FORT IRWIN, Calif.— King David has to be one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament. King David, the second King of Israel, was described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, KJV). He experienced some circumstances in life we can all learn from as people and Soldiers.
King David faced many enemies; just to name a few– Goliath, Saul, the first king of Israel, and Absalom, his very own son. One of life’s lessons that can be learned from David, is how to handle your enemies. What is astonishing is that he trusted God to take care of his enemies. David in his integrity did not raise up his hand or try to hurt King Saul, whom he considered God’s anointed. Absalom was his very own son and he did not want anything to happen to him. There were a few times that David could have killed King Saul who hunted David as prey to kill him, but David refused to take vengeance (1 Samuel 24, 26). David understood that vengeance belonged to God (Psalm 94:1).
I encourage you today, let God take care of your problems. He sure knows how to take care of those that do you wrong. Don’t let hate and anger consume you, but forgive and trust God to do what is right. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right” (Genesis 18:25)?
Goliath was a Philistine, an enemy to the children of Israel, who defiled the Name of the Lord. There are some enemies that we will face in our lives that are in direct violation to God’s Word and those must be destroyed. Some of these enemies come in the form of giants that try to control our lives and cause havoc such as drugs, pornography, adultery, a lustful lifestyle, etc. These things must be put to death in one’s life by finding an altar of repentance and turning from sin.
This is one part of the victory and another part is allowing Jesus to fill you with His Spirit the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:4, it states, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave the utterance. For the promise of the Holy Spirit is for you and your children and for all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:39, NASB)
Jesus had much to say about being maltreated by others. “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Jesus himself was lied about, made fun of, yelled at, struck in the face, beaten and nailed to a cross. Even in his agony and pain, he cried out “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34, NASB). The lesson Jesus gave, was to forgive and love our enemies. In doing this, we let God take care of our enemies.