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Today's Devotion
From Dr. David Jeremiah
Nerves and Knees
September 15, 2026
He's so ill-tempered that no one can even talk to him!
1 Samuel 25:17, NLT
Recommended Reading:
1 Samuel 25:14-1914 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master; and he reviled them. 15 But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them, when we were in the fields. 16 They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household. For he is such a scoundrel[{{f}}] that one cannot speak to him.”18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her servants, “Go on before me; see, I am coming after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
1 Samuel 25:14-19
According to a 2024 survey, 85% of all employees have had an experience with a coworker who annoyed them, and 41% wish they could tell their annoying coworker what they think about them.1
When David was a young man running for his life, he encountered an ill-tempered man named Nabal. David almost went to war against him. Only the intervention of Nabal’s wife, Abigail, kept the two men from bloodshed. God gave her the grace to be a peacemaker.
What do we do with people who get on our nerves? First, we have to look at ourselves and ask if we are the cranky and irritable one. Sometimes fatigue can create friction, and neglecting Bible study can cause our love to ebb. Second, we have to look at the other person and see if they have a need behind their nuisance. We are to consider their souls and remember that we are all children of God.
When people get on our nerves, we should get on our knees.
We are all in relationships, we all face conflicts, and we all have to learn how to navigate them so that we, and our relationships, can truly thrive.
Gary Chapman
