I Samuel 25: 1-44, Psalm 18

I know that when we read accounts like this of David and Nabal we see God destroying men because they were evil. We read Psalms like 18 and hear David praising God for destroying men who were his enemies. And we may be tempted to think that’s how God operates yet today.

I knew a woman who always said… what goes around comes around. She believed with all her heart that anyone who mistreated her would get a pay-back sometime in his or her life. (never heard her say what would happen to her when she gossiped or bullied someone else. But I digress)

Some people believe in karma. I don’t.

I know I often say that God today is the same God of the Old Testament. He absolutely is. He is holy and demands holiness of us. His rules for living have not changed.

But I have also said repeatedly how glad I am that, after the cross, we are not called to kill people like the Old Testament people were. Our enemy is not flesh and blood in God’s spiritual kingdom which he ushered in when Jesus rose from the dead. That’s why a pastor once told me to read the Psalms picturing the enemy written about as Satan. Makes those Psalms relevant in my life.

Here is what God says about people who we might consider enemies. Love them. Pray for those who spitefully use you.

Look at Jesus’ example of how to treat people who wrong you.

If something bad happens to someone who has treated you unfairly, don’t rejoice. Pray for them. What happens to them is not about you. It’s about God trying to win them to himself. God, who is not willing that any should perish, loves that person whether we do or not. He died for him or her the same way he died for us.

Someone said the best way to get rid of an enemy is to make him your friend. I’d go one step further. Introduce him to your Savior!

I don’t know who has mistreated you. If you are in an abusive situation I certainly don’t recommend you stay there. If there are bosses you need to tell or parents who need to know or police who need to deal with it I pray you will have the courage to stand up for yourself and tell someone.

But my prayer is that we all will be faithful to God’s Word and pray for those who mistreat us. That’s what God says to do so it must work.