Written by: Emma Kizlauskas - The Message

1 Samuel 24 v 11-15
“My father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe, but I didn’t kill you. Now understand and know I am not planning any evil against you. I did nothing wrong to you, but you are hunting me to kill me. May the LORD judge between us, and may he punish you for the wrong you have done to me! But I am not against you. There is an old saying: ‘Evil things come from evil people.’ But I am not against you. Whom is the king of Israel coming out against? Whom are you chasing? It’s as if you are chasing a dead dog or a flea. May the LORD be our judge and decide between you and me. May he support me and show that I am right. May he save me from you!”

Notes
There will be many times in your life when people will treat you badly and hurt you. It’s a natural reaction to want to hurt them back and get revenge. 

David had every reason and a perfect motive for killing Saul. Not only that, he had an amazingly engineered opportunity too. Instead of following his natural instinct, though, he chose to place it all in God’s hands and trust Him to sort it out in the best way.

It takes a very brave person to resist taking revenge, and it goes against everything inside of us. I think David is an amazing example to us – after everything Saul had put him through, he could still keep his anger in check and control his temper. Even more impressive than that is the fact that David didn’t say, “I hate you, but I’m leaving God to deal with you.” He actually repeated twice, “I am not against you.”

Just spend a couple of moments thinking about someone who has really hurt you. Decide today that not only will you choose not to hurt them back, you will also forgive them. David knew the secret that the only person affected by unforgiveness is you. He decided to forgive. Will you?

Prayer
Please help me, God, to be a person who is slow to get angry and quick to forgive. I don’t want to spend half my life being angry and bitter. I want to live in the freedom that you give when we hand all our hurts over to you. Amen

1 Samuel 24 v 16-19
When David finished saying these words, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he cried loudly. He said, “You are a better man than I am. You have been good to me, but I have done wrong to you. You told me what good things you did. The LORD handed me over to you, but you did not kill me. If a person finds his enemy, he doesn’t just send him on his way, does he? May the LORD reward you because you were good to me today.”

Notes
Every day we have choices to make. Some are really subtle and will make little difference to our lives, but then there are other choices that will affect our lives for ever - decisions like: “Do I go to uni or get a job?”; “Which job shall I do?”; “Where will I live?”; “Will I get married?”; “If so, who will I marry?” These are all major decisions.

We read in the Bible that David was a man after God’s heart, and it’s at times like this that we can see why. He was a man of integrity, he cared more about what God thought than man, and he was self-controlled. He was so impressive that even his arch-enemy started praising him and asking God to reward him.

We have opportunities every day to point people to Jesus through the decisions we make. We can either join in with everyone else and do God no favours at all, or we can stand up and be counted. Yes, this will draw attention to us, but when we use integrity in our choices we deflect attention from us onto God.

To get praise and encouragement from someone who loves us is brilliant, but for it to come from someone who hates us – that’s something else! I bet David was blown away when Saul started to cry and say how amazing he was, and I suspect that was reward enough for the choices he made.

Today, when you have decisions to make, think about their long-term consequences, not just about fulfilling your desires today.

Prayer
God, please help me to be a person of integrity as I live out my life. I want to please you in the decisions I make and if possible to point people to you because of them. Help me not to give in to temptation, but to take the exit door you always provide. Amen

1 Samuel 24 v 20-22 
“I know you will surely be king, and you will rule the kingdom of Israel. Now swear to me by the LORD that you will not kill my descendants and that you won’t wipe out my name from my father’s family.”
So David made the promise to Saul. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went up to their protected place.

Notes
How many times have you made a promise in your life? I’ve made so many I couldn’t possibly remember most of them. Sometimes I made a promise to get out of trouble, other times to pacify someone, and my favourite, to get information out of someone: “I promise never to tell anyone…”. Most of the promises I made, I never kept – my word meant practically nothing. 

In Proverbs it says that we will have to account for the words we speak. Even the promises we’ve forgotten all about are still remembered by God.

The contrast between David’s word and that of Saul is massive. In this passage, we can see Saul clearly believed David when he promised to spare his life because he went off home apparently satisfied with the outcome. Saul, however, repented to David and came across as being really genuine and nice, yet David went back to his hideout – a place that was inaccessible; a secret place. He didn’t trust Saul as far as he could throw him. Past experience had shown that Saul’s wild jealousy would drive him to keep pursuing David to try to kill him. The key to his jealousy and rage is found in the first verse: “I know you will surely be king, and you will rule the kingdom of Israel.” He knew his time of being king was over yet wanted to hold onto it as long as possible, even if it meant murdering David.

Are you someone who is trustworthy with the things you say and do, or do people have to take everything you say with a pinch of salt? Are you driven by jealousy or do you allow it to cloud your judgement? Ask God to show you how you are doing in these areas.

Prayer
Help me to watch what I say, to only say what I mean, and to be very careful when I make promises - that I keep them, and that I am honourable in the things I say. Help me never to be motivated by jealousy and to keep an open heart towards those I struggle with. Amen

1 Samuel 25 v 1-5
Now Samuel died, and all the Israelites met and had a time of sadness for him. Then they buried him at his home in Ramah.
David moved to the Desert of Maon. A man in Maon who had land at Carmel was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. He was cutting the wool off his sheep at Carmel. His name was Nabal, and he was a descendant of Caleb. His wife was named Abigail. She was wise and beautiful, but Nabal was cruel and mean.
While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep. So he sent ten young men and told them, “Go to Nabal at Carmel, and greet him for me.”

Notes
Firstly, however influential you may become in your lifetime, one thing is sure: you will at some point die. Make your days count. Write a list of things that you want to achieve in your lifetime and how you want to be thought about after you die. Stick this list somewhere you will regularly see it, and live your life with purpose and meaning. Don’t just coast along - fulfil your destiny!

The second thing is: think about how others see you as you are now. We all know that we are “a work in progress” and “God hasn’t finished with us yet”, and all the other clichés we could come up with. But at the end of the day, there is no excuse for being “cruel and mean” to people. It is interesting to see the descriptions that are given of Nabal and Abigail – what a contrast! The name Nabal means fool, possibly stemming from his obvious lack of judgement. But how on earth did someone like Abigail get stuck with the “husband from hell”? I wouldn’t like to guess, but I feel sure that she wasn’t happy! Be careful about the company you keep. Thankfully, Nabal didn’t influence Abigail in a negative way, but it is also clear that Abigail wasn’t able to change Nabal either. Don’t go into a relationship based on false hopes and marry someone you think you can change, because only God can change someone! 

Thirdly, you’re never too rich to be nice to people! Beware of putting your hope in anything as flimsy as money, because you’re likely to end up miserable and poor. We all need friends and people around us who care, and having money will never compensate for lack of good friends. 

Prayer
Help me, Lord, to make my life count today. I decide not to shy away from circumstances that help develop my character – I want to please you, God, in my attitudes and in the way people see me. Help me to be more like you. Amen

1 Samuel 25 v 6-8
“Say to Nabal, ‘May you and your family and all who belong to you have good health! I have heard that you are cutting the wool from your sheep. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harm them. All the time your shepherds were at Carmel, we stole nothing from them. Ask your servants, and they will tell you. We come at a happy time, so be kind to my young men. Please give anything you can find for them and for your son David.’”

Notes
Have you ever thought about how different our world would be if everyone who had a lot of money gave generously to others? We wouldn’t have such problems with poverty for a start. There are some Christian communities where everyone puts all their money into a central “purse”, and they all get to live on exactly the same amount. Can you imagine that happening on a global scale? It would be awesome!

God is a very generous God – He supplies everything we need, and everything we have comes from Him in the first place. 

Money and possessions are funny things. They can be taken away from us just as quickly as they come to us. A man I know has worked for a company for forty years, has an amazing house and a great lifestyle. Last week he was made redundant without any payout or pension provision. Everything he has worked for his entire life has been taken away from him, including having to sell the house. 

Don’t ever put your trust in the things you own. You are worth much more than that, but if you start to think that who you are is defined by what you have, you’ll fall into trouble very quickly. 

Nabal had been blessed with a lot, but he kept it all to himself. People continued to be kind to him and yet he did nothing for anyone. Don’t be like Nabal. It will never make you happy. Having possessions brings a temporary joy but it will never fulfil you. True happiness is found in being generous with the things God gives us. The more you give away, the more God will trust you with.

Prayer
Lord, help me not to be materialistic, trusting in “things” to make me happy. Teach me how to be generous with my time, my money and my things. Amen

1 Samuel 25 v 9-13
When David’s men arrived, they gave the message to Nabal, but Nabal insulted them. He answered them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many slaves are running away from their masters today! I have bread and water, and I have meat that I killed for my servants who cut the wool. But I won’t give it to men I don’t know.”
David’s men went back and told him all Nabal had said. Then David said to them, “Put on your swords!” So they put on their swords, and David put on his also. About 400 men went with David, but 200 men stayed with the supplies.

Notes
David had done everything he possibly could to please Nabal and do the right thing, and yet Nabal continued to insult him and refused to help David’s servants. David stuck it out for a while, but then he snapped and decided it was time to fight. 

Sometimes when people insult us, the right thing to do is to shut up and put up. In fact, in my experience staying quiet is often the very best thing you can do. Other times, though, it is appropriate to stand up and fight. This is particularly true when you come across a bully. 

I was bullied when I was at school for loads of reasons, but mainly because I was a Christian and an easy target. When I acted all wimpy it carried on and even got worse. As I got older and started to tell bullies where to get off (in the nicest possible Christian way of course!), they started to leave me alone. 

Nabal is a classic example of a bully and David decided to stand up to him. It’s clear that his intention was to kill him and all his men, but Nabal’s life was saved (although not for long!) when his wife pleaded with David not to kill him.

You may think that bullies only exist at school, but unfortunately bullies are of all ages. I’ve worked with a few bullies in my time, and it’s no different from being at school, except there’s no teacher to tell. It can be a very difficult situation to deal with. Sometimes you have to get on with it and ignore them, and at other times it is right to fight back. If you find yourself in a situation like this, ask God for wisdom to know how to deal with it. 

Prayer
Help me, Lord, to know when to sit down and shut up, and when to stand up and fight back if people mistreat me. Help me to be wise when dealing with difficult people. Amen 

1 Samuel 25 v 14-17
One of Nabal’s servants said to Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but Nabal insulted them. These men were very good to us. They did not harm us. They stole nothing from us during all the time we were out in the field with them. Night and day they protected us. They were like a wall around us while we were with them caring for the sheep. Now think about it, and decide what you can do. Terrible trouble is coming to our master and all his family. Nabal is such a wicked man that no one can even talk to him.”

Notes 
There are always consequences for our actions. There is a biblical law of sowing and reaping that applies to everyone whether they know God or not. If you sow to please the Spirit, you will reap eternal life, and if you sow to please the flesh, you will reap corruption. Nabal was cruel and mean to everyone he met, and according to the last verse, no one could even talk to him because he was so “wicked”.

It is easy to look at people like that and wonder why God allows them to have such good lives. For instance, Nabal was rich, he was successful and he had a beautiful wife. To anyone looking on, he had everything. He might possibly have got to the end of his life in peace, but he messed with the wrong man – a man that was walking in the favour of God. David walked in God’s ways and he taught his men to do the same. They did everything right and yet Nabal still couldn’t find it in himself to be kind. 

I always think that if you’re really nice to people, they’ll return the favour, and if it doesn’t work, I take it personally. Experience shows us that some people are just plain “wicked” and will never respond to kindness.

One thing we can take comfort in is that God sees everything we do, say and even think, and the same goes for the people around us, including our enemies. Don’t be discouraged when you see ungodly people prospering (the book of Proverbs talks a lot about this), because God knows, and ultimately, they will have to give account for their lives. Make sure that you are living according to God’s word, though, and keeping a short account with God. 

Prayer
Sometimes it is really hard, Lord, when the people around me seem to be doing better than I am. Please help me not to compare myself to others, but to keep my own life pure and holy. Help me to remember that you have all things in control and that you deal with people in your own way. Amen


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes