The German language has a word for rejoicing in your enemy’s sorrows: Schadenfreude. Have you ever felt it? Somehow, David avoided it. Perhaps this is one way we see that David is a man after God’s own heart. As we will learn, he was not perfect and he made his share of mistakes. But after Saul made him run for his life, David apparently took no joy in Saul’s death. “How the mighty have fallen,” wrote the singing shepherd and warrior. David ordered the death of the man who claimed he had killed Saul. Then he mourned fiercely over the death of the one who sought to be his enemy.
What do we do with our overwhelming grief? We take it to the Lord. David never stopped talking to God. As he had done for many years, he placed his decision-making before the Lord in prayer. Should he go back to Judah, his home tribe? God answered him in his grief, “Go up.” Ah, but which town? God answered specifically, “Hebron.” When he got there the people crowned him as King over the one tribe. For seven and a half years there would be war between David’s house and Saul’s house. But David was steadfast, even blessing the ones who buried Saul.
In a beautiful book called A Tale of Three Kings, Gene Edwards shows how David’s handling of Saul prepared him for the time when his own son Absalom would usurp his throne. If David had not learned from the way Saul mistreated him, he wouldn’t have known how to handle his son’s rebellion. If we live our lives inquiring of God, he will lead us in ways of peace. Let us take every thought captive today and bring it into the presence of the God who loves us. How does God want us to relate to others today? If we ask him, he will show us the way.
