THURSDAY August 22, 2019
The Wicked Words of Men
David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down. And David said to Saul: “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’? Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ”
1 Samuel 24:8-10
When Saul heard David’s voice, he was surprised and looked behind him. David called to Saul from the very cave Saul and David had been in together! David bowed down and showed respect to King Saul.
Notice how David immediately addressed the poisonous lies Saul had been listening to. Other people had negatively infected Saul’s mind. Why had Saul listened to them? The rumors people told Saul were not true. David had not sought to kill Saul. He needed to believe David’s words because he spoke the truth. As there had been a great many misunderstandings, it was in David’s heart to make things clear and straight between them.
David boldly confronted these divisive rumors with truth. David told Saul he had the opportunity to kill him, but he chose not to lift his hand against King Saul to do him harm. David made sure that Saul, and everyone else listening, knew that he loved King Saul. David held nothing in his heart against him.
In our lives, we will also encounter jealous, wicked people who will gossip and spread rumors about us that are not true. They will cause others to become our enemies who, in turn, will come against us. We are all in God’s hands––in His grace. Pray God spares you from such trials as these.
We should not be the kind of people who have our ears tuned to evil conversations about other people.
~Alan Redpath~
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