(Read 1 Samuel 25:14-46)
Today I will continue with “Faith and Patience Volume 5 – Greater is Coming!” Yesterday we saw David’s anger was kindled because Nabal did not show him kindness. This is crazy to me. In one moment, you see David showing kindness to Saul, a man who was trying to kill him and who had seemingly ruined his life. And in the next moment, this same David is ready to kill a man and his entire family, just because the guy did not give him some food. This goes to show you how flawed humans are, and it also speaks to the grace of God because God chooses to use us anyway.
So there David was, offended, ready to kill Nabal and everyone connected to his household. But Nabal’s wife, Abigail, sensed what was going to happen and she sprang into action when her servants told her that David had been nothing but kind to them in the wilderness, even going to the extent of protecting Nabal’s flocks with his own armed guards. Abigail wasted no time. She quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two wineskins full of wine, five sheep that had been slaughtered, nearly a bushel of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes. She sent the gifts with her servants and didn’t tell her husband what she was doing.
Abigail caught up to her men just before they encountered David. When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before him. Abigail accepted all the blame, acknowledged that her husband was a wicked and ill-tempered man, and asked for mercy. She then quickly moved from asking for mercy to operating in faith. Abigail started speaking what she desired to happen as if it was already done. She said, “Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, since the LORD has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your own hands, let all your enemies and those who try to harm you be as cursed as Nabal is.” Notice that Abigail did not wait to hear David’s decision before ‘leading’ him with her words. She said that the Lord had kept David from taking vengeance in his own hands before David even said it out loud. She said it by faith. Guess what? It worked!
Abigail then offered David the gifts and pronounced a blessing over David, saying, “The LORD will surely reward you with a lasting dynasty, for you are fighting the LORD’s battles. And you have not done wrong throughout your entire life. Even when you are chased by those who seek to kill you, your life is safe in the care of the LORD your God, secure in his treasure pouch! But the lives of your enemies will disappear like stones shot from a sling!” Whether she knew it or not, Abigail was speaking prophetically. God was using her to minister a Word to David. David went on to say, “Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me today! Thank God for your good sense! Bless you, for keeping me from murder and from carrying out vengeance with my own hands.” David accepted her gifts and told her, “Return home in peace. I have heard what you said. We will not kill your husband.” When Abigail arrived home, Nabal was throwing a big party. He was celebrating like a king, completely drunk and oblivious to what had just happened. He had no idea that his wife had just saved his life.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. Thank God for a praying spouse.
— Abigail was able to spiritually discern the gravity of the situation her husband had gotten himself into, and she quickly sprang into action. Her actions saved Nabal’s life. This reminds me of two things: 1) we must be led of God and discern what to do/how to do it every day, and 2) when we receive insight from God, we have to STEP OUT in faith, knowing that faith without works is dead. Once she discerned what was going on, she wasted no time putting ACTION to her faith!
— Husbands and wives are graced to intercede for each other. The Father will use you to be a blessing to your spouse and vice-versa.
— Never stop praying, interceding, and intervening for your spouse. God has graced you to do it.
— When you are on the receiving end of your spouse’s intercession and intervention, make sure to praise God for him/her. Never cease to give God praise for your giving you a spouse do “DO LIFE” with.
— If you are married, you are not alone in this world. You have a relationship that is like no other. You have a bond between you, your spouse, and your God, that is a triple-strand cord. It is not easily broken. Enjoy this relationship, invest in it, make the most of it, and never violate it!
2. Every answer is not spiritual.
— I am not lessening the importance of hearing from God in any way, but I am making the point that God, who speaks to use in spiritual ways, often leads us to do natural things, on earth, in response to what He received. These natural things open the door for God’s will to be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.
— Abigail did not hold a prayer service. She did not rush to the church to fall on her face before God. No, she got natural things together and brought them to David as a gift. If she had not done so, her husband would have been killed. Don’t think that our Spiritual God will not lead you to do natural things.
— You live in a natural world, so while our God is a Spirit and He speaks to your spirit, He will also lead you to do natural, practical, and pragmatic things, on earth, in order to experience His best.
— While I don’t like the term, “So heavenly minded that you are no earthly good,” I understand the point. You do have to be heavenly minded. But you must understand that what God reveals to you from heaven often has to be performed on the earth. The performance may look like work. You may have to fill out a resume, turn in an application, go to a meeting, prepare a presentation, put in a proposal, or etc. Abigail and her team had to prepare 200 loaves of bread, two wineskins full of wine, cook five sheep, bring an entire bushel of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes. That was a lot of work. That all seemed natural. But guess what? It was spiritual. She was doing, on earth, what she was being led to do from heaven. This is how we are supposed to live.
— If your spiritual relationship with God never turns into anything natural on earth, then you are not hearing from God. You may be religious, but you don’t have a relationship with God because our real God will lead you to do real things on this planet!
3. You don’t even know.
— Nabal had no idea that his wife had just saved his life, and you have no idea how many times the Lord has done something similar for you.
— You won’t know, until you get to heaven, how many time the Lord stepped in for you, sending someone to do something for you that saved you, without you even knowing about it. Do you know what that’s called? It’s called GRACE!
— Give God praise for the things you know about and even the things you don’t. Praise Him on credit, knowing that you will know more once you get to heaven!
4. God loves you enough to protect you from your own stupidity.
— We all make mistakes. We all do stupid things. Nabal was acting stupid when he said what he said to David’s men. David was acting stupid in response. He was about to kill a man and his entire household just because he got offended. But God sent Abigail to save them both! She saved her husband from his impending death, and she saved David from possibly derailing himself from his destiny.
— Thank God for loving us enough to send people to us to help CORRECT us when we are wrong!
— God loves us enough to correct us when we are wrong (Hebrews 12:6). If He did not love us, He would allow us to walk in the error of our ways. But thankfully, He loves us so much that He will send people to us to hear what we need to hear, even when we don’t want to hear it. This is all part of faith and patience. This is all part of walking with God for the long haul. Because if you don’t allow yourself to be corrected, you run the risk of missing out on what God sent you to this planet to perform.
— Embrace God’s correction. Thank Him for loving you enough to show you when you are wrong. This is part of growing up as a believer. This is how you graduate from milk to meat, in God’s Word.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for my spouse. You have graced my spouse to intercede and intervene for me in ways I am aware of, and in ways I am not. You have blessed me to live my life with a covenant-partner, and I am thankful for it. I intercede and intervene for spouse and they do so for me. I am a blessing to my spouse and my spouse is a blessing to me because You have graced us to be a blessing one to another. You have saved me more times than I know. When I get to heaven, I will find out about all the times You sent someone to intercede and stand in the gap for me, even when I had no clue of what was going on. Thank You Father, for being so good to me. Thank You for correcting me when I need it. And Father, I thank You Father for leading me, by Your Spirit, to do natural, practical and pragmatic things in the earth. I hear from You in Spiritual ways, and You lead me to do both Spiritual and natural things that bring about Your will. This is why I keep saying: GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
