Abishai said to David, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of my spear; I won’t strike him twice." But David said to Abishai, "Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives," he said, "the Lord Himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed..." (I Samuel 26:8-11 NIV).

For countless days and months David had been on the run—living in caves, scrapping together meals from whatever could be found in the wilderness. He’d gone from living in the king’s palace to living with a bitter and discontent rag-tag band of followers, he’d seen innocent lives destroyed because they showed him kindness, and he’d had to stumble and drool like a madman to save his own life. For months, possibly years, the anointed king of Israel had been tormented and persecuted by the man whom he had faithfully served.

After an intense period of hardship it seemed God had finally come to David’s aid by providing a tempting opportunity to kill his adversary. In fact this was what his most trusted companions believed, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands..."

Yet David saw something different than his close friends did. David didn’t take the option that would have been perfectly acceptable in the society in which he lived. David, in the midst of trying and difficult circumstances, refused to do anything that would be an offense to God—even when it would have been culturally acceptable, when his friends supported it and when it would have made his life more comfortable. David’s zealous desire to see God honored superseded any other factor in his decision-making.

Is that true of you and me? When relief appears in the midst of difficult circumstances do we ever consider that truly honoring God may mean continuing to live in difficult circumstances and passing on the opportunity for relief?

David did. David had an unwavering confidence in God’s ability to provide; he chose to trust in the future that God had promised him. He chose to trust that God would bring about justice even if it meant he had to endure injustice for a while longer. He chose to do nothing that might taint the honor and glory of God even when it meant struggle for himself and those he was responsible for.

In our instant-gratification, me-first society, it’s easy to see God behind every opportunity for relief and comfort. But perhaps God is calling us to new depths of trust and new depths of glorifying Him by not choosing the quick fix.

—Danny Orrick

Are we willing to be like David and risk our own comfort for the honor of God?