1 Samuel 25:2-25

Hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are at 1 Samuel chapter 25. We're going to find out if you're a lady, you ought not to marry a guy named this guy's name. We'll find out here. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. And Lord, we come to your word knowing this morning we are not perfect people. Far from it, Lord. We may come tired. We may come lazy. We may come even irritated or annoyed at other things. We may come distracted.
Father, we pray that you would please help us. We need your Holy Spirit to teach us. thank you for the peace that you bring us and the hope that we have because we find it in your word from you in Jesus's name. Amen. We got 1st Samuel chapter 25. We'll read verses 2 through, let's see. Oh, where was I supposed to stop? We'll start with the first 35. There we go. That's what I was thinking.
35. 2 through 35.
Now there was a man in Moan, Maon, whose business was in caramel. And the man was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats. And he was shearing sheep in caramel. The name of the man was Nabal and the name of his wife, Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance. But the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb. I keep reading. When David heard in the wilderness that Nebo was shearing his sheep, David sent ten young men, and David said to them, The name young men.
Go up to Count Caramel. Go to Daybell and greet him in my peace. No, greet him in my name. You may want to put your finger there. And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity, Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have now. I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us and we did not hurt them. Nor was there anything missing from them. all the while they were in camera asking your young men and they will tell you therefore let my young men and find favor in your eyes for what we what we come on a feast day, please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son, David.
All right, so what was that section about? Uh, kind of like, um, uh, David goes, because he haught Caleb. He was haught that Nabba. Nabal. Nabal was treating his people harsh. Well, no, he was shearing sheep. But it was dead sheep. No, no, it's Nabal's sheep. But who's been keeping Nabal's sheep safe? Nabal's sheep. He's got he's got three thousand sheep and a thousand goats.
They're like all over the place. And who's making sure that nobody's hurting them? David. David is. So I see some of the young men like, hey, See if he'll share some of the feast with us. It's a huge party. Is David the king yet? He's not the king yet. I spoiled.
So when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David and waited. Then Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Then David said to his men, Every man gird on his sword. So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies. Oh boy. What happened there? David ain't so happy. Yeah, the Nabal's like, Oh, go eat rocks. All right, get your sword, boys. Yeah. 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.
But the men were very good to us. We were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them. When we were in the fields, they were a wall to us both night and day. all the time we were with them keeping the sheep 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 that no one can speak to him what's what's the servant said basically nobody can speak to him he's rough kind of like what you were saying sometimes dad's like right i don't listen to you guys out But Nabal, man, these guys were impetuous.
And so who are the servants talking to? His wife. They're like, I don't think you want 400 men coming after you. Exactly, right? We don't want to talk bad about our master, but these guys helped us. They protect us the whole time. I don't think you guys want to get destroyed. Yeah. Cut down.
Well, you can go ahead and look at what Abigail does in verse 18. Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of one, five sheep already dressed, five shears of roasted grain, and one hundred clusters of raisins and 200 servants no 200 cakes of eggs and loaded them on on donkeys and she said to her servant go on on before they see i am coming after you but she did not tell her husband neighbor Alright, so what's Abigail do when she hears about this from the servants? She wants some food. Yeah, she gets a whole bunch of food, right? She's like, I'm hungry and I don't want to get this food. I don't think she's hungry. I think David's hungry. So they're hangry and their honor has been spoiled? Yep.
So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill. And there were David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them. Now David had said, Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him.
And he has repaid me evil for good. May God do so and more also to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light. Boy, David's mad. I done protected his sheep for nothing. I could have taken all of them. Now he's going to die and everyone with him. Is David acting righteous here? No. Abigail is giving them food. Well, he doesn't know who Abigail is yet. Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from her donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed to the ground.
So she fell at his feet and said, On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be, and please let your maidservant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant. please let not my lord regard this scoundrel nabal for he for as his name is so is he nabal is his name and folly is with him nabal literally means folly or fool but i your maidservant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent Now therefore, my Lord, as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, since Jehovah has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek harm for my Lord be as Nabal. And now this present which your maidservant has brought to my Lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my Lord. Please forgive the trespass of your maidservant, for Jehovah will certainly make for my Lord an enduring house, because my Lord fights the battles of Jehovah, and evil is not found in you throughout your days. Yet a man has risen to pursue you and seek your life, but the life of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Jehovah your God. and the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the pocket of a sling and it shall come to pass when Jehovah has done for my Lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ruler over Israel that this will be no grief to you nor offense of heart to my Lord either that you have shed blood without cause or that my Lord has avenged himself But when Yehovah has dealt with my Lord, then remember your maidservant.
All right, so what's Abigail essentially saying there? Essentially saying, don't kill him. Yeah, don't kill him, right? And trust him to God. And she says, you're going to become king and he's going to be like a pipsqueak to you. His life's going to end, but you're going to be good. Don't worry about it. Now, I bring this gift. She's trying to appease him. Yeah. Yeah. All right, you want to read 32 through 35 and that will be me.
Then David said to Abigail, blessed is the Lord God of Israel who sent you this day to meet me and blessed is your advice and blessed are you because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand for Indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless your hand had hurried and come to meet me shortly by morning, like no mouse would have been left to neighbor. So David received from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, go in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your person. That's OK.
So so what was that last section about? David's like, thanks. yeah thanks right it'll go well with you but i thought it was really interesting here this what i have underlined is the best verse for me in verse 32 and through 35 daniel uh blessed is the lord god of israel who sent you this day to me and blessed is your advice and blessed are you because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand i think that David is actually admitting his own sin here. Like, man, you kept me from a terrible mistake. I think I'd underline too. I think I'd underline the verse you did, and I'd also underline where she gets all her food. That's a good idea, yeah. Alright, so what would you say this section's about? I think it's about... Abigail stopping David from committing a crime. Good, good.
Alright, let's talk about seek calling, Christ, and covenant. So what does this call you to do or how does it show you Jesus Christ or how does it lead you to the covenant of grace? I think it calls you to not act hasty. And also to do the next right thing. Okay, so do the next right thing. That's fine. Yeah, don't be hasty. Don't give in to your anger, right?
Like Nabal, maybe not look down your nose at people, right? Nabal is harsh in his dealings. He's not generous. But he doesn't even know that David is a donkey. Well, he may have a hint about it, but the point is, he doesn't care. He's harsh, he's mean, he's cruel. He even doesn't listen to his servants. His servants know that he's a fool. His wife is like, he's called Nabal and he really is foolish. But his wife stops him from getting...
Yeah. There's a nobility in Abigail, isn't there? Yes, even though she's like calling her husband, my Lord, calling David, my Lord, and stuff like this, right? She does this, but she's a very smart, forward, and like David respects her for it. Yeah, she actually saved him from God's wrath. Yeah, right? That would have been horrible for David. Yeah, and I don't know if he would have been saved either.
Yeah, so I think this is one of those areas where, as I think about how does it call me to my life, is not just don't be like Nabal, but also sometimes I need to be rebuked, even by your mom, or your grandma will tell me when I'm doing something that's not really wise, or sometimes it's the ladies in the church who will be like, I don't think that was the best plan, Brian. Oh, it could be Mrs. Smith. Yeah, Mrs. Smith or any of the other ladies, right? So we ought not look down our noses, especially at the ladies in the church.
And so I think when somebody gives us wisdom, we take that wisdom. When somebody warns us of a possible sin, we take heed of it. We listen. We'd be generous. I think part of this is having that heart of humility and esteeming others more highly than ourselves by thinking better of others. This is Philippians 2 type language. So how do we lower ourselves, humble ourselves, and listen?
Are you ready to pray? Yeah. Okay. Lord, we thank you so much that you gave us Jesus Christ who is a much better king than David. He never flew off his rocker in anger wanting to murder an entire family group. We thank you for giving us Christ who is our model of humility, who shows us how to listen even to wisdom.
Lord, we pray that you would please fill us with your spirit that we may not Just go by our own wrath and anger, for we know that our anger does not accomplish your righteousness. So, Father, please give us the fruits of the Spirit, that we may put away our anger and our malice and our fits of rage. And instead, Lord, we may be those who have love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Lord, we need you to send your Spirit in our hearts to teach us to do that. In Jesus' name, Amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus and we'll see you next time. Bye.