5. Kindness
Our practical example of the fruit of kindness comes from the account of David, Nabal and Abigail. It takes place during David's wilderness wanderings. David's troops had kindly protected Nabal's shepherds and flocks and at shearing time, David made a simple request of Nabal for some food. Nabal (his name means "fool") responded abusively and derisively.David was incensed and set out with some of his soldiers to deal with Nabal.
Thankfully Nabal's wife, Abigail, understood the severity of unkindness and reacted quickly.
Here are some extracts from that account:
| One of the servants told Nabal's wife Abigail: "David sent messengers from the desert to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet 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. Night and day they were a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep near them. Now 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." Abigail lost no time. 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. Then she told her servants, "Go on ahead; I'll follow you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ... 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. About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died. (1Samuel25:14-38) |
This is such a powerful picture of kindness and unkindness.
David and his men are rough and tough soldiers. They're on the run from Saul. Protecting Nabal's flocks from stock thieves shouldn't be a priority for them, but in kindness they do it.
Nabal is wealthy and blessed, refusing David basic hospitality (and hospitality was highly prized in the Ancient Near East) is a crass act of unkindness.
The unkindness unleashes rage in David and he admits to Abigail that he was so angry that he was in danger of killing Nabal out of vengeance because he was so angry.
Abigail shows radical kindness which defuses the situation.
But Nabal is so entrenched in his selfish unkindness that he has a stroke when Abigail tells him what she did - and she had actually saved his life!
The Holy Spirit helps us to be kind.
However, we should always be aware of the dangers of unkindness.
Not only can it get us into trouble, but it can harden our souls.
Opportunities to be kind come when we least expect them and we should try to err on the side of kindness.
