April 22 - 1 Samuel 26:9

NOTE: I was working on these a week ahead.

And I didn't even think about Apr 22 being Good Friday.

How appropriate a verse for God to choose ...

 

"No!" David said. "Don't kill him.

For who can remain innocent after

attacking the LORD's anointed one?"

1 Samuel 26:9

 

Temptations are alluring.

 

And revenge is sweet.

 

David had opportunities for both in 1 Samuel 26. His murderous pursuer had fallen helplessly into David's hands. David could have killed the poisonous King Saul. And he could have easily justified it -- "I don't believe there are any coincidences. Therefore, the only way these circumstances could have possibly occurred was God's miraculous intervention. Therefore, God has handed Saul into my hands. Therefore, I can kill him and end Saul obscene jealosy and murderous pursuit."

 

That would have been easy. Indeed, that's what David's comrades were encouraging him to do.

 

But sometimes 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 don't equal 5. Sometimes when God arranges an encounter, we must not be too quick to assume God's purpose for the "coincidence."

 

David's men leapt to the wrong conclusion: Kill Saul! But they should have been spiritually wise enough to know that two wrongs don't make a right.

 

David listened for God's deeper intent. While the temptation was surely alluring and while the revenge might have been momentarily sweet, David followed two higher callings: 

When God wants Saul dead, "10 surely the Lord will strike Saul down ... or he will die of old age or in battle." (In other words, I as a human do not decide life or death.)

 

David's second calling was this: "11 The Lord forbid that I should kill the one [God] has annointed." We may not always like our leaders, but there must be a limit to our anger, temptations, and revenge. Indeed, even gossip is a form of killing.

 

Today is Good Friday: "The Lord forbid that I should kill the one [God] has annointed."

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who needs to

keep rechecking his math

(especilly if I start assigning the value of X

as "that means I can kill" ... or lie ... or cheat ...

or gossip ... or steal ... as David's men wanted to do)