.... Me Yourself (1 Samuel 20:8)

 


Thursday, June 26, 2025


Psalms 137; 138

1 Samuel 19:18-20:11

Acts 13:13-25


Kill Me Yourself (1 Samuel 20:8)


[David said to Jonathan] “Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”


Getting into trouble is no fun. Especially if you don’t know what you have done to cause the trouble. Even more so if you actually haven’t caused any trouble yourself, but all the trouble is become someone else has problems they need to deal with themselves. And this is where David finds himself. Saul is jealous for his throne, but God is taking it away from him. David is the unlucky one who finds himself in the position of being the one to replace Saul, and so Saul is out for blood.


As we read in today’s lesson from Acts, David was man after God’s own heart. This is a phrase we find in scripture, even though we know that David was not exactly a paragon of virtue. What God found appealing in David is that David always turned to God when he found himself in trouble, whether because of his own sin, or because of someone else’s.


In today’s situation in 1 Samuel, David is at his wit’s end wondering what he has done wrong. And so he turns to his friend Jonathan, with whom he has made a covenant of friendship before God. If David has done something wrong and therefore broken his covenant, then let Jonathan be the one to execute justice.


And this is where the sting comes, because his situation is so relatable. We all know what it is like to be in trouble, wanting to choose who deals with us. We’ve all seen the cop shows where the two detectives will play “good cop, bad cop”, appealing to that basic human instinct to surrender to the one we hope will deal kindly with us. This is why we confess our sins to the Lord before we confess them to anyone else; why we often confess our sins to the Lord alone. Because we know that he will deal with us both with more justice as well as more kindness than any fellow human.


In Christ’s death, God was both just and the justifier. That is, God exhibited perfect justice in executing the punishment for sins on Christ. And he was also the justifier, in that by Christ’s punishment in our place, we may be considered justified, or righteous, or without sin, before God. Whenever we find ourselves in trouble, we would much rather God deal with us than anyone else. We can trust his decision to be perfect in every way, and that it will be covered in his forgiveness and loving kindness; blessed be the name of the Lord.


What is currently weighing on your conscience at the moment? Do you trust God enough to surrender to him and let him deal with it?


Lord of justice and peace, whose decisions are always wise and righteous: give us humble hearts to surrender to your judgements, that we may be forgiven in Christ, and raised to new life in him.

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