“But David said to Abishai, ‘Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?’” — 1 Samuel 26:9
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Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski recently set a record for the fastest pitch at a velocity of 105.5 mph. Though the speed of the pitches gives him a big advantage against opposing hitters, he must throw strikes and also sprinkle in some breaking pitches so hitters can’t time their swings. He also features a cutter, slider, curve and change-up, but his fastball is so overpowering that he throws it more than 60% of the time. During his time in the minor leagues and his rookie season, he did walk a lot of batters, but less than 10% of batters are issued walks when he’s pitched this season.
Misiorowski has had every opportunity to get overconfident and prideful, but arrogance will eventually cause harm in one way or another. Just like every athlete (and non-athlete alike), he has to resist the impulse of pride.
In the Bible, David was anointed to be a future king, and then defeated Goliath at such a young age (under 20 years old) it would have been easy for him to become overconfident and lose opportunities due to arrogance. He was gifted in many ways as a leader, prophet and musician. Yet, the young man needed time to learn and grow before taking the throne. During his years of waiting for his opportunity, the Lord trained David to keep his sword in the sheath and not attack just because he felt like it.
On several occasions, David resisted urges in his heart to destroy the insanely jealous King Saul (1 Samuel 24-31). If David slew Saul, he could have taken a leadership role sooner but it wasn’t God’s appointed time yet.
The young man knew the Lord puts people in positions of authority and it wasn’t David’s place to remove Saul’s crown. As we read the drama and action recorded in Scripture, we see David holding his hand back and refusing to harm Saul. His most difficult battles happened within his own heart rather than on the battlefield. When David’s men offered to kill Saul for him and prevent him from harming David, David still refused to take the law into his own hands.
On one occasion, David and Abishai came upon King Saul and his army sound asleep in the middle of the night. If David was simply following natural urges, he or one of his fellow warriors would have destroyed Saul and stamped out his foolish mission to assassinate David before he could replace Saul. Instead, David stepped forward in the power of the Holy Spirit and told his men to let Saul live (1 Samuel 26:7-9).
Surely, David showed us how to live in that shining moment. When our inner impulses push us to destroy rivals, we need God’s wisdom and the Holy Spirit working within us to defeat negative influences. In a world where revenge and feeding grudges are common, God calls us to let Him deal with wrongdoers in His time. As God works within us, we’re capable of defeating our bad impulses when we rely on the Lord’s strength.
— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Georgia
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