Churlish? – 24 April 2007

I wonder - are you familiar with the lives of Nabal and Abigail, and their interaction with David? It’s not a story often told, so if you have a spare few minutes you can re-read it in 1 Samuel 25 – here are the main points of the tale:

· Nabal was a very rich man who lived in Maon (a town in Judah)
· His wife Abigail was sensible and beautiful, but Nabal was surly and mean
· David (in the wilderness) sent messengers to kindly ask Nabal for food
· Nabal sent them back with a churlish reply
· David took 400 armed men to visit Nabal (not intending to greet him)
· Abigail heard about it and went ahead to meet David with a lot of food
· Abigail told David that her husband lived up to his name Nabal (“fool”)
· David was very pleased with Abigail and accepted the food gladly
· Abigail went home and told Nabal what she had done
· Nabal was furious had a heart attack and died 10 days later
· Not long after this David married Abigail

Churlish behaviour is sadly all too common in the church today. Sometimes I find myself reluctant to behave kindly to someone I think doesn’t deserve it – or I neglect to do something simple which has been asked of me out of self-centred thinking or spite.

Nabal died for his churlish behaviour – much better we kill off our churlish nature than have it lead to our undoing. Let’s follow the example of Abigail and undo wherever possible the churlishness of others! – and let’s try not to be Nabal-like in our nature.

Lord, help us to be generous and thoughtful in the richness you have given us. Amen