Cleaning Other's Messes

We all have those people in our lives, the ones who blow up, fly off the handle and we're left to clean up after them, apologize to others for them, etc. Don't have that person in your life? Maybe you should thank someone for cleaning up your messes. 

In Sunday school, we read about David's dealings with a man named Nabal. 1 Samuel 25 gives the account of David finding sheep shearers near Paran, south of Judah.  These men worked for Nabal, who's name, or nickname meant "Foolish" or "Boorish". He was a mean-spirited, selfish and downright stupid man. In exchange for getting his sheep sheared, David sent greetings and blessings to Nabal's household and also a unit of soldiers to protect Nabal's shepherds.  David was willing to take whatever compensation Nabal thought was right for this service, rather than demand his own price. 

So when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and waited.  Then Nabal answered David's servants, and said, "Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master.  Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?"   
1 Samuel 25:9-11

David gets his goodwill gesture thrown back in his face, and tells his men to arm themselves in case of trouble.  Nabal was the sort to create conflict where there was none and David would strike him down if necessary. The good thing about even a dunce like Nabal was that he had married up.  His wife, Abigail, was a wise and levelheaded woman.  One of David's men went to her and explained the situation.

Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.  And she said to her servants, "Go on before me; see, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal. So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them.
1 Samuel 25:18-20

She hurried to meet David, who was already prepared to rain havoc on Nabal and his household. Abagail begged forgiveness for her husband's foolishness and prayed that as the Lord had blessed David that he would in turn bless Nabal and not take action against him or his men.  David relented and blessed Abagail in the name of The Lord. 
Abagail then went back and waited to tell her husband (he had prepared a feast for himself and was drunk) that she had pulled his fat out of the fire. When he heard the report, he had a stroke and later died.  (See 1 Samuel 25: 25-40)

When an unreasonable person acts against us, we might first want to act in turn to such a person. Our best reaction is forgiveness, even in the absence of an apology.  When someone we are responsible for acts foolishly (your kid breaks a window or picks a fight, etc.), we should do everything in our power to set things right if they won't .  As much as is your responsibility, be a good neighbor and friend to those around you.  We are, after all, representatives of Christ and are called to be peacemakers as well as Truth-bearers. 

 Avoid the Nabals of the world if you can, but if you have one or two in your life, be prepared to be a bridge builder.  If you're insulted by such a person, bless them anyway and do right by them so that you will find favor with God. They may not conveniently drop dead, but they will have shame on their heads.