Nabal held a wrong image of David. Our text reveals his perspective of him. As far as he was concerned, David was a rebellious fugitive servant of king Saul. The first thing you need to learn is that no matter how hard you try, there are those who will hold the wrong version of your story. That should not be too much of a shock. An anonymous person wrote: ‘’Even  my own family failed to understand me, then how can I expect from others?” If people don’t understand you, count it as one of the things we encounter in life.

…no matter how hard you try, there are those who will hold the wrong version of your story…If people don’t understand you, count it as one of the things we encounter in life…So when you are misrepresented, take things in your stride and wait on God to vindicate you.

David was hounded all over the land of Israel for no fault of his. He had saved both Saul and the entire land from harassment in the hand of the Philistines. Due to his personal insecurity, Saul began to persecute an innocent soul. David and his men literally became scavengers, living from hand to mouth. When he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, he felt that would be an opportunity to get some reward for watching over his flock. Nothing of such came for David. Rather, Nabal thought him to be a rebel bolting out from under Saul the king. Enraged by this misconception, David mobilized his forces with the intention of destroying Nabal and all his men. It took the timely intervention of Abigail to dissuade him from taking vengeance. Nabal eventually died some days after that at the instance of God. So when you are misrepresented, take things in your stride and wait on God to vindicate you.