This week has been one of those weeks where everything explodes in your face and you’re left wondering simple questions like “what, why, and How” but the biggest question for me is what to do now. Now that stuff has hit the fan what do you do? Do you throw in the towel and walk away or roll up your sleeves and keep going until God tells you to stop.
Personally I’m going to choose the latter option. When King David was running for his life from King Saul he had multiple opportunities to kill King Saul, Saul a man who was supposed to rule on behalf of God. Saul who was supposed to stand up right and to up hold justice, Saul who had thrown spears at, and hunted David down like a dog. David had many reasons to fill justified in Killing Saul…
Example 1 Samuel 24
1 [a]After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” 2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.
3 He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. 4 The men said, “This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said[b] to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
5 Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. 6 He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the LORD.” 7 With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.
8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 9 He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? 10This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the LORD’s anointed.’ 11 See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. 12 May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. 13 As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.
14 “Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? 15 May the LORD be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.”
16 When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud. 17 “You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. 18 You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the LORD delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. 19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you treated me today. 20 I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. 21 Now swear to me by the LORD that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.”
David acted justly and The lord eventually Blessed him for it, but it was a long journey with much heart ache in 1 Samuel 26 Saul is back at his old crazy ways and David gets another chance to Kill him but doesn’t. Why doesn’t David attach when his friends say he is justified? Because David was a man after Gods own heart who sought justice and Honoring God’s choice and rule over his own vindication. In simpler terms David realized that even thou Saul was Crazy, and evil He was still given the Title of the Lords Anointed King and David respected the Calling of God on Saul’s life and the Authority of God even if Saul was abusing that Authority. But why would God allow this to happen to a Man after His (GOD’s) own heart? I think it has something to with How David became a man after God’s heart David went through longsuffering enduring with patience holding on to Trust in God for his will to be done, In away similar to Jesus and his life that lead to The Cross. Both Jesus and David would have been just in striking back at those who attacked them. David was given Kingship by God yet was still hunted. Jesus (God himself, the king of kings and Lord of Lords) while he would have been Just in destroying all of the people who mocked him, spit on him, tortured him and put him on a cross, while he would have been Just HE would not have been shown as Gracious or as Good. That’s the kind of Heart I think God wants to put into us when he allows us to go through painful things. I think… no I’m sure That God wants us to have Righteous hearts that will Treat others well even when they treat us badly. God is calling us to trust in him and to rejoice in Him even in the middle of trials.
So as hard as this is to say sometimes, God makes every day and “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118: 24 (go read psalm 118 if you’re going to something difficult right now)
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