2 Samuel 16:12

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day." 2 Samuel 16:12 .

David thus shows how thoroughly he had entered into the divine spirit. He had seen that all resentment and self-defence amounted to nothing. The resources of one man can be overcome by the resources of another man. We only have resources equal to every emergency in life when we feel that at our disposal are the unsearchable riches of Christ. "Commit thy way unto the Lord: avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." Here is Christianity before the Christian era. What more can any Christian do than David did when he was cursed and stoned by Shimei? Jesus Christ says, "If thine enemy smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also." David seems to have entered into the spirit of that injunction, for, instead of taking the case into his own hand, he commended himself to the keeping and protection of God. Cursing well borne may lead to the bestowal of blessing from on high. A great principle is involved in this possibility. We undertake our own defence far too much. We are fretful, resentful, anxious to see justice inflicted upon those who have been cruel towards us; whereas if we lived in the very Spirit of Christ, we should remit all such matters to the providence of God, assured that if a man do evil he will bring that evil upon himself, and he will fall into the pit which he has digged for others. How lovely is a quiet spirit, how beautiful is patience, how noble is resignation! How much greater a man is David in this case than if he had called for a sword and pursued the fool who cursed him! Prayer is mightier than controversy; patience is grander than revenge; we can only be taught the supreme value of moral qualities and attributes after long study in the school of Christ. Resignation is never weakness. The spirit that can resign itself to the providence of God is a spirit that can take a large view of life, that can connect the seedtime and the harvest, the beginning and the end, and that never rushes at conclusions, but patiently abides the evolution of the divine will. By examining ourselves on this ground we see exactly what progress we have made in the Christian course.