Dealing with conflict

“David replied, ‘What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? This day you have become my adversaries! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?’” 2 Samuel 19:22
At the time David fled from Jerusalem when he heard of Absalom’s coup, a man called Shimei hurled stones and dirt at David, cursing him, until he had left the city. Later, when David returned to Jerusalem, this man Shimei was there to greet him and plead for his life. Abishai, the brother of Joab, who was the commander of David’s army, offered to kill him because he had cursed David. But David refused. He didn’t need to order anyone to be executed to prove that he was the king. Instead he reprimands Abishai – and Joab – for this attitude.
This was not the first time that either of the two brothers had sought to resolve a conflict by killing the person. Abishai had offered to kill Saul (1 Sam. 26:7-11), Joab had killed Abner (2 Sam. 3:27), Abishai had offered to kill Shimei earlier (2 Sam. 16:9), Joab killed Absalom (2 Sam. 18:14) and Amasa (2 Sam. 20:9-10). It seemed that their first course of action whenever there was dissent was to put the person to death. David was not like this.
We should not be like this either. How do we handle conflict? Do we respond in like manner – lashing out, giving the person the same treatment they’ve given you? Or do we internalise it, and let anger fester under our skin? Or do we respond in a godly way, in love? This is one area in our lives where it’s good to ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’