Integrity - Tuesday 15 July 2008

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. As the old saying goes, 'From evildoers come evil deeds,' so my hand will not touch you. 1 Samuel 24:12-13 NIV

I cannot include all the fascinating stories in this part of 1 Samuel so it might be a good idea for you to read it for yourself but on at least two occasions Saul was in a vulnerable position where David could easily have killed him by stealth.  Once in a cave David crept up and cut off a corner of his robe and later was able to steal personal items from Saul as he slept.  By the moral standards of the day David would have been completely in his rights to have killed this enemy who had several times tried to kill him.  And David knew that God had removed his support from Saul, David was the rightful anointed King.

It is tempting when things go wrong to assume that we can relax our moral fibre a little, after all ‘under the circumstances’ we can’t be expected to behave the same.  But David flatly refused to take the revenge that was offered him, even when a valued friend advised him to.

In another part of David’s tale he had the opportunity to take revenge on Nabal, another small minded man who must have reminded him of Saul. On the way he was interrupted by Nabal’s wife Abigail who attempted to undo what her husband had done.  David was merciful, Nabal dropped dead and Abigail became David’s wife.  Again David allowed God to decide the fate of his enemy.

Just recently someone who had been hurtful to me in the past was killed in tragic circumstances.  It seemed that his lifestyle had led him into that circumstance and I daresay that some people would have seen that as justice but I couldn’t somehow.  I had prayed that his life would be turned around and I could feel only sadness at his tragic end.  I wonder if David felt that way about Saul and wished for him to be again the good King he remembered and respected.

Lord, help us like David, to repay evil with good, to shun revenge and never to give up believing that those who hurt us can be redeemed. Amen