v 23. He (Jesus) did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
Here is a very good starting point when things are getting tough or people are on at you without real cause – leave your case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. It is counter-intuitive not to defend yourself nor try to get your own back, but that is the way Jesus went. It is the way David went too; God had promised to make him King and so he did not need to take matters into his own hands and murder Saul. He was content to leave God to work out the plan He had decreed.
This whole business of not reacting spitefully, or vengefully, comes hard for some of us – if not all of us. Saul saw it as an act of kindness on David’s part (1 Samuel 24:18), so perhaps we might think of kindness and mercy as being much the same thing.
The issue for most of us is how to cultivate this kindness and mercy in the everyday rush and hassle of life. Certainly we should be praying for this attitude as it is part of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22), but we also need to practise it in the little things of life so that the habit of kindness becomes a significant element of our daily routine. The old habits of holding doors open for people, offering car lifts to those who might need them, sharing meals with the lonely, helping with shopping and such like, all help to build a framework in which kindness becomes part of our faith-distinctive.