“Do Not Seek Vengeance; Your Enemy Shall Pray For You!”

“Do Not Seek Vengeance; Your Enemy Shall Pray For You!”
King Saul used all in his power to seek to destroy David. After all he was the king and had all the wherewithal.
Imagine that Saul took “three thousand chosen men from all Israel” to go and hunt David and his men!
There is a day of reckoning for any Saul. You don’t need Kalashnikovs to go hunt down a cricket; a flea, a dead dog. David’s conscience could not allow him to kill Saul when he had the opportunity; despite the pressure from his men. He recognized and acknowledged that Saul was God’s anointed. On his part Saul failed to recognize that David too was God’s anointed. Even with three thousand of the best of soldiers Saul couldn’t hunt David down because David too was anointed.
David asked king Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you?’ And this is exactly where weak leadership can be discerned: Listening to what men say and acting without investigation. It is even worst when such leadership has planted a spy system and give the impression that whoever gives information about a David has a piece of the juicy cake of corruption. This is what is killing institutions and African nations, because leaders use divide and rule tactics of “we” and “them!”
Watch out how you act on what men say. David told Saul further, “…Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the Lord’s anointed…'” David didn’t act on what those others said, even though they were his collaborators.
Dear friend, we began the week with the admonition not to judge others because God alone is the ultimate judge of everybody. The story above is an example of leaving judgment in God’s hands. Secondly, let your judgment of others not be based on what people tell you. Verify your sources well by checking the motive of the informant!
Do not do to someone what your conscience knows is morally wrong. Do not pay evil for evil because two wrongs do not make a right! Leave it to God and one day your adversary will pray for you even as Saul prayed for David, “May the Lord reward you well…” (I Sam.24:2-20).
Prayer: Holy Spirit help me that no matter any persecution from my enemies, let me leave them in God’s hands. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!