{"id":22926,"date":"2013-12-11T17:30:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-11T17:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?p=22926"},"modified":"2017-12-31T09:47:10","modified_gmt":"2017-12-31T09:47:10","slug":"returning-good-for-evil-even-when-a-relationship-is-beyond-repair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/12\/returning-good-for-evil-even-when-a-relationship-is-beyond-repair\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning good for evil even when a relationship is beyond repair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>\u201cAn eye for an eye\u201d <\/strong>says Leviticus 24:17. We often fail to realise that this was a great gift from God to the Jewish people. In an age when food was scarce, when your enemies were plentiful, and when only the strong survived, it was typical for retribution to be much fiercer. For example, if someone from a neighbouring village stole a bit of corn from the fields, why not pillage and burn the whole village in response? God asked his people to limit their retribution to no more than was taken. A radical idea. And yet it was only the first step.<\/p>\n

Till today, it is common to hear people say something like \u201cif he or she would just be nice to me, I would be nice to them.\u201d<\/strong> This is nothing more than the \u201ceye for an eye\u201d principle. Sit, wait, and wait some more for your enemy to become your friend. Meanwhile he or she is sitting and waiting for you to do the same. Or, worse yet, a feud continues. Harsh words are exchanged. All the while, the protagonists justify themselves because \u201che started it!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

David shows us a different way in 1 Samuel 24. Given the opportunity to kill his enemy who had already tried to kill him several times, he declined.<\/p>\n

He did this because he was a good man, a man after God\u2019s heart. \u00a0He did it because it is always wrong to commit cold blooded murder. He did it because it was not his place to depose the God-ordained King. \u00a0He did it because he was not selfishly trying to grab ahold of that which he knew God had called him to. \u00a0He was content to wait for God\u2019s timing.<\/p>\n

It is a beautiful scene, to see the tenderhearted David concerned that he had reached out his hand and done this superficial harm to the King. \u00a0\u201cTouch not the Lord\u2019s anointed\u201d says Psalm 105:15, and despite the many grotesque distortions that exist of that verse, it does have something to say to us. \u00a0There are some things that verse doesn\u2019t mean for example:<\/p>\n