Scamway (Ordinary Time - Day 50)

1 Samuel 25:1-22

David and his men make their way to the wilderness of Maon. They run into a bunch of shepherds out there, and David thinks, "I need to get back into the sheep business." So he develops a plan. He and his men will form a wall of protection around the shepherds while they're tending their sheep. This way, he can get in with the owner of the business, who happens to be very prosperous. 

Sheep equal gold. To have a lot of sheep is to have prosperity. David has a B.S. in sheepherding, so he devises a pyramid scheme. We've all heard the phrase, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine."

David's under the assumption that if he takes care of these sheepherders, he can tap into the well of prosperity too. He can simply get in with the owner and get an investment for his future in kingship. 

David's plan doesn't work out that well. He sends his men to talk to the owner of the sheep. His name is Nabal, and he's very prosperous. He's also very mean. David sends them with this message, "Hey man. We're here on behalf of David, Jesse's son, and we just want you to know that we took care of your shepherds out in the wild. We didn't take advantage of them, and didn't bother them at all. We even formed a wall of protection around them while they were tending the sheep. How about sharing the feast, huh?"

Nabal's like, "You expect me to bring out bread, wine, and freshly butchered meat for a bunch of scrappers I've never even laid eyes on? Who is this son of Jesse anyways?"

David's men get out of there and head back to report what Nabal has told them. David's response is much different than in his interaction with Saul. Just a little while prior, David had the chance to somewhat justifiably kill Saul, and he knew him personally. David spent time with Saul, and Saul turned on him. Saul has been chasing him for months, and David's been revolving his whole life around not being murdered. Yet, he gets on his knees and shows compassion to Saul.

With Nabal, the story is a lot different. Enter the human condition. David expected Nabal to return the favor, and all he returned were insults. David's response is, "Grab your swords! I'll be damned if Nabal and everyone in his family aren't dead meat in the morning!"

Nabal's wife Abigail gets word from a young shephered about what Nabal said. She has to act quickly, so she loads some donkeys up with food and wine. David's on his way to wreak havoc on her family, so she decides to prevent the chaos by giving David what he wants. By the way, she doesn't tell her husband.

Is this not a story of the human condition? Do we not bless our enemies one day, then curse them the next? I was starting to think that David was flawless until this part of the story. He served Nabal based on the expectation of getting something he wanted. In A.A., we call this premeditated resentment.

When we serve people with the expectation that they should do something in return for us, we're setting ourselves up for battle. We're going to be resentful and ready to retaliate. Who's to blame Nabal in this one? David never established any motives with him, hell he never even met the guy. David's in the wrong on this one, and the unsung hero Abigail looks like she's going to save the day. 

It's nice when we give something and something is returned. It feels great. The challenge is giving without expecting anything in return, at least from the person we're giving to. When we give with the expectation of receiving something back, we're really just giving out loans. We're loaning our time, our money, and our stuff. We're constantly waiting on a return for our investment, and the anger that comes along with it is pure interest. Eventually, if we don't cancel the loan and turn it into a gift, we're ready to strap on our swords and demand payment. Isn't that how the I.R.S. works? Isn't that how debt collectors work? 

We are called to live differently. We have been given much. Have we been blessed with an abundance of loans, being expected to pay them back? Or, have we been blessed with an abundance of gifts? For those of us who are experiencing a life to the fullest, we have no business giving out loans to people. That's what David did, but he didn't even tell the person he was loaning to. He tried to connive Nabal into accepting his pyramid scheme and it didn't work. The reward in giving gifts and not loans is the understanding that nothing is our own. It's all a gift from God who loves us and lavishes us with abundant life. We have much to receive and much to offer. Say no to loans and yes to gifts. 

Today's Action: In what ways have we given loans out, expecting something in return? How can we turn these loans into gifts, cancelling the debt we've placed on someone's life?