Big-time Bragging Backfires...

Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and for the people of the LORD and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. And David said to the young man who told him, “Where do you come from?” And he answered, “I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite.” David said to him, “How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?” Then David called one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him.” And he struck him down so that he died. And David said to him, “Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the LORD's anointed.’”
(2 Samuel 1:11-16 ESV)
This opportunist had come to David claiming to have killed Saul as a "favor" to David.  Actually he was pillaging the bodies of Israeli soldiers when he came to Saul, and thought he had found the golden opportunity to get in David's good graces.  What he failed to understand is what David believed and how David thought.  David believed in the sovereignty and providence of God - that is was in God's timing and way that Saul would be removed and he would become king. He also believed, and had lived out, the fact that we are not to mess with God's ways, even when they seem "easier" or faster, or even "make more sense." He has this man killed not on the basis of the truthfulness of his claim, but because this man's bragging and lack of character are so dangerous, who knows when he would set his mind and sword against David when given the opportunity. This man had no regard for the ways or words of God, living up to the reputation of the Amalekites, and thus God's command beforehand for Saul to eliminate them. May we understand and follow David's comprehension here of the ways of God, and may we resist the temptation to fall into the false thinking of the Amalekite.