David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”

1 Samuel 25:21-22

For Meditation

There is no storyteller like the Holy Spirit. It’s amazing how He vividly sets the stage here for us to see, through David’s perspective, the gravity of the offense that was driving him to human retaliation. How else could we understand why David spiraled out of control that way. He reveals the irritating sentiments of disregard and ingratitude under David’s skin that caused him to bolt towards the precipice to needless human carnage.

The Spirit of God opens us to the fragility of the ego – the “I” and “me” factor that drives us to the height of pride. We often stand there as if we own everything, and that it is by our power and strength that we can do what we do to help others. How far from the truth that is; but how swiftly we move to stand there to claim recognition and worship, instead of giving them to the Lord who deserves it.

The Holy Spirit exposes some of the little things that fuel vengeance in all of us through David’s situation here. He invites us to see ourselves in His mirror to know how we look to Him when we are angry and seeking revenge. Do we see ourselves like David, fuming and pounding our chest and shouting the familiar chant in the corridors of power, “I will show you …”?

As Paul rightly asks, “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Cor. 4:7). 

May the Lord calm the storm that is ravaging our life because our ego is pricked, as we hear His command, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:30).