Pressing Pause Before Pressing Send

“I’m going to let her have it!” My friend had had enough with a co-worker’s gossip and lies. She asked me to read an email she’d composed to this woman, basically telling her off. I could totally relate to her anger; there have been many people in my life who had the ability to raise my blood pressure and make me see red. But, I knew my friend would immediately regret hitting send, so we deleted the email and moved away from her computer instead.

Have you ever been fed up with someone? They made your blood boil with their rudeness and disrespect, so you made a beeline toward revenge. In your head you composed a sassy text message or a scathing verbal assault.

It’s in those moments we need an “Abigail” to speak reason and bring clarity to the situation.

In 1 Samuel 25, King David flew off the handle at a very rude man named Nabal. To be fair, King David had experienced quite a string of misfortunes. His living quarters consisted of caves and fields. He was constantly on the run for his life from the man who sat on his rightful throne – and his protection of Keliah went unnoticed and unappreciated. So when Nabal refused to acknowledge the fact that David had been anointed as king or that his men had been protecting his livestock, David reacted: “May God strike me and kill me if even one man of his household is still alive tomorrow morning!” (1 Samuel 25:22 NLT)

Whoa, those are strong words! But given all that had happened to David, you can almost understand and somewhat justify his anger against Nabal. Such trying circumstances as he’d endured would make anyone temperamental! And now to be treated with so much disrespect and contempt … David was fed up and plotted revenge until Nabal’s level-headed wife Abigail stepped in.

Scripture tells us that Abigail was a discerning woman. She had the words of wisdom to calm David down and deter him from his plan to kill Nabal. David hit pause and permitted the intervention that stopped him from doing what he would later regret.

In our “I have had enough” moments, we too need to press pause before we press send. It may not feel like it in the heat of the moment, but acting out in anger is something we will later regret.

We may not have an Abigail reading our emails over our shoulder or speaking reason into our situation, but we do have the Holy Spirit guiding us every minute of every day. Our response to the still, small voice will make the difference between regret and relief.