Over and over again David finds himself surrounded by men trying to kill him. There are evil men destroying his reputation. Even King Saul is on the search for him, wanting to destroy him. What does David do? Listen.
Psalm 55: 22-23 “Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. But Thou, O God, wilt bring them down to the pit of destruction; Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in Thee.”
Even though David had opportunity to kill Saul, he would not. He trusted God to take care of him. His words to the men with him were, I Samuel 24: 6 “Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” Just like Hebrews 10: 30 “For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’”
Yet, later David is not allowed to build the temple because he is a man of war. So, there must be a time to fight and a time to wait on the Lord, what is it?
We have taught our children to overlook a personal offense, while always standing up for someone else being wronged.
Look at Jesus, Matthew 26: 63 “Jesus kept silent” when standing trial before Pilate. He made no defense for Himself, He was living out His previous commitment to God the Father, “yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt” Matthew 26: 39. This was a personal offense.
Another time when Jesus saw His Father being mocked He did not hesitate to take a stand for Him. John 2: 1-16 “And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the moneychangers, and over turned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, ‘take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a house of merchandise.”
At sports club there is a bully. He picks on the weaker children, but masterfully knows how to do it behind the leader’s backs. One day the leaders had told all the students to sit quietly on the bleachers. Most of the students were settled into their spots when bully boy marched in amidst them. As he passed one of the weaker boys he bumped him hard and said,”Let me through girlie.” The smaller boy just lowered his head and let the bully pass.
My children didn’t know what to do. The leaders had told them to sit quietly, so they sat.
At home that night when the children related their story we coached them to always stand up for the person being picked on. Even if they got in trouble for talking, we would have wanted them to tell bully boy not to speak that way. Bully boy continues because no one challenges him. If the other students bonded together and corrected him every time he was belittling—his “fun” would end.
Another boy we know is bullied by the pastor’s son. This bully also knows how to act around adults, but is ruthless when it is only peers around. He is “friends” with the boy he picks on both at church and they live in the same neighborhood. At church he has told the boy he can’t sing and while playing football in the neighborhood he has said, “I’ll cover the fat boy.”
Because bullies tend to be loud and act tough others tend to shrink back. Unfortunately, this pastor’s son has such a reputation so none of the other children stand up to him. Ideally it would be nice if the boy’s friends would stand up for him. Since we cannot make others do what is right, then I would encourage this boy being picked on to respond to the bully by politely saying, “Friends don’t say those things; I am going to do something else.”
Not taking revenge by spouting back what a creep the bully is, takes a lot of self-control and trusting that God will take his side. David talked to Saul and even questioned why he was hunting him, but he did not take revenge.
Over and over again in the Psalms David lays his heart out to the Lord. He is not short on words describing how bad things are. Still, in the end, he chooses to trust the Lord and that He is watching over his every step. It is not our job to avenge ourselves! It is our job to look out for those who are weaker!
I Thessalonians 5: 14 “And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men.”
In short, overlook a personal offense and always stand up for another being wronged.