Rising Above Ourselves

What an opportunity David had, he is in a cave and his enemy, the man seeking to kill him, walks right into his grasp. He could have killed him and no one, other than the men who were with him, would have known. His servants even reminded him what the Lord had said to David, “I will deliver your enemy into your grasp; do with him as you see fit.” (1 Samuel 24:5) Do with him as you see fit, wow, that puts the ball back in David’s court. He could easily explain his actions as those of God’s will. But would that be what was fit? He is then reminded that God forbid him to lay a hand on His anointed. 

Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Everything seems to fall into place and it would be easy to retaliate for a hurt done to you? It would only be fair, right? That is what they deserve, right? I was in a similar situation last summer. Someone who had hurt me deeply had moved across town and was now living near my son’s college. I had let his betrayal keep me in a dark place and one Saturday I thought, if God allows everything to fall into place, then I will know that He wants me to confront this person and tell him how much he hurt me. Well, things did fall into place, we got my son moved back into his apartment and I had plenty of time to get to the place where I knew he would be. As I headed over there, I asked God to be with me when I confront him and to give me the words to speak. But what God did instead was to show me that this was an opportunity not to confront him but to turn around and go home. An opportunity to let go of the hurt and allow more healing to occur instead of trying to inflict pain on him. The devil was trying to convince me that the “right” thing to do was to confront him. That I have the right to confront him and tell him what his betrayal did to me and hopefully make him feel bad about it. Yes, everything did fall into place but not in order to confront him but to be Christ-like and walk away. To forgive and let go. To lean into God and allow Him to heal this deep wound and to trust in Him. It was very hard to do but I knew it was the right thing to do because my anger, anxiety and fear were replaced with peace.

God gives us many opportunities throughout each day to make right choices, not the choices that we may see as “fit” but to always choose love over hatred, compassion over a hardness of heart, to be selfless instead of selfish, choose humility over pride and mercy over judgment.