Think About Who Is the Better Judge

It’s really easy for us to make judgments about situations and the people involved in them.  We may be smart and we may be wise.  Yet in reality we need to think about who might really be the better judge.  David had to remind Saul about that while they were dealing with their accidental meeting in the cave.  Read I Samuel 24: 11-15.

11 See, my father! Look at the corner of your robe in my hand, for I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. Look and recognize that there is no evil or rebellion in me. I haven’t sinned against you even though you are hunting me down to take my life.  12 “May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD take vengeance on you for me, but my hand will never be against you. 13 As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness comes from wicked people. ‘ My hand will never be against you. 14 Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A flea? 15 May the LORD be judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from you.”

King Saul had been so busy being jealous of David and chasing him through the countryside that he lost focus of who David was in character.  He began judging David incorrectly.  He assumed he was after his throne.  He assumed David was out to kill him.  Saul was a good man in the beginning of his life, but he walked away from the Lord and didn’t let the Lord guide his thinking or actions any more.  He no longer stopped and thought.  He no longer was sensitive in his thinking to what the Lord’s Will was.  He no longer was a good judge of people or situations.  His thinking was all messed up without God in his life.  David used that moment to try and remind Saul that he was not a good judge of him and that only God would judge what David had done or not done rightly.  Only God can judge whether Saul or David was honest and good. 

So next time you start to judge someone or a situation, stop and think, be sensitive to the Lord and use common sense and remember that you are not the best judge.  You are just human.  You cannot see inside another person’s heart.  Only God can see the motive of the person.  Only God will know what is truly going on in that person’s life.  Don’t assume like King Saul and take matters in your own hands.

Sensitive Thinking

Not only is it important to stop and think before we take action, but we need to be sensitive to the Lord’s leading.  Our thinking needs to be sensitive to what the Lord’s Will is.  Read I Samuel 24: 1-5.

“1 When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness near En-gedi.” 2 So Saul took 3,000 of Israel’s choice men and went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 When Saul came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. David and his men were staying in the back of the cave, 4 so they said to him, “Look, this is the day the LORD told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Afterwards, David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.”

David had an opportunity to kill the man that was trying to kill him.  He stopped and thought about what they his men were telling him to do, which was wise.  Yet, he didn’t take the thought process one more step that it needed to go.  He needed to ask God what He should do.  He used wisdom and didn’t kill King Saul, but he didn’t think that the Lord may just want him to do absolutely nothing to Saul.  His conscience became pricked after he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. 

This story gives us a good bit of instruction when it comes to decision making.  Not only are we to use wisdom, but we are to seek God’s guidance before we do things.  We need to be sensitive to God in our thinking.  It can be no fun to have your conscience bothering you after you have made a bad choice that didn’t take the Lord’s Will in to the decision making process.