Living Fearless in the Training Grounds of Wisdom

We are going to look in chapter 25 of 1 Samual which is the story of Abigial, Nabal and David. First, I want to establish the main characters and the context this story opens up to. In the first verse we read David is grieving over the death of Samuel. In fact, the whole nation is grieving and has paid homage to the burial in Ramah just north of Jerusalem. In addition, David is fleeing from King Saul as Saul is attempting to kill David. All the while knowing of a promise of becoming king of Israel in the future. Another note, David is from the tribe of Judah and the same lineage of Jesus. In contrast in verse 3, Nabal is described as a cruel, evil, foolish (his name evens means fool), worthless man, can’t be reasoned with, extremely wealthy, and a Calebite. Just as in the Biblical times, names are reflective of a person’s image, nature or character. The term Calebite refers to coming from the tribe of Judah and a descendent of Caleb who was one of the spies who attested the Jews could take the promise land before their 40 years in the wilderness. Finally, we have the heroin of the story also in verse 3, Abigail. She is the only woman in the Bible who is described as both beautiful and discerning. She is wise and humble in her dealings. Being the wife of Nabal, she also is wealthy and has much responsibility for running her household. So, let’s read this chapter together. Up until this time David has shown great restraint in dealing with Saul in running away from the God’s appointed King rather than taking vengeance at Saul’s repeated attempts in killing David. Ironically, Nabal lives near the very town Saul has erected a monument in his own honor. This has led to the rejection of Saul by God in 1 Samuel 15. (Note in 1 Samuel 14:52 Saul was at war with the Philistines his whole reign as king sounds like today’s war, doesn’t it?) In verse 7, we see David is only asking for customary payment for compensation for keeping the flocks and shepherds safe while in his protection. It also has to be remembered; both of these men are of the same tribe of Israel which also comes along with the same customs of hospitality and care. However, we see Nabal’s behavior is much like Saul’s behavior with David. In verse 10, Nabal rejects any customary hospitality and even calls David riffraff of the troublemaker types. Out of fear, men of the household are not willing to leave their lives in Nabal’s hands. Rather, they go directly to his wife as stated in verse 14. Abigail is familiar with the knowledge of David’s future kingship; his victories in fighting the Philistines; and his reputation of giving glory to the Lord rather than himself. In verse 18, Abigail does not hesitate to act and is sure to seek the help of the household servants. Just as her husband is enjoying a time of feasting and drunkenness, Abigail prepares a feast for the men of David. Abigail does not tell her husband presumably because he would have prevented her from going. Also, as noted in her return, he is drunk and unreasonable. Abigail waits for a more opportune time to tell Nabal about her saving the household after sobering up. Even though Abigail is wealthy she doesn’t put her trust in her wealth or in the comforts of life. She stays vigilant in learning and developing skills of discernment while running her household. She wasn’t caught off guard when her household was threatened. Instead, she is humble and takes leadership responsibility when it is deemed necessary. We can see God was building character within Abigail’s heart as she lived in the household of Nabal. This provided her the practice and a reputation of respect and provided her with the power to respond to adversity. Even though Abigail appears to have the reason to nag Nabal with his dealings with David. Abigail’s attitude of humility and honor afforded her the boldness to face David to save her household and David’s integrity and legacy. Abigail identifies herself as a maid servant in verse 24 as she gives a wonderfully articulated plea acknowledging David as Lord. Abigail has developed discernment by practicing her living with a difficult man. She is quick to listen not to respond. She is quick to listen and to respond with careful evaluation to a situation. She is able to evaluate how the current situation needs to be addressed and how to use her resources wisely (just look at the amount of food she was able to pull together in such a short time). She is willing to bow in prostrating position to call out who God is. She is willing to remind David, a man of power and of God, who He is and what he is destined to become. She is willing to risk her life to take responsibility where she did nothing wrong and to be careful not to pick sides in this conflict. Genesis 50:20 articulating forgiveness surpasses personal grievances. Abigail is also strong enough to remove herself from the revenge business. She trusts God to judge righteously and justly. She is willing to approach the situation as a peace maker and points out the Lord is trustworthy enough to deal with Nabal. Deuteronomy 32:35 Further, Abigail’s faith in God allowed her to focus in on the needs of David and his men of physical needs instead of fear. Her examples of bitterness and unforgiveness don’t mix with humility, honor, respect and wisdom. As we see, which is written in Proverbs 11:2; Proverbs 22:4; Proverbs 16:5; Proverbs 29:8. Abigail identifies herself as a maidservant and David as Lord. David accepts her pleading countering her good sense and wisdom and his own oath of bloodshed with a new oath of restraint of shedding blood of the household of Nabal. As a result, God is left to avenge this whole situation. God shows the consequences of a man with an evil heart becoming like stone. Nabal meets his fate measure for measure in the petrification of his hard heart turning to stone. In today’s culture we are encouraged not to put up with disrespect. We are told we don’t deserve to be put down or placed below men. We need to give “them” a piece of our mind and take our control back. But we see through Abigail’s example even while living under a cruel husband, God was building attributes of a future queen. We may be tempted to think Abigail rides off into the sunset with David as he returns to make her his wife at the end of the chapter in verse 39. However, let’s not forget what is just around the corner. She is now going to be living in the wilderness with 600 soldiers. When she does arrive at the palace, she will not be the only wife. She will be sharing her husband with 5 other wives. David will be having an affair with Bathsheba and a child will be born to take the throne. Abigail’s own child will never be considered for the throne. We never hear anything more regarding her life. In many ways this may be because she, in her wisdom, knows how to stay away from trouble and sin. However, we are given a clear insight into the power of honor, humility and respect that can defeat our enemies and even turn others to repentance. When we experience rejection and mistreatment, we can also uncover the power of humility, respect and honor while living in the challenging times we face today. Finally, how we deal with a difficult people in our lives can influence how they see God. We have to realize we can’t change people; only God can. God can change people’s hearts if we relinquish our self-righteous trying to change them. Once we do so, we are free of the frustration of trying and failing when people in our lives don’t change. Whether a husband, family member, neighbor or co-worker, we can’t carry the burden of changing their hearts. When we step back and let God work on the heart issues of other people, we allow God the room to deal with their restoration and salvation. While the times appear to be dark and we don’t know how God is going to work out the difficult situations in our lives, we don’t have to be paralyzed by fear and know there is nothing God doesn’t see. We can be assured God is going to be our avenger, defender, refuge, and comforter. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4