Foundations Week 16, Day 4

Scripture Read: Psalm 22; I Samuel 24 - 25:1
Title: David Spares Saul
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H.E.A.R. Entry
(H) Highlight verse:  "May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you"  I Samuel 24:12

(E) Explain:  In today's reading we see the true integrity, godliness and humily of David.  But we also see in the Psalm that he was a man who was in despair because of the evil pursuits of the King.  He trusted and worshiped God during this time, but that didn't take away from the fact that his heart was heavy and troubled because of this relationship with the King.
In the account found in 1 Samuel 24 we read about an opportunity that David has to take care of the problem of King Saul in the cave.  As King Saul is in a cave relieving himself, he is unaware that David and men are in the cave.  David's men encourage him to strike down his enemy and all of this running, torment and pain could be done with.  However, David does not agree to this.  Instead he cuts off a part of the king's robe and later uses this to show the king that he could have killed him easily but he chose to not "put out his hand" against the king.  
David's mercy does not mean that all is forgiven and that the relationship is restored, not by any means, because he says, "May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORd avengenge me against you..."  This was David's way of saying, "I will not kill you with my own hands, but I will trust that God will avenge in this case."  He is being honorable to the king, yet trusting that God will be the one to deal with the king and not him.

(A) Application:  David was the man chosen by God to be the king of Israel.  The throne was rightly his, he was God's anonted, and he had every right to "put away" the current King Saul.  But in the passage we see the true heart of David.  He was a man of integrity, humilty, and a true leader.  He shows mercy to Saul because he does not believe he should be the one who "deals with" the king.  This is God's job and David, although in despar, trusts that God will deal with the problem at hand, in his own way.
This account should serve as a reminder to us that revenge and vindication is not our job, it is God's.  When we are wronged, hurt or falsley accused we need to trust that God will prevail and He will right the wrongs.  This doesn't mean that we can't defend ourselves and seek restitution because we do need to advocate for ourselves.  What we ultimately need to do is 

(R) Respond: I want to put all of my effort in the Kingdom of God, the only Kingdom that matters.  I pray that if I ever try to build a kingdom for me that it would crumble before it even is established.