2 Samuel 2:5-6

So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, “You are blessed of the LORD, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him. And now may the LORD show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness, because you have done this thing.”

2 Samuel 2:5-6

David certainly wasn’t perfect, he had a number of issues that he would deal with in his lifetime. He wasn’t the greatest dad, he stumbled with women, he had his times of being self-willed. But one of David’s greatest strengths was his willingness to forgive his enemies. I think that’s one of the reasons he is called a man after God’s own heart, his willingness to extend the grace that he had received from the Lord to those who had done him wrong.

We see it in the mercy that David gave Saul as he was trying to kill David. We will see it in the way David blesses those of Saul’s family and how he deals with his own family when they fail him. We even see it here with these in Jabesh who love and honor Saul, this man who for years sought to kill David.

So who are we to keep any record of the wrongs that people had done to us? It can be one of the hardest things for some believers to do, but who are we to not extend forgiveness to others when we have been forgiven of so much by the Lord. With all his failures, David understood the mercy of God. May we forgive even as our Father in Heaven forgive us.

Pastor Doug Hardin