Dealing with the fools in Your Life – Set on Revenge #3b

Continued from yesterday’s post – July 16:

Most of us aren’t going to go out putting a sword in our belt just in case someone angers us today, so what relevance does David’s response have to us?

1. We can become like the person that is driving us crazy. Proverbs 26:4 – Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. David is now acting just like Nabal. He’s not only talking foolishly, he’s also getting ready to act foolishly. Do you want to become like the fool you’re dealing with? Then stay on your warpath!
2. It’s easier to see someone else’s foolishness and wrong doing than our own. It was easy for David to see how foolish Nabal was in his selfishness and arrogance, but he is blind to the foolishness of trying to get even. We all need wise people in our lives that can be like Abigail’s to us to reveal our sin.
3. Like David, we often justify our behavior. “If he hadn’t said that to me, I wouldn’t have gotten so angry and lost my cool.” “She just pushed me over the edge and I had to stand up and let her know she couldn’t run over top of me.” We reason out our foolish behavior until we feel we have a right to act in this ungodly way.
4. We will act out of what is in our heart. Nabal responded to David out of the evil in his heart. David’s actions came from the same place. We must guard our heart and keep ourselves in fellowship with the Lord so that what comes out is the fruit of Spirit and not our flesh.
5. We need to HALT when someone angers us. If you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired stop before you respond to someone that’s provoked you. David was all of these and it caused his actions to be even more severe.
6. We strap on our swords in several ways.
· With our words – Proverbs 29:11
· With our actions – Proverbs 14:22
· With our attitude – Proverbs 23:7a
· With our silence – Proverbs 12:16a
7. Anger insights more anger. We get fueled when someone does something to us, then our anger fuels them and so it goes. But Proverbs 15:1 reminds us that a soft answer turns away wrath; it extinguishes it just like a water hose on a flame.

I read the story about the Russian Czar Peter the Great and how fascinated he was with the study of medicine. One day one of the Czar’s valets came running to him and asked him to pull his wife’s tooth. Peter grabbed his dental instruments and followed the valet to his apartment. There Peter pulled the woman’s tooth, ignoring her cries of protest. Only several days later did Peter learn that the woman had never had a toothache at all. The painful extraction was her husband’s revenge for a domestic quarrel! Talk about a “tooth for a tooth.” My guess is the tooth that was pulled wasn’t one in the back, but one of the front ones that would be noticeable and humiliating! Anger insights more anger!

8. Too often we minister to others with a measuring stick in our hands. We are willing to love and serve others sacrificially, but with a certain set of expectations. We expect that the same kind of love and sacrifice be reciprocated. When in return for our doing good, our neighbor gives us evil, like David, we get hot under the collar and look for some way to retaliate. We forget that, like Christ, our words and deeds may bring about persecution and suffering rather than approval and gratitude. Our reward in heaven will be great, but there may be no such rewards on earth. The problem with acting like a servant is that people begin to treat you like a servant. Like Nabal, we don’t mind doing something if it’s our idea, but if someone asks us to do something we feel humiliated because we’re being treated like a servant!
Being a servant is why Christ came to this earth according to Philippians 2:7,8. He took upon Him the form of a servant. Oh, that we would take the image of our Savior and be willing to serve, even if there is no reward or recognition.

In the news just recently was the story of a doctor who had damage done to his car in a parking lot. It seems that someone came along and scraped the side of the automobile with their key. The doctor was furious and was set on finding out who did this crime. After several weeks of investigating, the name of the man that was the likely suspect was revealed. The doctor, set on revenge, took a sharp knife and a small pistol and headed to the man’s house with the intention of slashing the tires of the man’s car.

He left his car running at the end of the street and made his way to the man’s house. Once the doctor got there he set about on his mission. Hearing commotion outside, the man in the house came out to investigate. A tussle ensued; the gun was revealed, and then traded hands. In the end the doctor had been shot to death…all because he was determined to get even.

While we may not strap on a sword or even carry a pistol with us, we too, are often set on revenge. Using our words, our silence, a slammed door, or an attitude we cause death too – death of relationships, death of our Christian testimony, and death to a Spirit-filled life. If there’s someone that has angered you, stop! Think about what you are doing. “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. “ Stop and take off your sword.