Unsanctioned Violence

[David, speaking to Saul]
1 Samuel 26:23 The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. 24 Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.”
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[David among the Philistines]
1 Samuel 27:8 Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt. 9 And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish. ...11 And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, “lest they should tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’”
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It baffles the mind that David would have the moral strength to restrain himself from two easy assassination opportunities, and yet engages in what we would call genocide. We are given no indication that his raids against these people (27:8-11) is condemned by God in the same way that many of David's later sins would be. So does God care about these people? What are we to make of it that David restrains his hand from killing Saul, the Lord's anointed, who has become a rather rotten individual? What are we to make of it that David fairly nonchalantly kills women and raids villages and kills women so that there are no witnesses to his atrocities? What are we to make of it that David is a man after God's heart and yet has such glaring sins? Obviously it is not his virtue alone which makes him acceptable to God. I don't have a good answer, but I do see in David's character, over the course of many passages and books, a flawed leader who loves God and walks with Him. Many of the details are, as T.S. Elliot might say, too real for me to bear. Perhaps there are two questions that should be asked: Can God love someone like David? And if so, does He love me the same? I believe "yes".