Harvey Dent, Elijah, and David: What The Dark Knight Teaches Us About Galatians 6:9

The Aug. 5^th, 2025 YouVersion verse of the day was taken from Gal. 6:9 (NIV): “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”. While meditating on it, I thought of Harvey Dent, the District Attorney of Gotham in the Dark Knight. If you’ve watched, the Dark Knight, you’ll agree with me that it’s a cinematic masterpiece and easily the best Batman movie. Only the Dark Knight Rises can rival it from a DCU perspective.

The Dark Knight is a film with multiple layers but at its core it looks at one thing: what do you do when you’re pushed to your extreme and tired of doing good? This reminds me of an iconic line- among the numerous- from the movie: “This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object”. This was a statement by the Joker during movies climax, due to his disappointment at being saved by the Batman, as against letting him fall to his death. Thus proving his incorruptible nature in that moment. However, as we know, Batman was corruptible. Only God isn’t (Rom. 1:23)!

This brings us to the central character, Harvey Dent, The White Knight. So called because unlike the Batman, he believed in operating within the boundaries of the law. Until he was pushed to his limits, and he no longer did and embraced the darkness he set out to eliminate. This reminds me of Elijah- just after he had defeated the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:20 – 40)- he was threatened by Jezebel and decided he was done with this life (I Kings 19:2-4). I can imagine the thoughts going through his mind, after all the good he had done by ridding Israel of idol worship, false prophets, and drought, he was presented with an extreme- the threat on his life.

In that moment, Elijah must have wondered what else could he have done to get his reward. I remember listening to a message, and learning that as a result of his reaction, Elijah’s ministry began to wind down. In I Kings. 19:14-19, after complaining of being the only one, God sent him to anoint others and also revealed he had seven thousand others. Imagine Elijah’s surprise. Fortunately for Elijah, he strengthened himself in God and continued his ministry and received his reward (II Kings 2:11).

David also faced a long season where doing good seemed unrewarded; somehow, no matter what I’m writing about, David comes up. He really was a man after God’s heart (I Sam. 13:14, Acts 13:22). David was anointed King of Israel (I Sam. 16:13). Despite the fact that he was anointed King, David didn’t ascend the throne immediately. He went through a laborious and torturous journey. On several occasions, he had a chance to kill Saul but refused to do so because of the understanding he had (I Samuel 24:1–22, I Samuel 26:1–25). He also received his reward and became King. Time will not permit me to talk of Joseph, Job, Jesus, Peter, Paul and countless others (peep what I did here- Heb. 11:32; read the Hall of Faith and you’ll find many more examples).

Each of these people didn’t give up doing good. Even when they were pushed to the limits, and in some cases, it actually cost their life (e.g. Stephen, Acts 7:54-60). But they never gave up! One thing I must note, just like the YouVersion Aug. 5^th devotional did and as Heb. 11:39-40 does “we may receive that reward during our time on earth, or in heaven—but regardless of when we receive it, we should persevere in doing good.” As we enter the month of September, I charge you to ask yourself, are you Harvey Dent? Will you let the circumstances of life cause you to no longer believe in God and allow the devil take hold? Like Paul said- God forbid (Rom. 6:1-2 & 15)! Don’t let the Joker (the devil) convince you it’s not worth it. Don’t let life’s pressures turn you into Harvey Dent. Instead, hold fast—your harvest is coming, in God’s time (Gal. 6:9, Luke 12:32).

Photo cred: Gal. 6:9