Keeping cool with grace

This week is on 2 Samuel 16:5-10:

As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul's family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king's officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David's right and left. As he cursed, Shimei said, "Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! The LORD has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The LORD has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!"

Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head."

But the king said, "What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD said to him, 'Curse David,' who can ask, 'Why do you do this?' "

When people have been through a lot with God, and understand grace, they act differently. If you remember the young David, he was ready to kill a man for not sharing his food with him, but the older David, educated by God's forgiveness, is ready to forgive a man who is whipping rocks at his head and shouting deep insults. What happened? It's not an age thing, because Saul was older and he was just as vicious in his old age as he was in his youth. Something happened to David's character.

David realized a couple things by the time Shimei came at him with rage. First, he realized that the world isn't all about him. Who cares if Shimei is insulting him? Even a couple rocks won't end the world. Maybe Shimei has legitimate cause to be saying what he's saying and doing what he's doing. David did kill some of his extended family, so it's not like he's hating him for political reasons or anything. But in any case, the world isn't David's to rule and shape. It belongs to God, and that leaves a lot of room for us to roam in.

The other thing is that God has awesome absolute power over everything. If God wanted David to have harm come to him, all of the armies in the world wouldn't be able to protect him. And if all of the world wanted to harm David and God wanted him safe, then no sword or unruly mob would be able to put a scratch on him. So why risk damaging someone God potentially has a purpose for, when it won't make a difference for your safety and well being anyway? Roll with the punches and let God do the heavy enforcement. God is the ultimate bodyguard. He didn't just take a bullet for us. He took the eternal punishment of our sin. What is someone going to do to us that would match that?

We should certainly look out for our safety, since God wants us to be good stewards of our lives, but we should never use our sense of self-preservation as a substitute for God's protection. God is awesome, and we should feel totally comfortable when he's around. David had painful rocks getting whipped at his head, and cruel things being said to try to provoke him to anger, and had every right as a king to slaughter their source, but he didn't get angry because he had God on his side. That's a pretty big inspiration, and something to dwell on and practice in our own lives.