Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. – 1 Samuel 25:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 26, 2012): 1 Samuel 25

A few years ago I suffered through a time when there were rumors flying around me that were simply not true. It is one of the most hopeless experiences we can feel in this life. At first you want to just ignore them. But eventually you reach the point where you have to step up and answer the charges. And as much as we live in a culture where we consider the responsibility to be on the side that is making the charge (we are innocent until proven guilty), in the rumor arena it is the reverse that is true. Something deep inside of us seems to expect the worst to be true – and that the rumor mongers somehow know what it is that they are talking about.

There might not be a more helpless feeling. After all, what you are being accused of, you did not actually do. If you committed the wrong, you can apologize and make changes in your behavior to make sure that it does not happen again. But what do you do when you have not committed the wrong.

Nabal’s comment about David tells us two things. The first is that at this time Israel remained as a loose association of tribes. One of the key ideas in the book of Judges is that “at that time, Israel had no king and each man did as he saw fit” and it appears that not much had changed in that respect under the reign of Saul. But more importantly, Nabal does not seem to be in possession of all of the facts. In spite of everything that David had done, he was being accused of being an oath breaker with Saul. But that was something of which David was innocent. Considering the way that Saul had been treating David, David was going to extraordinary measures to try and honor his master.

In the aftermath of Christmas, Mary and Joseph would have been subjected to rumors concerning their behavior. It was probably a very hurtful time in Mary and Joseph’s life. But God was about to prove that rumors would never stop him from working in our life situations. That was true for David, Mary and Joseph – and for us.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 26