3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee.
4 And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:
5 For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?
6 And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain.
7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.
8 And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him.
9 And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.
10 And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin: but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
11 Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.
12 So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.
You know the Story. Michal, David’s wife, helped David escape the rage of a deadly King, Michal let David down the wall, David escaped in the night.
This is the heart of the message I brought today,
1 Samuel 19:18 So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.
The safest place David could run to was to the Prophet who had anointed him king over Israel. David was not taking the throne by force, rather he was waiting on God to give what he had promised.
David didn’t want to kill the king. He never disrespected this king, an evil king who wanted nothing but to take his life.
David ran to the presence. Naioth was the home of the School of the Prophets; it was a Holy Habitation. What is Naioth?
Naioth appears in 1 Samuel 19:18–24. It is connected to Ramah, Samuel’s home base, and it is explicitly described as a place where prophets lived together under Samuel’s leadership.
The word Naioth literally means “dwellings” or “habitations.”
This was not a school like a classroom. It was a community shaped by Presence.
Naioth was a place where the atmosphere was safe. Naioth is a counter-atmosphere.
When Saul sends soldiers to arrest David, something astonishing happens “The Spirit of God came upon the messengers… and they prophesied.”
Then Saul sends another group. Same result. Then another. Same result.
Finally, Saul comes and he prophesies too, stripped of his royal dignity.
This tells us something critical:
Naioth was not defended by walls; it was defended by atmosphere.
Weapons failed orders failed authority failed but Presence overpowered everything.
What kind of prophets came from Naioth? Naioth did not produce
Court prophets, political prophets, prophets dependent on kings.
It produced Presence-formed prophets, Prophets who heard God together, Prophets trained by proximity, not promotion.
“The prophetic does not flow from the Kings throne it flows from the Spirit.”
When you run to the Presence of God, you’re running to the safe place.
While others depend on armies to save them, David ran to God.
Naioth vs. the tabernacle – this is subtle but powerful at this time.
The Ark was not central; the priesthood was compromised.
Shiloh had fallen; this place one time held the presence of God .
So, God raised Naioth not as a replacement temple, but as a prophetic womb. Before David builds a throne God builds a prophetic culture.
Before the kingdom is visible God secures the voice of heaven.
When systems fail, God raises communities. When kings resist God, He multiplies prophets.
When culture becomes violent, addictive, and chaotic, God establishes atmospheres of refuge. Naioth is why Presence can stop violence, Prayer can disrupt pursuit, and Worship can neutralize authority rooted in fear.
It’s also why God does not always confront broken leadership, sometimes He outgrows it.
Real quick, let’s turn to 1 Samuel 21:9:
And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, “There is none like that; give it me”.
Why did David need the sword now, not before? When David faced Goliath, he did not use a sword.
He said: “The battle is the LORD’s.”
But now David is in a different season.
At Naioth Presence stopped pursuit, Atmosphere neutralized violence Worship disarmed authority.
Though Naioth did not remove Saul, it did preserve David.
What presence protects, obedience must now be stewarded.
Run to the Presence
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.