Have you ever had someone tell you something you very clearly did NOT want to hear? Maybe it was something as minor as pointing out that you had some mustard stuck to the corner of your mouth. Maybe it was letting you know that your child behaved in an inappropriate way that day at school. Or maybe it was revealing a character issue of which you were unaware.
Whatever the case was, did you thank them or curse them? Did you leave thinking “what a jerk!”, or leave thinking “I am so glad they told me the truth!”
David had that decision to make as he made his way to kill a man that had wronged him. Before he could arrive, the man’s wife came to meet him and plead for her husband’s life. Abigail reminded David of the foolishness of her husband, the care the Lord had given David, and the blemish it would be on his name to shed needless blood. David had every reason to be angry with her. How dare she approach him! He could have ignored her, laughed at her or even taken her life. But this was his response:
David replied to Abigail, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me today! Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands.” 1 Samuel 25:32-33 (NLT)
He thanked God and he thanked her! He thanked God for sending her and for her good sense. He thanked her for keeping him from doing something stupid. This woman showed an amazing amount of courage in confronting him. Not only did he thank her, he changed his behavior based on her actions.
So how about you and I? How do we respond when people tell us things that we need to hear but don’t want to hear? Do we thank them or curse them? Do we listen and learn from what they say, or dismiss it? Do we allow for the possibility that someone else could see something in us that we don’t see, or just assume they are wrong?
Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. Proverbs 27:6 (NLT)
Would we have preferred that they let us walk around with mustard on our face the rest of the day? Really?
