Good morning friends.
There's just something about waking up and getting into the word. It starts your day off right with Jesus. And today I needed this lesson. I needed the reminder. David had every right to defend himself but he trusted God more than the hurt.
Reading 1 Samuel 26 puts a lot into perspective when it comes to the cancel culture we live in today. We are so quick to go after people we think have done wrong. Someone says something we don't like or disappoints us or fails publicly and suddenly everyone becomes judge, jury, and executioner.
Whew. David had every reason to defend himself against Saul. Saul definitely wasnt innocent. He wasn't misunderstood. He was actively trying to kill David, he wasn't imagining it. The spears had been thrown. The armies had been sent. The caves had become home because of Saul's jealousy.
If anyone had a right to take matters into his own hands, it was David. And yet, standing over the man who wanted him dead, David refused. And this is what humbled me this morning. Saul deserved it, he wasnt right and what he was doing was evil, but because Saul had been anointed by God and David feared God more than he feared Saul he didn't act. He respected God's authority more than his own hurt. He honored God's timing more than his own desire for justice.
David understood something we've forgotten. Just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean God has given you permission to do it.
It is not our place to be judge and jury.
Vengeance belongs to the Lord.
Correction belongs to the Lord.
Justice belongs to the Lord.
That doesn't mean sin should be ignored. Saul's sin was real. Consequences are real. Accountability matters. But there is a difference between accountability and revenge. There is a difference between discernment and destruction. There is a difference between speaking truth and delighting in someone else's downfall.
I think we've blurred those lines today. Everyone wants to be a prophet nowadays.
Everyone wants to call people out. Everyone wants a platform to expose, rebuke, and announce judgment.
But nobody wants to give their whole life to carrying the burden of being God's messenger.
Because biblical prophets didn't just deliver hard words. They wept. They prayed. They interceded. And they carried the weight of the people they spoke to and the wors of God inside their hearts. They weren't building audiences or platforms. They were carrying crosses.
David could have picked up Saul's spear and ended it all.
Instead, he picked up mercy.
He trusted God to deal with Saul.
He trusted that God was just.
He trusted that obedience mattered more than vindication.
And he was a Godly example to the men around him who encouraged him to defend himself. He taught mercy to those men.
Before we throw the spear.Before we become another voice demanding someone's destruction...
We should ask ourselves...
Am I speaking from the heart of God?
Or from my own hurt, offense, and desire to be right?
Listen, the world teaches us to cancel people.
But David teaches us to fear God.
And I'd rather stand before God having shown too much mercy than having taken His place on the throne of judgment.
Faith Anchors. Hope Moves. Chains Break.
Love Pastor Mandy
Ark of Hope Ministry
Daily reading 1Samuel 26
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