Читать книгу Adult Christian Life - R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation - Страница 14

In the final verses of our lesson, the crisis was averted (for the moment). Saul listened to the reason of Jonathan, and with a broadened perspective and at least a momentary fear of God that outweighed his fear of David, he decided to call off the manhunt on David’s life. As soon as he heard his father promise to spare David’s life, Jonathan returned to David and delivered the good news. Promise kept. True friends always make every effort to keep their promises. The lesson ends with a beautiful picture of restoration with David returning to the palace and serving the king as if nothing had ever happened. David’s return to the palace was demonstrative of his loyalty and dedication to his friendship with Jonathan and the desire for greater service. His service to the king after receiving his pardon is a great lesson to close this scriptural exposition. After all, like David, we had drawn the wrath of a great King (God) and through the efforts of a Son (Jesus) we’ve received a pardon too! Now the King has made room for us in His Kingdom, and we all should serve to the best of our ability. Beloved of God, since our friend Jesus intervened for us, let us intervene for our friends and serve the Lord with rigor (Rom. 12:11).

This story is one of the interesting narratives in which we discover the staunch differences between David the king after God’s own heart and Saul the king doomed from his coronation. Saul was willing to (continually tried to) kill David even though he had dealt Saul no ill action. In fact, David had been nothing but helpful to Saul. He fought his battles, married his daughter, and was as loyal to Saul as Lassie was to Timmy or Robin to Batman. On the other hand, as we will see with David, despite all of the offenses he’d suffered and would suffer from Saul, David refused to harm him even when he had the opportunity to do so. This suggests to us that the person God calls friend is long-suffering and leaves vengeance to its rightful owner, God (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:19). Throughout the story, we never see David or Jonathan seeking to deal any type of harm, be it direct physical violence or passive-aggressive violence like disrespect. Thus, while good godly friends intervene, we also must remember our intervention must be good and godly.