One of the most impressive characteristics of King David was his consistent rejection of temptations to kill the man so often trying to kill him — King Saul.
Many times, the skilled warrior David had the opportunity and logical rationale to attack Saul who was insanely jealous of the young man’s abilities and relationship with God.
But David always refused, recognizing that God had put Saul in his position and that only God had the legitimate authority to take him out of it.
It couldn’t have been easy to withhold retaliatory efforts.
But that choice was easier, David reasoned, than would be having to explain to God why he killed Saul without God’s leading in the matter.
A passage in today’s One-Year Bible reading provides one of those accounts when David could have easily extinguished Saul’s life and just about everybody would have said David had a right to do so.
If some guy had tried repeatedly to kill me, would I have made the same choice as David?
Probably not. I’d like to say I would have but how can I really know unless I’m in David’s sandals?
The next time you have a payback opportunity drop into your lap, please seek the Lord’s will in the matter.
No, it wasn’t right how you were treated by that person in the past.
Yes, the person deserves painful consequences for making choices that harmed you.
But by showing grace rather than retribution, are you not demonstrating faith in a more influential way?
If David had killed Saul, the grief caused by the troubled king would have ended but along with it would have come the end of God’s blessing.
And no matter what the hassles were in putting up with the messed-up Saul, the hassles of a corrupted relationship toward God would be much greater and David knew this.
David trusted God to see the unfair treatment and for Him to address it in His timing. And God did as you can read in I Samuel 31.
Listen, my friend, reject revenge.
Embrace grace.
Leave room for God’s hand to act.
God will see your heart of obedience and humility and trust and He WILL bless you and comfort you.
As always, I love you
Martin
Thank you for the reminder of God’s grace and timing. Thank you for reminding me that God’s way is the only way and it is way beyond our understanding. Therefore, we need to be mindful of His Grace, His Way, and His Love. We should wait on His Thought, His Direction, His Plan with humility, and trust. Thank you Martin, for cautioning us to be like David who trusted and obeyed in the Lord and did not harm Saul even though humanly speaking it was the correct path.