Good day dear friends.
Our prayers for the crew and all associated with the space shuttle Discovery set for launch today at 9:39 a.m. our time. Also, for the families of four scout leaders killed in North Carolina in an electrical accident as they set up their tents for a jamboree.
We continue our study on compassion with different illustrations from the Bible. Here is our study guide for today:
Tuesday: Let us explore yet again, King David in his youth from 1 Samuel 24:4-22. Read how David had compassion for the man who was trying to kill him. Would you have done the same? What would have been your reaction to find your enemy sleeping?
Here is that passage in The Message version:
24:4 David's men whispered to him, "Can you believe it? This is the day God was talking about when he said, 'I'll put your enemy in your hands. You can do whatever you want with him.'" Quiet as a cat, David crept up and cut off a piece of Saul's royal robe. 5 Immediately, he felt guilty. 6 He said to his men, "God forbid that I should have done this to my master, God's anointed, that I should so much as raise a finger against him. He's God's anointed!" 7 David held his men in check with these words and wouldn't let them pounce on Saul. Saul got up, left the cave, and went on down the road. 8 Then David stood at the mouth of the cave and called to Saul, "My master! My king!" Saul looked back. David fell to his knees and bowed in reverence. 9 He called out, "Why do you listen to those who say 'David is out to get you'? 10 This very day with your very own eyes you have seen that just now in the cave God put you in my hands. My men wanted me to kill you, but I wouldn't do it. I told them that I won't lift a finger against my master - he's God's anointed. 11 Oh, my father, look at this, look at this piece that I cut from your robe. I could have cut you - killed you! - but I didn't. Look at the evidence! I'm not against you. I'm no rebel. I haven't sinned against you, and yet you're hunting me down to kill me. 12 Let's decide which of us is in the right. God may avenge me, but it is in his hands, not mine. 13 An old proverb says, 'Evil deeds come from evil people.' So be assured that my hand won't touch you. 14 "What does the king of Israel think he's doing? Who do you think you're chasing? A dead dog? A flea? 15 God is our judge. He'll decide who is right. Oh, that he would look down right now, decide right now - and set me free of you!" 16 When David had finished saying all this, Saul said, "Can this be the voice of my son David?" and he wept in loud sobs. 17 "You're the one in the right, not me," he continued. "You've heaped good on me; I've dumped evil on you. 18 And now you've done it again - treated me generously. God put me in your hands and you didn't kill me. 19 Why? When a man meets his enemy, does he send him down the road with a blessing? May God give you a bonus of blessings for what you've done for me today! 20 I know now beyond doubt that you will rule as king. The kingdom of Israel is already in your grasp! 21 Now promise me under God that you will not kill off my family or wipe my name off the books." 22 David promised Saul. Then Saul went home and David and his men went up to their wilderness refuge.
Imagine your luck if you happened to find the one trying to kill you, sound asleep? This is revenge or protection at its best. It is the stuff of great literature, edge of your seat movies, and the fuel of dreams. Yet, we find that David, whose life was in serious danger, being hunted by King Saul, when he finds the king sleeping, uses his sword to cut off a piece of the king's garment instead of his head! Even his closest advisors told David, "This is the day God intended; it's biblical!" But David knew better and even felt guilty that he had cut the garment off the king. He does use it to try to prove his point, that he meant Saul no harm; but it didn't convince Saul of anything. Saul went to his death wanting David to die before him.
Compassion is that which allows us to do what God wants us to do instead of our following our own desires. It may not involved our cutting someone's garment, but it may involve our saying a kind word in favor of someone we know takes every opportunity to criticize us. And not to later tell that person, "You know I had the perfect opportunity to say the truth about you, but instead I sought to make you look better and so I said something nice." We leave that to God. Showing compassion as we saw in the story of Jesus is never easy. It is easier, like the priest and the Levite knew, to walk across the street and go on without getting involved. Jesus meant to teach us to take the narrow way; the way most people do not take.
Let us seek today to show compassion and speak things that will make God look good, instead of ourselves.
PRAYER: Compassionate God, teach us the way of showing and living a compassionate life. Let our words, our thoughts and actions today speak that which brings life to others. Help us when we think we can 'get even' or 'ahead,' by showing us what we should do. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
