“May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD take vengeance on you for me, but my hand will never be against you. Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A flea? May the LORD be judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from you.”
1 Samuel 24:12-15 HCSB
The story of David is a fascinating story. We meet David in 1 Samuel chapter 16. Saul, king of Israel, failed to obey God’s commands and God rejected him as king. He was to live out the rest of his rule, but his sons would not succeed him. David, a young scrawny shepherd boy is anointed king in chapter 16. In chapter 17, David goes up against the giant, Goliath, with a slingshot and five stones and a whole lot of faith. He slays the giant and earns Saul’s respect and recognition. Then Saul brings him to the palace to work with him. Saul is prone to fits of rage. He seemed to have suffered from some type of mental illness. David joins Saul’s army and becomes a great and mighty warrior who is very successful in his military endeavors. Saul gives his daughter to David in marriage, but all this time, Saul is becoming increasingly paranoid and believes that David intends to harm him. After all, when Saul is dead, David becomes king. David has a lot to gain from Saul’s demise.
While Saul is pursuing David, Saul enters a cave to relieve himself not knowing that David and his army of men are in the back of this cave. David’s men urge David to take Saul out right there. They tell David that God has handed Saul over to him. But David knows better. David gets close enough to Saul to cut off the corner of his robe without Saul even knowing it. Can you imagine the discipline and self-control that it must have taken David not to kill him? This man has hunted David down like a wild animal. David has had to flee his home and live in the wilderness to avoid being killed by Saul. Why on earth would he not just take him out and end all this mess? Well, because David was in a close relationship with God. David knew that this is not what God wanted. Saul may have treated David horribly, but David knew that it was up to God to take care of Saul. Paul tells us in Romans 12:19 that vengeance belongs to God. David immediately feels guilty about cutting his robe and goes out to Saul. He bows down to him and pays homage to him. And this brings us to our scripture passage for today. He tells Saul that he could have killed him in that cave but that he will let God judge between the two of them and will let God seek vengeance for him.
Physical strength does us no good if we don’t have mental and spiritual strength. It takes a stronger person to obey God than it does to take matters into your own hands. What you are actually doing is bringing on more problems if you go against what God commands. I’ve been there and done that and got the t-shirt. I had a situation where I could have pulled out my ace in the hole and destroyed a couple of people who were causing me trouble. But God told me to be still (Psalm 46:10). Let me tell you that this took all the strength and discipline and self-control that I could muster at times, but God took vengeance for me. God handled it all and handled it in a way that was far worse than anything I could have done. He also worked it all out for my good. He did the same for David. David was a very successful military man and a very successful king because of his obedience to the LORD.
Samson was a man of great physical strength in the Bible. But, Samson gave into temptation and his lack of mental and spiritual strength eventually caused him to be stripped of his great physical strength, his eyesight and his freedom (Judges 13-16).
Since the gyms are closed why not try exercising your spiritual strength. The great thing about strength is that it comes from the LORD. So whether we are lacking in spiritual, mental or physical strength, we can trust God to provide all that we need for us. Philippians 4:13 tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
We exercise our spiritual strength by exhibiting discipline and self-control and by following God’s commands. The more we exercise the stronger we become, so won’t you join me in a good, strong spiritual workout?
Have a great day!