Blake Allen
Dunbar Cave Campus Pastor
1 Samuel 25:14-19
14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
18 Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
Kindness goes a long way. It has the power and ability to diffuse imploding situations. It has the ability to diffuse developing tension. It brings calm to storms. It is the answer to hostility, disputes, and contention. The power of kindness can change the ending of a chaotic story. It is the power of kindness that spared Abigail and her family.
Her husband Nabal treated David and his army cruely. David protected Nabal’s shepherds, dealt honestly with them, and never took advantage of Nabal. Yet when David requested aid from Nabal he was met with rejection, hostility, and cruelty. In response, David gathered his soldiers with the intent of annihilating Nabel and all who were under his care.
Upon hearing this, Abigail responded by showing the kindness that Nabal should have shown to David. She prepared a gift for David and his men. It was this act that brought peace and calm to a potentially disasterous situation.
God also met us with kindness. Like Nabal, we did not deserve the mercy or kindness of God. Like Abigail, Jesus intervened by offering a sacrifice and gift that would bring peace. And the same kindness shown to us is the same kindness we should extend to others.
Like Nabal, there may be someone in your life that treats you or others you love with cruelty. How should we respond? Show the same compassion and kindness that Jesus has shown us. For we were cruel to God in our sin. But God showed compassion anyways. Who knows, maybe the kindness we show to our enemies will bring peace, reconcilation, and may even result in their salvation.