John 7:24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.
When the Lord judges or makes a decision, He does so based on His ability to see beyond the physical appearance.
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
One of the hardest lessons for us to learn, is to begin to see things that happen in our life from the Lord’s perspective. To transform our minds from the way that we think, to the way that Jesus thinks. To look beyond what people say and do, to the real heart of the matter. To look at situations from the perspective that the Lord is really in control here, and ask the question: “what is He doing, what is He trying to say to me?”
In the book of 1 Samuel chapter 25, David and his 600 men are traveling to Samuels’s funeral, and while on the way they have become hungry. David approaches a man by the name of Nabal to ask him to return a little kindness to him and his men by feeding them from the same flock that David had previously protected for Nabal.
It is certainly a very reasonable request, and it would meet a practical need that David has; “My men are hungry…”
It is important to remember that people are not always going to meet your expectations when you approach them with a reasonable request. What makes perfect sense to you, will not necessarily be acceptable to everyone else. More often than not, people will meet your expectations with rejection, harshness, and lack of consideration.
1 Samuel 25:9-11 So when David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited. Then Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. 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?”
After David’s reasonable request, Nabal responds to him with harshness, selfishness and does not seem to care at all about the needs of David and his men.
“Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse?” is a term that in today’s terms would mean: “Who do you think you are David asking me to feed you and your men. I could not care less about you and your problems.”
David’s response is similar to how we might react to someone should they meet our request in a time of need with such harshness:
1 Samuel 25:12-13 So David’s young men turned on their heels and went back; and they came and told him all these words.Then David said to his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.
Very often, we have the same problem that David has. We quickly respond to people without first having prayed about how to respond, after we have given a little time and thought to what we should say or do..
The Lord has strategically placed a young man who works for Nabal in the path of David to give him a chance to do the right thing:
1 Samuel 25:14-17 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he reviled them. But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him.”
Very often the Lord will give us a chance to say and do the right thing in any given confrontation or problem that we have with people. The mistake we make is that we are not always looking for the Lord’s perspective or response, we want to do things our way. If we are looking, the Lord will show us a way of escape from a difficult situation:
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
I believe that the Lord has strategically placed this young man in David’s path to stop him from making a terrible mistake. This young man who works for Nabal will go to Nabal’s wife Abigail and inform her of what her husband has done. She will in turn go out and meet David with gifts and an apology that will stop David’s wrath and the potential loss of many lives.
1 Samuel 25:23-28 Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. Please, let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal…
1 Samuel 25:30-34 For the LORD will certainly make for my lord David an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and evil is not found in you throughout your days. And it shall come to pass, when the LORD has done for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel, that this (event with Nabal) will be no future regret to you, nor offense of heart to my lord…
Then David said to Abigail: “Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. For indeed, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!”
David finally has his eyes opened and now sees things from the Lord’s perspective.
In our walk with the Lord today, it is important to remember that we are going to have problems with people and certain situations of our life. If we will stop and pause and ask the Lord what He wants for us to do and how we should respond before we respond, we will always make a much better decision than if we just go ahead and respond based on our own perspective of the problem. Watch also for those people like the young man and Abigail who the Lord places before us, to give us good advice and a reason to pause in our intended actions or spoken words.
Rob Robinson
