April 2, 2025 Devo

Have you ever felt like David? Have you ever just wanted to really “give it” to someone? David calls down God’s wrath upon these heathen people. These people are wicked. They do evil things. They have caused great pain and anguish for David as well as for others. They deserve the full force of God’s Judgment. So David tells God to muster up all that Almighty Power He has and unleash it on these jerks.
But there’s a problem with that. David is guilty of the same stuff he’s accusing these enemies of doing! David abused his power. He used his royal position to bring another man’s wife to his palace and had sex with her. Then when he found out she was pregnant, he tried to cover it up. When that didn’t work, he arranged for her husband to be killed in battle to save face. Abuse, deception, lust, adultery, murder. David had better hope God doesn’t honor his prayer. Because if God starts killing off all the people who deserve to be punished, David will be the first to go!
That might be a good reminder for all of us this week. It’s so easy for us to see others through the eyes of justice while looking at ourselves through the eyes of mercy. We see the things other people do and think they should be punished. We hear the things people say and think they should be held accountable for them. We accuse other people of having evil hearts, wrong intentions, and sinful behavior. But we fail to see those things in our own lives.
Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged!” (Matt 7:1 NIV). More pointedly, in John 8, Jesus told a group of self-righteous religious people who were going to stone to death a woman caught in adultery, “Let the one of you without sin throw the first stone.” His point wasn’t that wrong behavior is acceptable. His point was that we’re ALL sinners and none of US have the right to judge and accuse. Only God gets to do that. And God chooses to start with grace. David should be thankful for that. We should be thankful for that as well. And if we want to receive grace, maybe we should start by offering some grace of our own to others. That’s God’s Word for you today.