The result of trusting God

Then he said to David:"You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. – 1 Samuel 24v17-18

What can be the result of trusting God to do the right thing when living under persecution and oppression from those in authority?

In this instance Saul had to acknowledge that David was the better man. ‘You are more righteous than I am. You have rewarded my evil with your good.’

We can get so tied up in trying to sort things out our way that we can forget that there is a God in control of the whole situation. We forget that He can do a much better job than we can. We are so focused on what we perceive to be our rights and liberties that we forget the possible eternal consequences of those things in our lives.

Like David the church has often found itself opposed by those in authority. This pattern was set early on. From nearly the very beginning governing authorities have sought to silence God’s people.

What happens when we choice to trust and obey instead of complain and rebel?

The early church gives us an example. It took a while, but eventually Rome could no longer argue with the Christians. The Christians won. By the fourth century not only had Rome given them freedom to worship, but the authorities even officially asked the Christians to pray for them.

Will Durant writes of the believers in ‘Caesar and Christ: A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from their Beginnings to A.D. 325’

“There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned or oppressed by…emperors, bearing all trials with a fiery tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the word, brutality with hope, and at long last defeating the strongest state that history has ever known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena and Christ had won.”

What will be said of Christians today should this old world be here for another two thousand years?