Forgiveness

Forgiveness Stake Conference Sunday General Session May 17, 2015. President Wall Have you ever been mistreated? How did it feel? How did you respond? I want to refer to a simple story from the Old Testament in hopes that we can learn something interesting today about forgiveness. The story is about David, future King of Israel. This story can be found in 1st Samuel chapter 25. David and his men had been long in the wilderness defending and protecting the shepherds and flocks of a rich man named Nabal. Nabal had prospered well under the benefit provided by David and his men. Nabal, however, was refusing to compensate David and his men for their service. David and his men responded with anger. They strapped on their armor and their swords and prepared to go forward with war in their hearts to humble Nabal for his unrighteous and unjust behavior. Who was in the wrong in this case? And who was justified? Clearly Nabal was wrong for being dishonest in his dealings with his fellowmen. No question David and his men, tired and spent from their time in the wilderness, were being mistreated by Nabal. However, David and his men were choosing to react to sinful behavior by committing sin themselves. It is true that no blood as yet was spilt over the matter however we sin when our hearts are sinful no matter what we do on the surface. The war, for David and his men, had begun already. The swinging of the blades was merely a formality. They were waging a war against the man who had mistreated them. Nabal and David therefore were both sinners. Neither were deserving. Terrible consequences were in the making caused by the sinful choices of these two men. Into our story now steps Abigail. Abigail is a most extraordinary woman. Abigail is Nabal’s wife. She was informed by a servant of the sinful behavior of her husband Nabal. Abigail chooses to intervene for both David and Nabal. In this act Abigail becomes a type of Christ in our story. Her actions become very instructive in the meaning and application of forgiveness and the atonement in our own lives. Lets pay close attention. Abigail does three things: First, she gathers together a great bounty of goods which will essentially compensate David for his loss and loads these onto Donkeys and goes into the wilderness in search of David and his men. Second, when she finds David she bows herself down at his feet, offers her gift of compensation, and on her face, asks, let this sin fall on me, even though she herself is innocent and sinless in this case. Third, she humbly pleads with David to forgive her. In her own words, “Forgive the trespass of thine handmaiden.” David has a choice. What will he do? How will he respond? Will he choose to forgive even though he has been mistreated? In our story, David is pacified toward Abigail and let’s go his anger toward Nabal. He accepts her gift and accepts her plea to forgive. Nabal, contrastingly, the one who committed the 1st offense, and started this entire ordeal, is not even aware that these events have taken place. Who then was most blessed by David’s forgiveness? Through Abigail’s intervention, David was able to change the evil intents of his heart, obtain a forgiveness of his own sin, and even more impressive, was able to avoid committing more sin and even more serious sin. Let’s explore the similarity in our story between Abigail and Christ. Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and it is he and he alone that intervenes for us. Like Abigail who brought the loads of goods on the donkeys, Christ intervenes for us, the sinner, and willingly offers to pay the full price for all misdeeds, even though like David and Nabal, we do not deserve it. Like Abigail, the innocent Christ, humbly pleads on our behalf that the sin fall upon himself, a sinless man. Finally, like Abigail, Christ pleads with us, undeserving sinners like David and Nabal, to forgive those who have sinned against us. If we allow these comparisons for the purpose of understanding we can learn a couple fundamental truths about forgiveness and the atonement. First, forgiveness is really for the one forgiving and not for the one being forgiven. David was directly blessed and immediately benefited through his forgiveness of Nabal even though Nabal had no knowledge that David had forgiven him. Second, we can learn that the atonement, in addition to allowing for the expiation of our committed sins, can also provide an escape for the provocation of additional or even greater sins. When we choose to withhold forgiveness from others we are in effect saying that the atonement alone is simply not sufficient to pay for that sin committed against us. We are finding fault with the Lord’s offering. We, in effect, would look at the gifts that Abigail was offering, consider her plea, prostrate on her face, taking the sin upon herself, pleading with us that we forgive her a sin that she did not commit and say. It is not enough. In our story, David had a choice and chose to forgive. The same choice, in effect, is given to each of us. Even though the atonement has been offered, even though the price has been paid in full on our account, and even though Christ, a sinless man, has humbly pled that we would forgive those who may mistreat us, we can still choose the war. We can keep our armor and our swords and march forward to do battle rather than to forgive. Have you ever been mistreated? How did it feel? How did you respond? Let me suggest that being mistreated is perhaps the most important condition of mortality. For eternity itself depends on how we treat those who mistreat us. Brothers and Sisters we live in a society of humans. We are imperfect beings. It is certain, as the scriptures attest, that offenses will come. All you need to do is walk out the door in the morning. Or come to church. Or make a comment in Sunday school class. Your husband may forget your anniversary. Your Spanish teacher may confiscate your cell phone……with out cause. Your employer may give the promotion to your best friend. You may hear someone talking about you behind your back. The Bishop may not call you to the right calling or he may release you before you wanted to be. Do any of these sound familiar? Like David, we will be mistreated. Can we forgive those who mistreat us? For surely if we do, the benefit will be ours. Call an end to the war. Remove your armor and ungird your sword. Freely forgive all who have offended you and let the healing balm of the atonement enter your life. It will feel good. I testify that it will feel good. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.