Wrath’s Response

So, we have listened in as Nabal let his mouth run away from him (we assume not for the first time).

We have watched as David let all of his pent up anger and frustration towards Saul get re-directed towards Nabal for the refuse he spewed from his mouth.

And we have seen Abigail step in the middle and reach out with an attempt at peace.

So, what happened?

³²And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! ³³Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! ³⁴For as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male.”

³⁵Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.”

-1 Samuel 25 – ESV

Whew!  David actually listened to Abigail!  He set aside his pride and truly heard her words and took them to heart.  Her household has been saved from certain death.

It was worth the risk.  Praise the Lord!

But that’s not where I want to focus…

David could very easily have chosen to ignore Abigail’s words.  He could have sought to save face before his men.  He could have stayed all tied up in knots and blinded by the rage he allowed to grow within him and turned a deaf ear to her.  He could have slain her where she knelt on the ground before him as the first of the household to die.

But he didn’t.

He stopped and truly listened.

He graciously accepted her rebuke and sought to do what was right rather than continuing to feed his pride.

It is so easy to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the truth when we have been offended!  I’m sure that David’s men thought that his reactions was just a tad bit extreme – I mean Nabal didn’t really owe them anything.  And while he said some things that were intended to ridicule, none of it was worth killing every man there over, was it?

Something in this tells me that David was just looking for a place to vent his frustrations over Saul.  Or maybe I just see that since I have been known to do that myself.  I can’t let out the anger and frustration I am feeling in one area of my life for a variety of reasons, but along comes a completely unrelated situation and boy howdy!  This new situation gets all kinds of “righteous indignation” thrown at it!  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.  Look out world – Hiroshima was just the warm up.

I must admit that I have been known to use a not-entirely-innocent bystander as the target for wrath that really should never have been directed at them simply because I needed an outlet and they happened along and offended me.  And their offense was so far overshadowed by my reaction that it was nearly ridiculous.  My anger got me worked up into a froth and I tried to get others on my side to agree with me that so-and-so needed to go down in a ball of flames.

Ouch.

The question is this: when I let my anger take over my better judgment in such a manner, am I willing to unstop the eyes and ears to see and hear truth as David did?

Unfortunately I have to answer that I too often am not willing.  I want to be angry.  I want to see someone – anyone – pay for hurting me or those I care for.  I want to make them feel the full force of my anger… even if they are not the sole cause of it.

But that is not how God wants me to react.

He wants me to get humble.  To recognize truth and listen to it.  And he wants me to recognize the bearer of this truth… and thank them.  Most importantly, I believe He wants me to forgive those who have given offense and spare them my wrath.

That means I have to swallow my own pride and be willing to look foolish in front of those who have seen me set out on the war path.  And it means that I also need to apologize to those who have been unfortunate enough to be the target of my wrath when they were not the only cause of it.

God is a God of love.  Correction – God is love.  We who call ourselves His people need to remember that we are the People of Love… and even when it is hard, even when it hurts to do so, we are called to love everyone – including those who have hurt us.

Admittedly I still have a looooong way to go.

How about you?