Passage Read: 1 Samuel 25-28
Meditation Verse: 25:25
Thought
Everyone knew that Nabal was a worthless man and was impossible to speak to. They freely spoke of him this way to each other and to those who suffered at his hand! No one felt shame or guilt, and others were not offended to hear them speak thus of their master and husband! Shouldn't they have been convicted of speaking evil of him? Isn't that wrong? Or when someone is so truly, so thoroughly and so obviously this way, is it wrong to pretend it's not so? How awful Nabal must have been for people to speak so freely of his sin. Surely he knew people spoke of him like this! Did he not care, because he was so rich and people may have hated him but they treated him nicely to his face to gain his favor? They disrespected him behind his back, but honored him to his face. Even if he knew, he didn't care. For those around him, concealing his awfulness would be doing others a disservice. He didn't listen to rebuke or pleas for repentance, so what did he care if people freely spoke of his evil to everyone who knew or was experiencing it?
Application
Nabal is a frightening warning! People apparently aren't expected by God to cover up the wickedness of a horrible person! If someone is a fool and impossible to speak to, then it's apparently ok to tell others the truth! It's not a lie and it's not character assassination, because it's true! If I don't want others to be tempted to speak evil of me, I need to make sure the evil things they might say are utterly untrue! I can't just say that it's wrong to speak evil of others and so try to silence my critics, as of that will conceal my sin! Because apparently, if it's true and I'm not listening to rebuke or correction, it's not wrong for them to tell others about my wickedness! So if I don't want others to consider me unreasonable and impossible to speak to, then I need to be reasonable and hear those who try to speak to me, even when I don't like or agree with what they're saying. I need to have just cause for disagreeing, and I need to be humble in my disagreement and try to help them see where I'm coming from. Even if as a leader, I must decide against the wishes of others, I should make sure I understand where they're coming from before I decide against them. And if I hear that others are speaking evil of me, before I just try to shut them down, I should invite them to meet with me and air their complaints directly to me, and humbly and honestly consider how I've given that impression and whether they might be true. Then I can learn and repent and grow--and not become a target of God's justice on behalf of others!