…the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. (2 Samuel 2:1 ESV)
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Enmity
David is astonishing in his praise of Saul, the man who had kept David from his crown, attempted murder, blamed David for everything, and hated David.
When Saul died, David avenged his death, grieved, and wrote a song praising the person we whose death we would expect David to gloat over.
David seems to have every righteous right to rejoice over his enemy’s defeat, to gloat over his victory, to dance on his grave. But…
Perhaps David understood that hating is draining. Revenge is costly. Death is always a loss for humanity.
Perhaps David, whose heart was in tune with the Lord, knew that life with the Lord changes everything.
Perhaps David had even been able to surrender his enmity, his hatred, his revenge to His God.
Our hatred is draining. Our revenge is costly. Death stings. But we can unload our enmity, vengeance, gloating, bitterness, and hatred unto the Lord, too.
Like David, we can let God handle it. Like David, we can trust God will declare His victory, which is so much better than ours. Like David, we can have a heart towards the Lord.
We are peculiar, we do not need to have enemies.