Title: Dealing with anger
Date: September 13, 2008
Text: 1 Samuel 25:2-44
Introduction
- As a passenger boarded the Los Angeles-to-New York plane, he told the flight attendant to wake him and make sure he got off in Dallas.
- The passenger awoke just as the plane was landing in New York.
- Furious, he called the flight attendant and demanded an explanation.
- The flight attendant mumbled an apology and, in a rage, the passenger stomped off the plane.
- "Boy, was he ever mad!" another crew member observed to her errant colleague.
- "If you think he was mad," replied the flight attendant, "you should have seen the guy I put off the plane in Dallas!" - H.B. McClung.
- Today we want to talk about the subject of anger
- In particular we will look at an example in the Bible when David lost his cool!
Background
- This incident happened around 1000 BC
- Saul was the first king over Israel, and he had disqualified himself
- David had been anointed king by Samuel, under God’s instructions
- Saul was aware of this, and knew David would be his successor
- So he persecuted David, and wanted to kill him
- For this reason David was forced to live as an outlaw, for around 20 years
- That’s a long time to wait for something you have been promised!
- But this was a time when God was teaching David and preparing him for when he would be king
- Anyway, around 600 men, who were real outlaws, joined up with David
- He worked with them and welded them into a loyal and principled body of men
- Even though David was an outlaw he did not allow his situation to get the better of him, generally. He tried to keep the big picture and trust God to work things out His way
- So even though he was an outlaw, he did not act like an outlaw
- He kept out of Saul’s way, and used his resources to help the general population in the best way he could
The hurt
- One of the things David would do was to use his men as guards to protect landowners and their shepherds from robbers and thieves
- Now lets read 1 Sam 25:1-11
- David had done good to Nabal and his property – instead of thanking him for what he had done, Nabal stupidly insults David
- Nabal had a name to live up to
- He had a name that he was surly and mean in his dealings – verse 3
- This would have hurt David
- David had done good to Nabal and instead of being offered some food and refreshment (which Nabal was well able to afford), he is insulted
The anger
- David gets angry - He is furious
- He tells his men to saddle up, we’re going to teach this man a lesson!
- Verse 12-13
- This was an understandable reaction
- Isn’t it like us, when we think we’ve done good, and someone doesn’t respond in the way that we feel they should?
- We may feel anger rising when our good actions are not recognized or appreciated
- We want to take matters into our own hands and teach the other person a lesson too!
- Doing this may be a wrong thing to do, but our anger blinds us to the consequences if we follow through on our emotions
- The same thing happened here with David – he was blind with rage
The voice
- Then David hears a voice
- God prompts him to change the route he is going on, through someone coming to warn him
- Abigail, Nabal’s wife hears about what is happening and she goes out to ask David to reconsider his actions
- Verse 14-31
- She recognizes that David is in the right and that her husband deserves everything coming to him
- But she asks David to reconsider taking matters into his own hands
- She uses the way things would look as a way to wake David up
- 400 men going after one ungrateful and insulting individual
- That would not look good
- Often when we start getting angry, we sense a still small voice prompting us that this would not be good
- That voice tells us to reconsider and think about the long-term consequences
- The consequences of a broken relationship, the hurt and pain of unforgiveness and all the fallout that comes from venting your anger
The response
- David responds appropriately
- He listens to Abigail and accepts the words she says and takes them to heart
- Verses 32-35
- He does not want to be a king who has to look back at having murdered a man out of rage
- And so he turns back
- He repents and changes his behavior
- We need to do the same thing
- When we are angry and emotional about something that has happened, we need to listen to that reminder not to let our feelings run away with us
- Instead we need to do as David did, and allow God to work the situation out
- Verse 36-38
- God took care of Nabal
- David did not have to lift a finger against him
- We too should learn toallow God to fight our battles, and not want to go do it ourselves
- When we learn to allow God to take care of things, we will be learning to trust God and live in his peace
- We do not need to experience the anger that we used to do
- It will take discipline and not allowing our feelings to run rampant
Conclusion
- David had to learn a lesson here, from a woman he probably did not even know
- But he listened to that small voice that says, don’t do it, let it go, allow God to take care of it
- Listen to that voice, and learn to allow God to work things out
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