Have you ever lost your cool, and it took even you by surprise? There can be a lot of reasons that this happens, but it is always a call for us to examine our heart. In our story for today, Saul is pursuing David and trying to kill him. When Saul doesn’t get what he wants from a priest, he lashes out and orders the death of the priests, even thought they truly had nothing to do with it. 85 priests died on this day, because a man couldn’t control his temper. We see it in 1 Samuel 22:17, “Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, ‘Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell me.’ But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord.”
The contrast to Saul’s anger, is the compassion and humility of David. David felt bad because the priests got caught up in this mess. David felt responsible for their deaths, even though it was Saul who ordered them to be murdered. Out of his compassion, David offers to protect a priest who was able to get away by the name of Abiathar.
In this story we see two ways to handle our reaction when life presents us with a difficult situation. One of them glorifies God and points to the example of Jesus, and the other reveals the sinfulness of our heart. If you were to evaluate how you responded when life throws you a curveball, which camp would you be in, Saul’s or David’s? A lot of times, when we feel that we are more like Saul, we try to rationalize our reactions or justify them. Unfortunately, before the Lord there is no rationalization or justification for sinfulness. There can only be confession and repentance. And what a blessing we can have, in that when we confess and turn from our sin, 1 John 1:9 tells us that God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us of our sins.
So today, or whenever we are faced with a difficult challenge or we are having a bad day let us remember a few things; we can’t let our anger get the best of us and expect the blessings of God. James 1:19-20 reminds us, “Let every man be slow to speak, swift to listen, and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Next, we need to make sure that our words are kind, compassionate, and gracious towards others. Finally, when we sin, instead of being quick to make excuses, let’s be quick to confess it to God, ask help from God to not let anger get the best of us, and be quick to seek forgiveness from those we have hurt. This is how we can let others see Jesus in us, and He is who the world needs right now.
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin