Good morning and happy Tuesday to all of you! This is Michele with you this morning, excited to have the opportunity to share with you what God has placed upon my heart regarding 1 Samuel 26. Again, David has the opportunity to kill Saul but doesn't follow through. Read it through and focus on David's response to this opportunity.
I can just imagine how David must have felt. Saul has been hunting him down for some time now without success. David is now given a second opportunity to end this whole nightmare but he chooses not to. What? Why? God, you handed him over to David. Was David being disobedient to you? Or....had he already made a decision to not kill Saul? Maybe this was a test from you to see how David would respond when he was asked to make a moral decision? Again. Was David honoring Saul or was he ultimately honoring you, Lord?
"God has surely handed your enemy over to you this time!" Abishai whispered to David. "Let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won't need to strike twice."
"No!" David said. "Don't kill him. For who can remain innocent after attacking the Lord's anointed one?" (v. 8-9)
Even under the pressure from Abishai, David doesn't seem to cave. He has already made the decision not to kill Saul and I don't believe it had anything to do with Saul himself. It was all about David's decision to honor you, Lord. Even when it would have been so easy to do what was wrong, David stood on his desire to please and honor you. What a great example of godliness he was to Abishai.
I've taught my son to make important moral decisions before he has to stand up against the pressure to make a bad choice. We are much stronger in situations of moral dilemma when we already know what our response will be. How about decisions regarding how you will conduct yourself at work (stealing anything from a paper clip to taking extra time during a break), at home (faithful to your spouse and upstanding as a parent), at school (will you follow the crowd when it comes to drinking or smoking or making fun of another classmate), in your relationships (will you have sex before marriage), etc. The list goes on and on.
Lord, I want to honor you with my life and in the decisions I make. There is always someone watching and waiting to see how I will respond in certain situations. I want to stand on my decision to follow you and not the ways of the world. Help me, Lord, and convict my heart when I'm tempted to make a decision that does not honor you. I want to leave a legacy of godliness to pass along to those who follow after me. I want to follow your ways even when I'm handed the opportunity to easily do the wrong thing. You are my master and my king...I choose to honor you! Amen
Yes, it's so true. In matters of morality, if we wait until we're in a tempting situation to start deliberating about what we should do, we've already lost the battle. But when we decide beforehand the kind of person we want to be, the quality of life we want to live, those moral tests are easy to pass--assuming we decide to be the kind of person that honors God. My daughter was tested yesterday at school when a girl in her class was trying to get her to cuss. This girl was really trying to push her to say something vulgar for once. Thankfully, my daughter had already recognized long ago that the words she uses impact the kind of life she lives. So she stood her ground and stuck to her ethics! I was so proud of her! Thanks for sharing your conversation with God with us, Michele!
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Lori!
ReplyDeleteGreat lesson, Michele! It is usually true that someone "whispers in our ear" and gives us bad advice just when we need good advice the most! Wonder if that could be Satan? It is eaasy to have good intentions about our actions, but sticking by our guns under pressure -- now that is another story altogether. Lori is such a pure joy and blessing, Chris! She has had good training! :-)))
ReplyDelete