April 27, 2014 - Sunday

Start Time: 3:15 P.M.

End Time: 3:49 P.M.

Title: David, Nabal and Abigail

Scripture: 1 Samuel 25:1 – 44

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→ Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.  A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite. While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’” When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited. Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?” David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.  One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.” Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs^[b] of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.  Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

NOTES:

Ø God takes note of every good and kindness we do to others and He does the same to us even more!  David and his men gave kindness to Nabal’s servants and this kindness may not have reached Nabal, Himself, but it definitely reached God.  And when David and his servants needed the same act of kindness from them, God made sure that whatever kindness they sowed were repaid.  Many times it is given back to us not from the people we thought would repay us but from those unexpected people whom we never thought of getting such kindness from.  This is how God works!  He ensures that every little good we sow grows and He makes sure we harvest whatever we planted. 

Ø God used Abigial’s worse scenario for a purpose.  She made the best out of her worse situation because she knows God and she knows David!  At times, we think why we are in such a difficult situation but we do not see the bigger plan of God.  Abigail was intelligent and beautiful yet she ended up with Nabal who was cruel and wicked, totally opposite of her.  But her role as Nabal’s wife played a significant role in David’s journey towards the process of his leadership.  Abigail didn’t complain or murmur against the Lord for such a worse fate.  She took the role of Nabal’s wife and did it right.  She acted in behalf of her husband, saving him from David even if her husband deserves the sword.  This is a true wife, blessed with beauty and brains.  Let us not dwell in our worst but make the most of the worst situation! 

→As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them.  David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with David,^[c] be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!” When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say.  Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal.  And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you. “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”

NOTES:

Ø God gives us intelligence to make good judgment and stop us in getting into a war or bloodshed or further damage!  God gives us the gift of perceptions to help us getting further damage and protect us from unnecessary war.  This is true not only to Abigail and Nabal but also to David’s part.  The bloodshed David is about to commit against Nabal is unnecessary.  He is on the run for his life away from Saul and now he is about to engage in a war if Abigail hasn’t come to stop it.  God knows everything and He won’t allow us to make unnecessary decisions that will impact our focus or strength from the real war or battle we are to face against our real enemy!  Thank You Jesus!

→David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.” Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.” When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak. Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.  About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.” She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife.  David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. ⁴⁴ But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel^[d] son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

NOTES:

Ø When we operate with God, people, even His anointed one, like David, will praise and worship Him because of what we’ve done!  When our actions and decisions are led and guided by God, people will ultimately praise and worship at the end of our task.  Even His anointed one or chosen leader will praise the Lord for the work You did with God’s leading.  So know that what You did is in God’s plan when in the end, people end up worshipping the One true God.  So God is glorified!  Hallelujah!

Ø God will not allow us to be abandoned; He will find a way to bring us one in His family.  Abigail was with Nabal and though she was given intelligence and beauty, she cannot get away from Nabal for she is his wife.  But when God is with You, He will find a way to keep us connected to His people.  It was God who took Nabal’s life, paving the way for Abigail to become David’s wife.  So know that God will never abandon us and HE will always find a way to bring us together (His people).  Praise Jesus!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus thank You because You take our worse scenario and turn it around as we continue to do what is right in Your eyes.  Thank You because You take note of every good and kindness we show and You are the one rewarding us for those act of kindness.  Many times You used the people we least expect to repay the kindness we sowed to others.  Help us Lord to see that You are the center of this all.  And when we do Your work, we know that all Glory belongs to You and Your alone.  Thank You because when we do Your work, we will be protected from further damaging ourselves or making wrong decisions.  You take control and do not allow us to be trapped to sin.  Lord remind me that Your work always lead to Your glory and help me to trust You because in You, I am always protected and together with Your family.  Thank You for not abandoning me Lord and for always being with me.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!