bad circumstances

Read I Samuel 25 and Galatians 5

And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword. God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.” I Samuel 25: 13&22

Really? David, the man after God’s own heart, was going to cut in pieces every male of the household of Nabal and Abigail. Picture that in your mind. Imagine the slaughter of real human beings taken by surprise by this most godly of saints; this tender, gentle man who wrote the most sensitive poetry in all of Scripture. 

But though we today are rightly shocked by what David was about to do, nobody in his day or in his neighborhood expected anything else. Nabal, fool that he was, had gone way over the top in insulting the most powerful warlord in the neighborhood. His servants knew they would all be dead men. One was wise enough to tell his mistress about what had happened and she flew into action knowing what would soon take place. 

Fortunately for David, Abigail brought him to his senses. Somehow she knew he was more than just another warlord. As she met him coming in to have his bloody revenge, she said, “Now as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, He has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand.” I Samuel 25:26

David’s circumstances were not his own doing. He had no choice but to flee from Saul. The men that joined themselves to David were desperate men. They needed a leader and David had been ordained to be a leader of men. But his circumstances made it natural for him to respond in a most ungodly way.

Paul wrote to Titus that he needed to rebuke his Cretan brothers sharply. Why? Because they were Cretans, and Cretans are, “always liars, evil beasts, and gluttons.” Titus 1:12. 

Too often we put ourselves in circumstances that make a bad response the most natural response. A young couple who get engaged with the idea of getting married in one or two or three or six  or seven years in the future put themselves in a circumstance where it becomes natural for them to have an immoral physical relationship. A man (or woman) who takes a high pressure, high paying job, puts himself in a situation where he typically will have little time for his family and no time for the Lord. But, sometimes, like David, we end up in situations where sin is right at the door. Thankfully, Abigail came to David’s rescue. 

May we all be like David, willing to come to our senses when a brother warns us we are rushing into spiritual disaster. 

And may we all be like Abigail, courageous enough to plead with a brother who we see is in a situation where he will naturally fall into sin.