PANIC OUT, PEACE IN | 1 Samuel 24-25

INTRODUCTION

In life every day throws something at us—a traffic jam, a sharp comment by a friend, a sudden deadline. In those moments we face a choice. Will we stay calm, trust God and maintain our composure, or will we snap, shout, and hurt the people around us?

Today we will walk with David through two real-life situations in 1 Samuel 24–25. In the first, David is hunted by King Saul; in the second, he clashes with a rude rich man named Nabal. The same man, the same stress—but two very different reactions. In one David shows self-control; and the other David nearly explodes in anger.

Three questions to ponder:

1. How do I treat people when they treat me badly?
2. What do I do with power when God gives me a little authority?
3. How can I keep my emotions from running the show?

Turning Panic Into Peace

1 Samuel 24-25

David has been on this pilgrimage of problems.

1 Samuel 19-31(13 chapters)  covers 2-3 years of his wilderness experience, running from Saul.

2 Samuel 5-24 (20 chapters) covers 40 years of David as king over all Israel.

So we have 13 chapters covering 2-3 years where David is running as a fugitive from King Saul. Having problems is something that we call can relate to. We all have problems. David move from one problem to the next. We can’t always control what happens to us in life, but we can control how we respond to it. One needs to have composure in responding to life’s problems.

Immediate Context: Saul was after David. He was almost upon him, and a messenger came and said, “The Philistines are attacking,” and Saul went away to help with that problem.

1 Samuel 24:1

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.”

Now, this place in the wilderness provided a good hiding place. En Gedi was a place where there was plenty of water. It was an oasis in the wilderness; lot of water, limestone caves, great place for hide and seek.

1 Samuel 24:2-4

²So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.

³He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. ⁴The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said^[ to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

So David’s friends advised him using the voice of opportunity here: Your enemy is in your hands. This is the shortcut to the throne — and they were not good advisors. Friends can be good advisors at times, sometimes then can also be the wrong advisors.

And so we need to remember: Don’t act solely upon the advice of your closest friends.

1 Samuel 24:4b-6

^4bThen David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

⁵Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. ⁶He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.”

Do you remember way back when Jonathan first met up with David? He took off his robe and offered it to him symbolically — like, “This won’t belong to me. This will belong to you.” And David knew that what he had actually done was symbolically cut into Saul’s reign. He didn’t really cut into Saul’s reign, but it was his way of saying, “I want to do it.”

David was conscience-stricken.

Opportunity and Temptations

How can we tell the difference between opportunities and temptations?

You know, a lot of people look at mere circumstances and they say, “Well, the Lord opened a door,” or “The Lord closed the door,” as if circumstances were the only way we have to know what God wants us to do in a certain moment.

Example: How we just say that the Lord opened a door just because of circumstance? I just met this person at a café and he offered me a job. I know it is from the Lord. I need to resign from my present job.

You know, and I think God gets blamed for opening and closing lots of doors that he has never even touched. So it’s not circumstances alone. We need to discern and not just look at something that happens to us always as an opportunity. We need to take it to the Lord, seek the wisdom and direction of the Holy Spirit.

But back to David. Saul was still the Lord’s anointed. So that made his decision right there. Okay, it was not an opportunity for insurrection or murder because he was the Lord’s anointed. So David got over his guilt, and then he wanted to show Saul the proper respect.

1 Samuel 24:7-13

⁷With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

⁸Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. ⁹He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? (He was listening to advice that David was out to kill him.) ¹⁰This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ¹¹See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. (David brought the Lord into this.) ¹²May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. ¹³As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.

1 Samuel 24:16

When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud.

David’s words seemed to have softened Saul here in this moment. His response was much gentler. But I think David was wise enough to understand the cycle that goes on in someone who is emotionally or mentally disordered, like Saul was.

Cycle of Emotional and Mental Disorder:

And often a cycle goes something like this: We call them narcissists today:

• They sort of acquire a sense of superiority and entitlement.
• Then the next step is they place demands on people around them — sometimes extreme demands. We saw this last time; it came from Saul’s paranoia. He goes, “Why do you all conspire against me?”
• Then this gives way to cruelty. We saw this last chapter— Saul had 85 priests of Eli killed in the whole town of Nob.
• Sometimes the final step in the cycle is this great dramatic remorse and apology. And whether it’s intentional or not, the apology sometimes convinces the victim — in this case David — to soften, to drop their guard, to hope that things have changed, and hope that we can get back to normal.

Application: Some of you have lived in this cycle, experienced this cycle. Some of you have walked with a friend or a family members who has lived in this cycle, and it’s very, very difficult for everyone. It is very difficult for this person, Saul in this case to change. Not impossible, but without the help of the Holy Spirit renewing our minds, it is very, very difficult.

1 Samuel 24:17

¹⁷“You are more righteous than I,” (here is the apology part) he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. ¹⁸You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. ¹⁹When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today. (Here comes the let’s get back to normal part.) ²⁰I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. ²¹Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.” ²²So David gave this oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went to the stronghold.

Two simple lessons:

1. Behaving properly when we are mistreated.

We also can be mistreated and treated unjustly. We need to prepare ourselves to respond with respect and with mercy. This doesn’t come naturally to us. What comes naturally to us is to respond with revenge. We want them to suffer a little because they’ve made us suffer. That’s what comes naturally. But Jesus didn’t say, “Do unto others as they have done unto you.” What did He say? He says, “Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you.” This is our model. We all want mercy. We all want forgiveness. We all want respect.

2. Discerning properly when we are mistreated.

So, behaving properly and discerning properly.

I want to draw attention to the last phrase. It said, “Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.” There is a difference between showing mercy, showing respect, not taking vengeance — and allowing the person back into your life to have full access over your life again. Nothing had changed with Saul. His words softened, but he was the same Saul. And David knew it. David knew he couldn’t go back into his place and play the harp for him again. The spears would start flying again.

So, discerning properly. And there may be times in your life, or your loved ones’ lives, when this principle comes into play: showing respect, showing mercy, showing forgiveness — discerning properly but returning to the stronghold.

1 Samuel 25:1

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.

Now, Samuel was a giant in his day. He was the Billy Graham of his day. Israel loved him, and now they have lost their spiritual giant.

Did David go to the funeral? Was David able to go and grieve with all of Israel?

Well, his brothers had already come into hiding with him. He’d already sent his mom and dad to Moab. I don’t think he’s out in the open. So here is this opportunity for Israel to show respect and mourn for Samuel—and David is removed from it. I wonder how much that bugged him.

ILLUSTRATION

Remember the pandemic where we weren’t able to move about as we were accustomed to. It affected us emotionally in a lot of ways. We missed things too. We weren’t able to go to weddings, funerals, graduations and trips and reunions. And some people got their emotions all over the place, and they may have lost their composure during that time.

So, in the remainder of this chapter, we’re going to watch David give way to some of the harmful emotions that we attributed to Saul, developing some emotional challenges.

I’m not excusing David—”Well, he was grieving, so it’s okay”—you know, we don’t excuse ourselves in that. But it’s interesting that the writer gave us this one sentence to tell us what was going on, so that we might connect the dots a little bit to how he might have been feeling.

1 Samuel 25:2-3

²A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. ³His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.

Nabal means “fool, senseless.” I don’t think Nabal was his given name. So, I think he developed this reputation and developed this nickname along the way. He was harsh, had bad manners, intimidated everyone. And then here’s Abigail: She’s beautiful, she’s smart, she’s wise, she’s approachable. What a contrast!

So, it’s emphasized two times that his business was in Carmel. Now, let’s remember back in chapter 15, this is where Saul, on his way back from failing to obey the Lord and not wiping out the Amalekites, builds a monument to himself at Carmel. So, we can kind of guess that this is Saul turf, you know? And so, that might give us a little bit of insight.

1 Samuel 25:4-8

⁴While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. ⁵So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. ⁶Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

⁷“‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. ⁸Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time (plenty of food). Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”

Now, we’ve been educated right along about this business of the Philistines coming and raiding all the time. David’s men are there, helping watch over these sheep—nothing was missing. They provided a great service, a great protection. Now, Nabal do not want to return favour.

In the Middle East, in the Near East, hospitality was always held in very high regard. If someone asked you for something, you gave it. How much more if they had done something for you? This was shearing time. This means feasting time. This means food and drink are in abundance. It might be like our Christmas time. And so it was a reasonable request.

1 Samuel 25:10-13

¹⁰Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? (Well, everyone knew who David was. This wasn’t a question saying “Who is David?” Nabal was clearly siding with Saul immediately.) Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. ¹¹Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

¹²David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. ¹³David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

And David was set to take revenge on Nabal for refusing to tip his crew for what they had done.

This is a little bit shocking.

Is this the same David?

What has happened to him?

Is this a man after God’s own heart?

David’s response to Nabal is completely out of place. This is what we call overreacting.

Overreacting is the opposite of composure.

APPLICATION

I bet there have been days when you have been able to graciously overlook offenses that came your way. Maybe you didn’t notice, or maybe you were feeling particularly magnanimous, or maybe all of your emotions were in check that day and you could handle this one thing. And then I bet that there have been days that you completely overreacted to something that came your way.

So we can relate to this.

Illustration of overreacting. Overcooked meal, dropping water on laptop, coming late.

Alright, one problem with overreacting is that we tend to keep overreacting. It’s like muscle memory. We want to continue with the response that is most familiar to us.

1 Samuel 25:14-17

¹⁴One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. ¹⁵Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. ¹⁶Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. ¹⁷Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”

So Abigail flies into action.

1 Samuel 25:18-20

¹⁸Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them.

And now this is fascinating. We find David rehearsing his grudge.

1 Samuel 25:21-22

²¹David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. ²²May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”

David is rehearsing his grudge. Do you ever have to do that? Like you keep telling yourself why you’re so mad about something because you might forget if you don’t keep rehearsing it over and over again.

So he was not only rehearsing the offense, but he was rehearsing his revenge over the offense.

It is not worth rehearsing something, it’s not worth overreacting. Maybe we just need to let it go.

1 Samuel 25:23-27

²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. ²⁴She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. ²⁵Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. ²⁶And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. ²⁷And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

She approached David with humility, with respect, with loyalty. She named herself as his servant five times and she called him “my lord” thirteen times. So this is the foundation of their conversation.

1. She admitted that her husband was a fool. She wanted to make sure David knew she was unaware of those men of his that had come and asked for food.
2. And then she drew attention to the gifts of food that she brought with her. Of course, no man can resist a pot full of food — and that softens most emotions right there.
3. But lastly, she affirmed David’s purpose in life.

1 Samuel 25:30-31

³⁰When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, ³¹my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”

I think this is the biggest part. It’s just like how Jonathan reminded David what God’s purpose for him was. And Abigail used those same words: “You are going to be king. You don’t want this hanging over your head.”

I want to bring some lessons from this chapter.

Lessons from Abigail:

1. Words matter.

Proverbs 15:1

A gentle answer turns away wrath,

but a harsh word stirs up anger.

A soft answer.

2. Words have power.

Proverbs 18:21

The tongue has the power of life and death,

and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Lessons from David:

1. Anger is always seeking an opportunity to sprout and grow.

Anger is a seedbed. A seedbed is a place of growth and development.

Anger rides on the tails of other emotions like frustration.

Grief can be a seedbed for anger, because it’s so intense.

Despair can be a seedbed for anger, because it’s so hopeless.

Depression can be seedbed for anger.

Hurt can be a seedbed for anger. Rejection, sickness etc. can be seedbeds.

2. Guard our Emotions.

We must guard our emotions, because so many of them want to sprout into anger.

We can’t always control what happens to us in life, but we can control how we respond to it. One needs to have composure in responding to life’s problems.

3. Seek Help: Have a teachable Spirit.

A teachable spirit can prevent one problem from turning into many problems.

Proverbs 12:15

The way of fools seems right to them,

but the wise listen to advice.

Proverbs 15:31

Whoever heeds life-giving correction

will be at home among the wise.

David, in this moment, was taught by Abigail and showed that he had a teachable spirit. We need to have a teachable spirit.

Are you are suffering with emotional imbalance, anger? Talk it out. Seek counselling. Be open to listen and learn from others. We need to deal with it. How do I know that I suffer from emotional instability of anger issues? Listen to others, they will subtly speak it to you. Seek help.

1 Samuel 25:32

³²David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. ³³May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. ³⁴Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.” (We need someone to speak to us.)

³⁵ Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”

³⁶When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak.

How frustrating that the wife has just saved Nabal and everybody — and you come home and he’s drunk. That would make me mad. Like, you have no idea what I just did! But we see her composure in responding to this situation that she had no control over. This shows Abigail’s self-control, composure in responding to life situations.

1 Samuel 25:37

Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.

So he probably had a stroke or a heart attack or whatever.

1 Samuel 25:38

³⁸About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died. (The Lord takes revenge, we don’t have to take matters into our hands).

³⁹ When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”

Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. ⁴⁰His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”

⁴¹She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴²Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife.

Abigail becomes David’s wife. And then all the excitement all dies away in the next verse.

1 Samuel 25:43-44

⁴³David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. ⁴⁴But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Now, who is she? We don’t know a thing about her. And both of them became his wives. So we’re going to look at the complexity of those relationships at a future sermon.

The Larger picture: We see that God was fulfilling His purpose for David , the king-making aspect through these difficulties, these problems.

Psalm 138:7-8

⁷Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

you preserve my life.

You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes;

with your right hand you save me.

⁸The Lord will vindicate me;

your love, Lord, endures forever—

do not abandon the works of your hands.

David was the coming king. That was what God’s purpose was for him. And the problems that he encountered were developing his character, teaching him how to rely on God, training him to have composure in his responses.

And we, all of us, are still being sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This is God’s purpose for us. And the problems that we encounter are developing our character, and God is teaching us to rely on Him, and God is training us to have composure in responding to life’s problems.

We see two contrasts here: Overreacting to a problem or responding with composure.

We watch David respond both ways. We need to develop a habit of being composed.