In I Samuel 24:12 David cries out to Saul: “May YHWH judge between you and me …”. David had tried and tried to convince Saul that he was not “out to get him”, but to no avail. Despite many “reconciliations”, Saul continued to turn on him, and would always renew his persecutions. David’s final appeal, then, was to the Lord: “May Yahweh judge between you and me.”

There was nothing more David could do about this situation; he did not want to raise his hand for violence against Saul and thus break God’s Law (“my hand shall not be against you”), so the only recourse he had was just to appeal to God: “May the Lord avenge me on you.”

David is a good example for many of us. Rather than try to “take things into our own hands”, we need to do what he did: commit that offending person, or that hurtsome situation, to God. He certainly knows what to do with them, and when He does, we will not have been guilty of breaking God’s Law in our own response to them. This is just what the New Testament enjoins us to do in Romans 12:19, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

So if someone has offended or hurt you — or continues to — don’t seek to repay them yourself. Instead, learn to make David’s appeal your own: “May the Lord judge between you and me”!