Peace

Some offenses are flat out more difficult to forgive than others. If you step on my toe in an elevator, it’s easy for me to say, “No problem, I forgive you.” And I doubt you’d ever give that incident a second thought. When the elevator doors opened, you’d exit and go on down the road in peace. But if your spouse has an affair, if your parents cut you out of their will, or your neighbor pulls a drunk and tears up your property, that’s when forgiving gets really hard. And you can pretty much forget about experiencing peace in your soul if you harbor bitterness (Hebrews 12:15).

Take, for example, the slap in the face that David experienced in 1 Samuel 25. David and his band of ragtag, redneck ruffians had been on the run from King Saul, who wanted David’s hide. While they were evading Saul’s troops, David and his men lived in the wilderness, where they took up the role of what you might call a “freelance security force” for a rich guy named Nabal. They provided his shepherds and flocks protection from wandering bandits. . . . Here’s where the plot thickens.

The custom in those days was to pay the wages of the security force during the time when the sheep were sheared. At the appropriate time, David sent ten young bucks to Nabal to collect their earnings. But Nabal told the men, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? . . . Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?” (verses 10, 11). In other words, Nabal, whose name literally means “fool,” dissed David big-time by acting as he’d never heard of him.

To say the least, this news rattled David. He was so mad he wanted revenge, and he wouldn’t rest until Nabal’s entire family was dead as roadkill. David commanded four hundred of his armed men to wipe them out. But Nabal’s wife, Abigail, got wind of how Nabal had mistreated David, and in her wisdom, she understood what David had missed: revenge wasn’t gonna be the road to peace and a good future for anybody, including him.

Abigail saddled up the donkeys with a load of bread, wine, grain, figs, and whatnot and rushed to head David off at the pass. Good move on her part. Abigail’s quest for forgiveness involved such love and kindness that—as we say in the south—it could make a hound dog hug a kitten on a frosty morning. Abigail’s peacemaking effort was so extraordinary that David was literally stopped in his tracks.

David, accepting her gift, overlooked the evil ways of her husband, and sent her away in peace. The writer of Hebrews says that we should make every effort to “pursue peace with all people” (Hebrews 12:14). That means even forgiving a “fool” like Nabal.

Taken from The Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible