Psalms 7:3-5

³ O Lord my God, if I have done this:

If there is iniquity in my hands,
⁴ If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me,
Or have plundered my enemy without cause,
⁵ Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
Yes, let him trample my life to the earth,
And lay my honor in the dust.  (NIV)

How many people do I know that are willing to sacrifice their worth, their pride, thein “honor”, their life, so willingly so that righteousness will be done?  How many people do I know that believe righteousness is so important that it must go forward as a priority over even their own cause?  Am I willing to believe in righteousness so vigorously?

An interesting thing to note here about David is he was very close to God in these extreme trials.  In battles with enemies or his king, he turned to God with complete abandonment of himself, as we all should.  In 1 Samuel 13:14 we read Samuel telling the king Saul, “the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler of his people”.  And in Acts 13:22, “God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’”  David was a man whose internal desire was pursuit of the purpose and character of God.  This he did, especially when in confrontations, battles, and trials. 

I have often thought that David’s fall came when he relaxed as a deserving king that didn’t need to be in those battles, leading and inspiring the men, but resting in the palace comforts while they fought.  I recently heard someone say that “happiness is the enemy”.  The point was that once they rested in comfort of accomplishments in life, they would stop achieving – they would lose their drive and their ability to take risk.  They would be unwilling to lose everything to achieve great things.  I wonder if David had lost some drive as king during his dark days of sin and had relaxed his pursuit of God’s righteousness.  (The response to this quote was, “if you can never let yourself achieve happiness, then you have already lost.”  I don’t know what the answer is to these opposing thoughts.) 

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

David has the most noble of thoughts here from his heart.  He considers that he is capable and may have done wrong to these people unknowingly.  Maybe they are justified.  If he’s actually done wrong to these people, then the just answer is for him to be dealt with properly.  That is honest repentance and putting God then others first.  We should strive to be so noble.