Sometimes in life, we find ourselves in situations that we don’t want to be in, but they are out of our control to change. These situations may even be morally compromising (or at least of questionable morality), so we find ourselves extremely uncomfortable, desiring to escape as soon as possible. Without a reasonable solution, we can have the temptation to just shut down or give up rather than persevere through the situation in virtue. But this is not the way of the Christian.
David once found himself in this type of situation. A war hero in Israel who had secretly been anointed to be the next king, David had to run from the current King Saul who sought his death out of jealousy. In this process, David has two opportunities to kill Saul, but he spares Saul, not willing to lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Even after showing this mercy, David finds himself exiled among the Philistines who are the enemies of Israel throughout the Old Testament. David and a Philistine king are amicable, but then a situation arises in which the Philistines must go to battle against the Israelites. David is called to fight against Saul and the Israelites. Faced with the difficult situation of fighting against His homeland or not repaying the kindness of the Philistines, David chooses to honor his hosts. David answers the Philistines simply, “You will see what we can do [in battle].” He and his men were to act as the Philistine king’s bodyguard. However, whenever the rest of the Philistine kings come, they refuse to fight with David because they believe that he and his men will turn on them. So David does not ultimately fight, but the battle does liberate him as Saul is killed in battle, allowing David to return to his homeland and eventually become king.
What have we learned from David? What must we do in these types of situations (great or small)? First, we must entreat the Lord. We see David do this often in his battles. He asks the Lord to give him direction and he waits for a response. We see that one of the fatal flaws of David’s predecessor Saul was that he took matters into his own hands and did not wait on the Lord but relied on his own desires and the desires of the people. When we are in a difficult situation, we must ask God to come into it and be open to Him working in the way that HE wants to work. Many times, we only attribute God working when things go the way that we want them to. But difficult situations can often lead to difficult and complex solutions. Things may get worse before they get better. We have to trust that when we ask God to act, He is moving!
The other thing we must do is look for the most virtuous thing to do in the moment, because that is where God can be found. For David, that meant defending the Philistine king who was showing kindness to him and his men, even if that meant fighting the nation he would be king of one day. David chose loyalty as his virtue, and God delivered him from the situation he was placed in because he eventually was not allowed to fight Israel after all. For us, when we are in these situations, we must show others ‘what we can do’ in a way that is virtuous and let God work within that. It is not an easy decision to make, but we must make it and trust that God is working.
The one caveat in all of this is that we should never make decisions that are morally sinful, and we should never use virtuous actions to aid and abet clear grave sin. This is why we need good formation and discernment to help us make prudent decisions. In all of this, we should remember that we are going to fail. We are not God. We live in a fallen world and these situations are tough. So we must not be discouraged! Whatever the situation, we must invite God in, wait for Him to act, and act virtuously with Him – trusting that He will transform our failures. He did with the patriarchs, He did with David, He did with the Apostles, and He will do the same with us. God will prevail in every circumstance (ultimately and eternally). Of this we are certain. But for us to prevail with Him, we must persevere with Him. For if He is for us, who can be against us?
