David Spares Saul’s Life
24 Now when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 He came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to [a]relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave. 4 The men of David said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold; I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good [b]to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly. 5 It came about afterward that David’s [c]conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. 6 So he said to his men, “Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 David [d]persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, [e]left the cave, and went on his way.
This is integrity. This is having the ability to crush your competition, once and for all. To take out the naysayers, the ones who have you in their sights. To destroy those who wish you nothing but harm.
This is what it means to live by the verse, “‘Vengeance is mine…’, says the Lord.” You can only control you, and trying to control anyone else is just a losing game. It ends up in hurt feelings, damaged relationships, or worse.
This applies in any situation, whether you think you are trying to “help” someone else, or take them down. You control you. But even that, not so well. When we give up control, when we give up our rights, and acknowledge that God is the only one who is in control. And that He is the only one who should be in control of our lives, then we can win.
Have the integrity and the humility to recognize that you are not in control, and to keep your own actions free of any tainted motives, and let God deal with the results.