SCRIPTURE:

Romans 12:19-21 (ESV)
19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1 Thessalonians 5:15
15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

DEVO:

One weekend, I played in a fundraising dodgeball tournament for a local private high school. Several of us men and women in our thirties, decided to relive our glory years and go head-to-head against junior high and high school teams in this epic hit-or-be-hit duel. Somehow in the process, I made myself a target by what seemed like the entire gymnasium. In the first game I played, the two victims of my aimlessly slinging the ball to the other side of the court were, unfortunately, high school girls. After unintentionally pegging the second one, one of my own teammates remarked to me, “Bro, you have no mercy!” I didn’t mean to! The girls just happened to be in the path of my inaccurate throws. By the end of the tournament, nearly everyone was gunning for me and I found myself the target of multiple dodgeballs coming from every direction.

Have you ever been a target? Have you ever found yourself the focus of something more severe than foam balls being hurled across a gym . . . maybe someone else’s judgement or slander or false accusations? Have you ever been wounded by what someone said to you or about you? How about what they did to you? Have you ever felt like no matter what you do, what decision you make, you are constantly misunderstood and always bearing the brunt of other people’s opinions?

King David certainly knew how that felt. Before becoming king, David was commissioned to play the harp in the royal court in order to assuage the mental maladies of the current king, Saul. In one of his manic states, Saul erupts with anger and jealousy toward David and attempts to pin him to the wall with his spear. David dodges Saul’s attempts twice and ultimately runs away from the palace, spending the next several years hiding for his life in the desert while Saul and his troops try to track him down.

How must David have felt here? Not only was this physically jeopardizing to him, but it had to have been emotionally scarring as well. Just imagine: rejected by his own father, David begins to find a sense of identity, community, and confidence in Saul’s court. Finally, he is recognized for his talent rather than being disregarded as a warm body who can only tend sheep. In fact, Saul’s son, Jonathan, and David become very close. Perhaps David spent many evenings at Saul’s house hanging out with the family and, for once in his life, enjoying a sense of belonging. David grows especially fond of Saul’s daughter, Mical, and asks for her hand in marriage. Saul grants it, and it finally feels like David has arrived and is well on his way to stepping into the calling God has placed on his life as the next King. Then Saul throws a spear at him. Think about the feelings of betrayal and confusion that must have followed.

I would suspect you’ve felt this way before. Maybe it was a close family member or friend who said some nasty things about you or treated you poorly. Maybe you have felt the sting of betrayal. How do you respond when you become the object of someone else’s jealousy and judgement? 

As fate would have it, David eventually finds himself with an opportunity to throw a spear back (1 Samuel 26). Now is his chance to retaliate. To go tit-for-tat with Saul. Eye for an eye. 

In his hiding and wandering, David comes across Saul’s encampment while Saul and his troops are asleep. Ironically, Saul’s spear is stuck in the ground right next to his head. David’s companion encourages him to get retribution for the pain that Saul has caused and see to it that this mentally unstable king finally meets his demise. “Let me pin him to the ground,” Abishai begs David. But David does something unexpected. He doesn’t repay evil with evil. Instead he chooses to repay it with mercy. He simply steals Saul’s spear and walks away.

The story that could have been told here is one of revenge, one of retribution. How many times do we want to respond to others in defensiveness and launch our own spears back at them after barely ducking theirs? Like dodgeball, hit or be hit. But David steals the spear and tells a better story—one of goodness, humility, mercy, and integrity. He trusts that God will be his defender. God will be his avenger. God will fight his battles on his behalf.

Sure enough, not too much later Saul finds himself in battle. He becomes the target of enemy arrows and they fly true. Saul is wounded and, while barely clinging to life, he asks his armor bearer to kill him lest the enemy capture and torture him. After the armor bearer refuses, he takes his own sword and falls on it. 2 Samuel 1 even suggests that it may have been his spear that he fell on. Talk about poetic justice. The same weapon he once threw at David may have become the weapon he killed himself with. When people make it their modus operandi to throw spears, they will eventually fall by their own spear. Jesus said so himself, “He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.” 

Take comfort when you become the object of other people’s gossip, slander, rumors, judgements, betrayals, and the like. God will make sure justice is served. He sees your pain. He knows your agony. He can be trusted with justice. He is a much better avenger than we are. He will make sure their deeds are returned to their own head. We need only to steal the spear and tell a better story.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND JOURNALING:

1. When was the last time you found yourself the target of someone else’s wrath, anger, or jealousy? How did it make you feel?

2. How are you tempted to respond when someone misjudges, misinterprets, or misrepresents you?

PRAYER:

Lord, it’s so difficult to remain upright and full of integrity when other people are throwing spears at me. It hurts when people fill in the gaps of their understanding with their own false assumptions and accusations. Please help me in those times to trust that You have all of this in control. Help me to trust that You will be my defender, You will protect me from those spears, and You will avenge them in Your time.