DOING THE RIGHT THING IN A PAINFUL PLACE – PART 1

Doing the right thing in a painful place

Doing the right thing in a painful place

This topic is one that I will be talking about, looking at various men and women in the Bible who did the right thing from a place of pain.  What I mean, is they did what was the  Godly thing to do when they had their own issues or situations to deal with.

Let’s take a closer look at one of the situations David found himself in:

We came to know David because the people were asking for a King and Saul was selected.  It was never God’s choice for His people to have a King other than Him.  Saul kept making one mistake after another and as such God sent prophet Samuel to go and anoint David, the son of Jesse as King.  1 Sam 16:10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”   “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”  Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”   12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.   Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

As soon as this happened, the anointing of God departed from Saul.  1 Sam 16:14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.   Saul had evil spirits tormenting him and this brought David to serve him.  Saul was happy initially with David, I Sam 16:21 David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. 22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.”   But after David had killed Goliath and people started singing his praise to Saul’s earshot, he became jealous and sent David out to the battle ground.  (1 Sam 18:6-17).

As a result, David became known as the ‘man after God’s heart’, Acts 13:22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’   David honoured God, and God in return recompensed David’s unconditional reverence and willingness to obey God and ask His permission before he sis anything.  1 Sam 18:12 Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul.   God then made sure He granted David success in all his endeavours.

After a while, David left the palace, as Saul kept trying to kill  and then became a fugitive and started running and hiding from Saul who kept pursing him, in order to kill him.  David live a life of strife, conflict and continuous battles as Saul chased him.  1 Sam 19: But an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.

It got to a point one day, when Saul was after David, David found him; 1 Sam 24: He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

David could have drawn his sword and killed him but he did not.  What he did was that he went to battle against the enemies of Israel, would seek God’s face and if God said to pursue, he did.   David, even when a fugitive, did not stop doing the right thing and in so doing, he honoured God.  When someone came to tell him that he had killed Saul, David had the man killed by one of his men (2 Sam 1:8-15)

It is very easy to please God when everything is going well, I know, we have all been there.  The challenge is to please God like David did, when you want to lash out at God maybe?  If you found yourself in a position to curse or bless your enemy, as in the case of David and Saul, what would you do?  This man had chased you for months or maybe years, wanting to kill you, plotting to kill you and see your end and downfall; seriously if you had the opportunity to kill your enemy like David did, would you draw out your sword?  Or let God fight your battles for you like He did for David?  Saul, the enemy of David eventually died but not at the hand of David.

Prayer point:  Father Lord, David was a man after your heart, help me to seek you like David did in all that I do in Jesus name.  Lord by your power avenge me of my enemies in Jesus name.

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