By: Steve Wilmot
Tonya Harding was the top U.S. women’s figure skater in 1991. She beat her chief rival, Nancy Kerrigan, in the 1991 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
A month later, she won silver at the ISU World Championships in Germany besting Kerrigan who won the bronze medal. But between 1991 and 1994, Kerrigan passed Harding as the top U.S. woman figure skater, and Harding didn’t take it gracefully.
With the 1994 Winter Olympics in view, Kerrigan and Harding entered the 1994 U.S. National Championships trying to earn a spot on the U.S. team. One day after Kerrigan finished her training for the day, a man attacked her with a telescopic baton. The assailant intended to break her leg and put her out of the Olympics, but he only bruised her leg badly.
An investigation revealed Harding’s ex-husband and her current boyfriend hired a third man to hurt Kerrigan. Further probes into the case exposed Harding as complicit in the plan.
Kerrigan recovered quickly enough to compete in the Olympics and took home the silver medal. Harding finished eighth, and after the Olympics the figure skating establishment banned her for life from competing professionally.
Sounds a lot like the jealous rivalry King Saul developed toward David. Saul suspected David was after his throne, and he had to take care of the threat.
In the days after David killed Goliath, there wasn’t anything he did to give King Saul a reason to suspect he had ulterior motives. David’s sole purpose was to keep the king safe and make him successful. Every contribution he made was to benefit Saul.
Scan this list of David’s contributions: Brought relief from evil spirits that tormented Saul with his music. Faithfully served Saul as his armor-bearer and later was promoted to a position of high rank in Saul’s army.
Submissive and obedient in whatever task Saul sent him to do. Never attempted to undercut Saul’s authority. Didn’t seek praise from the people.
Everything between Saul and David was hunky-dory. “Saul liked him very much” (1 Sam. 16.21). Until… “[T]he women came out from all the towns in Israel… singing and dancing with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’” (1 Sam. 18.6). Uh-oh.
After Saul heard the women praise David, the jealous king felt threatened by this popular, young folk hero who killed Goliath and succeeded in whatever he did.
Saul couldn’t possibly miss what was as clear as the nose on his face — the Lord had left him and now was with David. These factors led Saul to what he believed was an obvious conclusion: “What more can he get but the kingdom?” (1 Sam. 18.8).
Based on his conclusion, Saul saw only one solution: David must be eliminated. Thus began Saul’s singularly focused pursuit to remove his rival. The very next day, Saul hurled his spear at David trying to pin him to the wall — not once but two times.
Twice Saul offered David one of his daughters in marriage if he would attack the Philistines. Saul didn’t want a son-in-law.
He hoped the Philistines would kill him so he wouldn’t have to (see 1 Sam. 18.17). When those plots failed, Saul took it upon himself to hunt David down (see 1 Sam. 19-26).
But even though Saul plastered Most Wanted posters of him everywhere, David made a resolution he’d live by until God decided it was time to elevate him to the throne.
David’s response is unusual. Most people react emotionally when they are wronged by someone. I’m mad, so I’ll get even. I’m scared, so I’ll run away. I’m discouraged, so I’ll just quit trying.
But a resolution is a decision to act in a certain way even when emotions get in the way and tell you to do something reactionary. I’m mad, but I choose to leave the spear on the floor and not throw it back even though there’s nothing more I’d like to do but pin him to the wall with his own spear.
Notice four things David resolved to do:
- David continued to give his best to the king. He remained loyal and submissive, and he fought Saul’s battles as successfully as he did before Saul turned against him.
- David refused to get bitter. After each attempt on his life, David chose to forgive Saul.
- David refused to get even. He didn’t throw spears at Saul. We’ll even see David get two chances in the future to kill Saul, but he didn’t. Saul hunted him for 20 years, but David never said, “That’s enough. I’ve been patient long enough. I’m going to fight back.”
- David knew he would be king someday, but he left the timing up to God. Until then, Saul is the Lord’s anointed, and David won’t force God’s hand by killing him.
If you have a Saul in your life, the best thing you can do is what David did — don’t take matters into your own hands, leave everything in God’s hands.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.
