Breaking through a web of bitterness

1 Samuel chapter 24 tells the story of King Saul with his troop of soldiers as they combed the En Gedi to destroy David and his small band. As David and some of his men hid in a cave, Saul approached and went into the cavern to go to the bathroom.

According to some rabbinical tales, a spider wove a web across the mouth of the grotto; therefore, the royal guards made no search since they were sure no man or beast could be inside. (I figure the spider was probably not an ancestor of Wilbur's friend Charlotte who wrote "Some Pig" in her web; thus, identifying her as a pro-pork, non-Jewish arachnid.)

Anyway, King Saul decided to sleep in the cave, and as he slept David cut off a corner of Saul's robe. David's men urged their leader to kill his enemy, but David refused to hurt Saul or allow his men to harm the king.

Later, as Saul traveled on his way, he heard the distant shout of David at his back. David waved the cloth, and Saul realized that David had spared his life. Convicted of his malice toward a man who'd shown him mercy, Saul repented and took his troops home -- until he changed his mind and started the next manhunt for David.

David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in that cave with Saul as 3,000 soldiers blocked his escape. I think most of us can relate to his cry, "Be merciful to me, God; because I come to you for protection. Let me hide under the shadow of your wings until the trouble has passed. Enemies, like lions, are all around me; I must lie down among them."

We understand David's fear, cries of desperation, and especially his overwhelming joy and praise when he saw that "they dug a pit in my path, but they fell into it themselves," but most of us probably question his forgiveness. We would have said, like "Dirty" Harry in "Sudden Impact," "Go ahead, make my day," and pulled the trigger on our Smith & Wesson .44 Magnums. Thanks to David's forgiveness, he spent a lot more years sitting in caves with spiders instead of sitting on the throne.

As David tried to explain his actions to his angry men, he probably sounded a lot like Jesus when he cried from the cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

It's how we're all supposed to sound because Jesus said, "But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you. If you do this, you will be true children of your Father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on good people and on evil people, and he sends rain to those who do right and to those who do wrong" (Matthew 5:44,45 NCV).

Resentment, anger and bitterness imprison us while amnesty, reconciliation and tolerance are medicine to our souls. God lavished his mercy on us at Calvary, and he demands that we extend it to our fellow man in Colissians 3:12,13: "Get along with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you" (NCV). As we generously grant God's grace to others, we receive grace for our own lives.

Mercy cost Jesus his life, and it usually costs us our pride and self-centeredness because we have to put ourselves in others' shoes and do unto them what we'd want done to us. We can choose to be egocentric and self-righteous, or we can love others as God loves us. Forgiving, especially when people don't say they're sorry or act like they appreciate it, takes kind-heartedness and magnanimity that looks a lot like Jesus. It moves us out of the dark cave of anger and bitterness into God's Sonlight.

June Seabaugh is a member of Christ Church of the Heartland in Cape Girardeau.