Our Role and His Role

Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 26:9-10, But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?” 10 David said furthermore, “As the LORD lives, the LORD shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.

The one opportunity that continued to repeat itself in David’s life as he ran from Saul was the one to either kill Saul or trust God to do it. Here he is once again confronted with the choice of taking vengeance for himself or letting God handle what seemed to be a never-ending cycle of cat and mouse. In verses 7 and 8 we see that Saul is in a very vulnerable position. He is fast asleep and unaware of David’s presence. Not only is Saul asleep, but his entire army is asleep (we will discuss that further in a future devotional). The irony of this situation is that the same spear that Saul threw at David in his attempts to kill him is now available for David to use to take Saul’s life. Next we see that Abishai offered to finally finish off Saul, leaving David with the excuse, “Well, I was not the one who took his life. My hands are clean.” Yet, we see that David had a true understanding of what his role was in that situation and what God’s role was in that situation. This is where many of us go awry in our decision-making when it comes to taking vengeance on someone who has wronged us. The last thing we want to hear is what Jesus told us in regard to dealing with our enemies in Matthew 5:43-45. It reads, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” There is no mistaking that David truly showed Saul love as defined by biblical love. It was not a love comprised of mere words. It was truly love in action and deed. He continually spared Saul’s life, remained faithful to him, and would not even allow anyone else to harm him. It was not long before this that David witnessed how God took vengeance, on his behalf, on Nabal, and we can be certain that in this case David had not forgotten what God did to that foolish man. God makes is very clear for us what our role is in situations when others wrong us, and what His role is in making things right. Romans 12:17-21 clearly states, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. 20 Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” We must remind ourselves that God’s justice and our justice differ like night and day. God’s timing is certainly not our timing (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). Although we may want God to swoop in and carry out our desired form of swift justice, God works out His vengeance in His time and His way. Our role is to patiently wait on God and love and pray for our enemies. That can be a huge pill to swallow for many of us, but the bottom line is that we must honor God and respect the boundaries He has set in respect to our role and His role. We will never go wrong if we wait on God, no matter how much we might be criticized or mocked for our willingness to forgive, love and pray for those who seek to cause us pain.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).