grace? forgiveness?

I am moving ahead in the bok "Facing Your Giants" by Max Lucado. By chapter 3, he has already talked about how David took his eyes off the Lord when he was running for his life, and some of the things that transpired from that. Some very interesting thoughts, you should read the book. But then he got into how David had, not one, but three opportunities to kill Saul. He was running for his life after 6 attempts were made to end it, all by Saul. David prayed for Saul. He showed him grace. "It's one thing to give grace to friends, but to give grace to those who give us grief? Could you? Given a few uninterrupted moments with the Darth Vader of your days, could you imitate David?" Job 5:2 tells us that "Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple."

"Vengeance fixes your attention at life's ugliest moments...Will rehearsing and reliving your hurts make you a better person? By no means, it will destroy you." (Lucado)

How is this possible? David accomplished it by looking at Saul as God did. After all, he was "God's annointed king." "David didn't applaud Saul's behavior; he just acknowledged Saul's proprietor-God. David filtered is view of Saul through the grid of heaven. The king still belonged to God, and that gave David hope." Again, this gave me chills. Did David honestly have HOPE for Saul? Acccording to Lucado, God would say '"What he did was unthinkable, unaceeptable, inexcusable, but I'm not finished yet."' I am SO glad that God isn't finished yet.

One last quote from Lucado says, "Your enemies still figure into God's plan. Their pulse is proof. GOd hasn't given up on them. They may be out of God's will, but not out of His reach. You honor God when you see them, not as His failures, but as His projects."

Ok, I was wrong, here is another quote. "To forgive is to move on, not to think about the offense anymore. You don't excuse him, endorse her or embrace them. You just route thougths about them through heaven. You see your enemy as God's child and revenge as God's job....We, like Saul, have been given grace. We, like David, can freely give it."