God knows when we fail and fall short. He sees when we make mistakes, disobey His Word, yield to temptation, and fall into sin. As sinful humans, we want to take God’s role of judge. But that is not our place and we need to let the Lord be the judge.
King Saul Judged David
King Saul had a history of disobedience to God. God was merciful as He gave Saul repeated opportunities to repent and turn back. Eventually, God’s patience wore out because Saul refused to change. At this point, God decided to remove His blessings from Saul because of his disobedience.
David’s obedience to God showed that he was a man after God’s heart. God had blessed David with success and King Saul was jealous. The king couldn’t stand anyone who was more blessed than he was. Thus, Saul pursued David to kill him. Saul was acting as a judge to David.
David had an opportunity to kill Saul when he walked into a cave where David and his men were hiding. David knew not to harm Saul because it was God’s job to judge the king.
1 Samuel 24:7 After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 8 David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.
9 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you?… 11 Look, my father, at what I have in my hand. It is a piece of the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. This proves that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for me to kill me.
12 “May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you.[1]
Let God be the Judge
The Bible tells us that God is a righteous judge. Psalm 9: 8 He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness. [2] But God reserves special judgement for for those who mock and judge, who ridicule or take advantage of His people.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:1“Judge not, so that you will not be judged” When we judge, we bring ourselves under condemnation. Even God’s own people can be guilty of a spirit of judgment and criticism, spreading gossip and rumors.
Today, ask God to set you free from a judgmental spirit. Ask Him to give you His attitude and perspective. Matthew 5: 8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. [3] Focus on obeying God and fulfilling His call on your life and let the Lord be the judge.
[1-3] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation . Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.