Today’s Reading : 1 Samuel 26-27; 1 Chronicles 8; Acts 18
Based on the Webster 1828 definition: Integrity is the entire, unimpaired state of any thing, particularly of the mind; moral soundness or purity; incorruptness; uprightness; honesty.
Vocabulary.com states that integrity is “Having integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way. It’s a personality trait that we admire, since it means a person has a moral compass that doesn’t waver. It literally means having “wholeness” of character, just as an integer is a “whole number” with no fractions.”
Throughout most of our lives, we have a moral compass which helps to guide and direct us into doing and living in a particular way. In today’s passage, we see during this point of Davis life his moral compass has strong integrity. Doing this point of his life, his father-in-law, Saul , is attempting to kill David. This attempt doesn’t happen once or twice, but several times. In each of these moments, David stands firm in his convictions of not harming God’s anointed. In this particular point of the passage, others are pressuring him to act, but he doesn’t give in.
”Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab’s brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?” And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.”“
1 Samuel 26:6-11 ESV
How many of us will have the integrity to leave something that we want or desire to do God’s will?
How many of us will allow the process of what God has in store for us to be given at the right time and not now when we want it?
What does God have in store for us and ready for us to receive if we let him give it to us, instead of grabbing it for ourselves?
Think of it as a nice hot cup of coffee that he has for us, but will give it to us when it’s just right. If we are in a rush the gift that is ready for us will scald us and not be as pleasant.
Have integrity and wait.
Be blessed