What Do You Do When Someone Throws a Spear at You?

It is remarkable that David never seemed interested in becoming a skilled spear thrower. Human nature tells us exactly what to do. Pull the spear from the wall, throw it back, and prove your strength. Defend your reputation. Win the argument. Get even. Make sure everyone knows your side of the story. Our flesh applauds retaliation because it feels like justice. Yet had David chosen that path, he might have won the argument but lost the heart God was preparing for a king. God was never merely watching David's ability to avoid the spear. He was watching David's response after the spear had been thrown.

The temptation to return the spear is powerful because retaliation often disguises itself as righteousness. We convince ourselves that we are defending truth, protecting the ministry, standing for justice, or exposing error. While there are certainly times to defend biblical truth, there is also a dangerous place where wounded pride begins masquerading as spiritual zeal. It is possible to be technically right while possessing a heart that has quietly become bitter. Servant leaders must continually examine not only what they are defending but also the spirit in which they defend it.

David understood something many leaders never learn. Every spear thrown at him became another opportunity for God to shape his character. The throne was not preparing David for the spear. The spear was preparing David for the throne. God was asking a far deeper question than whether David could survive opposition. He was asking whether David could experience injustice without allowing injustice to transform him into another Saul. There is a profound difference between escaping a spear and becoming a spear thrower. One preserves your life. The other changes your heart.

Years later, David stood over Saul in a cave while the king lay completely vulnerable. His own men urged him to take revenge. They believed God had finally delivered justice into David's hands. Yet David refused. "Far be it from me because of the Lord that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to reach out with my hand against him." 1 Samuel 24:6. David understood that character is revealed not when we have no opportunity to retaliate, but when we possess every opportunity and still choose mercy. The greatest victories in leadership are often the unseen victories won within the heart.

This principle reaches its highest expression in the life of Jesus Christ. No one has ever endured greater injustice. He was falsely accused, mocked, beaten, rejected, abandoned, and crucified despite living a completely sinless life. Yet Peter writes, "While being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously." 1 Peter 2:23. Jesus possessed all authority. He could have called legions of angels. Instead, He entrusted Himself to the Father. Servant leadership reaches its greatest maturity when it refuses to answer hatred with hatred and chooses obedience over retaliation.

Paul echoes this same principle when he writes, "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God." Romans 12:19. These words are not a call to weakness. They are a call to trust. Revenge assumes that justice depends upon us. Faith believes justice belongs to God. Servant leaders are called to obey faithfully while trusting the Lord to deal with what only He can judge perfectly.

One of the greatest dangers in ministry is not simply being wounded by someone else's spear. It is carrying that spear into the future. Wounded leaders often wound others. Rejected leaders sometimes become rejecting leaders. Controlling leaders frequently learned control from someone who once controlled them. Unless God heals our hearts, yesterday's wounds quietly become tomorrow's leadership style. This is why brokenness is so essential in God's school of servant leadership. The Lord desires not merely to remove the spear but to remove the bitterness that the spear attempted to plant.

Healthy servant leaders continually surrender these wounds to Christ. They pray for those who have hurt them. They guard their hearts against resentment. They refuse to build ministries around proving critics wrong. Their identity rests in Christ rather than public approval. They understand that every painful encounter becomes another opportunity to become more like Jesus. The goal is not simply surviving difficult people. The goal is allowing every difficult person to drive us deeper into dependence upon God.

Perhaps someone has thrown a spear at you recently. Maybe the wound is fresh. Maybe it happened years ago, yet you still carry it in your heart. The Holy Spirit gently asks the same question today: What are you going to do with that spear? Will you sharpen your ability to throw it back, or will you surrender it to the Lord who alone judges righteously? The answer to that question may shape not only your future ministry but the kind of leader you become.

Never forget that David became known as the shepherd king, not the spear thrower. His greatness was not measured by how skillfully he defended himself but by how faithfully he trusted God while others sought to destroy him. The same Lord who formed David still forms servant leaders today. He is looking for men and women who will refuse to become what wounded them, who will overcome evil with good, and who will leave justice safely in His hands.

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21