1 Samuel 24 – David Spares Saul’s Life – I urge to actually read this fascinating story.
No one would have questioned
David’s killing of Saul. At the moment,
Saul (David’s Father-in-law at this point) was trying to hunt down and kill
David. Saul had just slaughtered dozens
of priests just because they helped David.
David had already been anointed to be King by the Prophet Samuel and
Saul was doing everything he could to prevent that from happening.
But just because you CAN do
something without repercussions doesn’t mean you should. David was ready to be King, but the way he
became King was important to him. He sought
to be an honorable King and if he killed Saul, no one would have faulted him
for it. However, they also would quietly
begin to see him in the same light as Saul.
His sparing of Saul accomplished something even better than his killing
of Saul would have. Others witnessed the
honorable way in which David had treated the King and this made them love David
even more. In other words, David gained
future respect and devotion by denying himself revenge in the present. He also
glorifies God by his choice.
There is a lot of talk about rights
these days.
“I have a right not to wear a
mask.”
“I have a right speak my mind on
facebook.”
“I have a right to fly the
Confederate flag.”
I have to admit the truth; the people who say such things are
correct. They do have the right to do
such things. Once again though. . .just
because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you should. God calls us to much higher standards then
“what we can get away with.” We are
called to the following:
“Do nothing out of selfish
ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above
yourselves, not looking to your own
interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)
Just like David, we can gain future
respect for caring for others now.
However, caring for others now sometimes involves doing unpopular things
and/or things that are not convenient for us to do. They might even include doing things we
really don’t want to do. Nevertheless, that is what we are called to do - not for our sake, but for the sake of
others – not for our glory, but for the glory of God.
What we need desperately right now
are people with hearts of peace instead of war, people with hands of caring
instead of mouths shouting in anger, and people with a fire in their belly for
truth instead of minds resigned to indifference.
Do something BETTER than you what
you can get away with today.
Prayer: Prince of
Peace, teach us your higher ways of peace, love, and wisdom. Help us to be better for the sake of others
and your Kingdom Lord. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for God to show you one thing you can do today for others that no one would
never notice if you didn’t do.
Song: Puddles the
Clown – Cover of Elvis Costello’s “What so Funny About Peace, Love, and
Understanding?”
I chose this version because Puddles voice is so clear and
the lyrics are very understandable.
(plus I just love the irony of a clown singing this poignant song)
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