Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of Abigail's wisdom in 1 Samuel 25, illustrating how her wise speech and humility prevented David from committing a grave sin that could have disqualified him as king. Abigail's approach, characterized by gentle words and a teachable spirit, serves as a model for both men and women in navigating conflicts and promoting reconciliation. David's journey from anger to humility highlights the importance of being alert to our weaknesses and the need for divine intervention in our lives. Ultimately, the sermon underscores God's grace in delivering David from his own destructive impulses through Abigail's timely intervention.

28 sessions of this life of David and so we got a long way to go but it's an amazing storyline for discipleship and growing in godliness here in session 12 for Samuel 25 we're looking at Abigail's wisdom and the way that God uses her wisdom to release grace to David but not just grace to embolden him grace that restrains David from a huge disaster in his life now this is a Abigail's wisdom I mean she's a model of the combination of beauty and wisdom beauty and wisdom don't physical beauty and wisdom don't always go together but when they go together it's a opportunity for the Lord to magnify his purposes now in her wisdom the thing that I highlight the most is her wise speech that she saved David from a great disaster now as we're looking at Abigail's example don't relegate this to the women's ministry like well this is for women no men have as much to learn from this passage as women do because David if he would have continued in the path he was going in he could have possibly been disqualified as king he was in that bad of a place in that negative of a trajectory let's look at paragraph a here there are three related episodes in David's life they're all set forth one after the other in 1st Samuel 24 25 and 26 and in chapter 24 we just looked at it David excelled I mean he saw the Lord he managed his anger his revenge he refused to take vengeance in his own hands that's chapter 24 we just looked at it chapter 25 right here he fails he stumbles and we see a side of David we've never seen before he's angry he's bitter I'm I'm I mean he has revenge and angered he's venting is like David what happened to David then he learns from this experience and then he recovers then chapter 26 he is back to where he was before but even in a stronger position and so what we learn is that he went good then he stumbled because he's not alert to his fleshly weakness his human sinfulness but he's humbled by it and then he recovers he becomes alert again we've said it over and over that the the story of David we've looked at this over and over the story of David is is one where it's three steps forward sometimes two steps back three steps forward two steps back I mean it's remarkable that we would think it would just be an on you know just off from one degree of glory to another unbroken victory after victory but we see David's humanity his setbacks actually gives us courage here in first Corinthians chapter 10 Paul gives us the spiritual principle let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall and the point Paul is saying is we need to be alert and watchful because our our fleshly our negative the negative emotions that are that we're capable of we're capable of all the days of our life those negative emotions were never in a place in this age when we're we cease to be capable to let them have expression in our life and sometimes we have a victory today and we get excited we think today's victory is going to make tomorrow's victory guaranteed then we're not watchful we're not alert we're not paying attention then we stumble tomorrow in the very thing we had an excel outstanding victory in yesterday and that's the case here in Samuel 24 victory 25 failure 26 victory it goes back and forth paragraph B Abigail's appeal to David she's because she's David's going to attack her and her family her husband particularly and Abigail goes out and as a total stranger and appeals to him to lay his anger down and to make peace with her family and with her and her appeal is quite remarkable paragraph C she excelled in wise speech here in Proverbs 15 verse 1 and 2 a soft answer turns away wrath or another translation says a gentle answer turns away anger when it says wrath it means anger if you give a gentle answer anger will be dissipated this is in a marriage in a friendship in any kind of exchange a harsh anger answer stirs anger up even in a good person a harsh word stirs up anger if you could have one passage for speech if I could I mean that I could put in every marriage in the kingdom of God it would be this verse right here give a gentle answer even when you're unsettled verse 2 the tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly and that's what Abigail's a picture of she uses her speech wisely but the mouth of a fool pours for foolishness and what it means by foolishness it just it doesn't mean silliness it means they say harsh words they use sarcasm that's foolishness in the Bible a negative a sarcasm to make your point to put somebody down in an argument bitterness all of that is under this banner called foolishness it's much more than just being silly that's that's not what he's talking about here well Abigail is used by God to keep David from doing an evil that is so great to murder a man and to have this charged against him I mean this could have disqualified him even in the Lord's presence from his kingship but one of the good things that David had we'll see in the story here that he had a teachable spirit that though he was angry though he was venting though he had a wrong spirit in terms of how he was approaching he maintained a teachable spirit and I like to put these I like to say this this is a good combo if people use wise speech and there's a teachable spirit particularly in a marriage in a family that's a combination of a good that's I mean that's the way to have a good marriage to have a good friendship a good relationship you get gentle speech with a teachable spirit you get both of those in the same relationship you're going to have a good relationship most conflicts are they're lacking a teachable spirit or they're lacking gentle wise speech or they're lacking both many times paragraph D Solomon warned about a woman that has physical beauty but doesn't have godly discernment or godly discretion you could use whichever one you want and Abigail's a model of beauty and wisdom coming together and again this isn't limited to women this is a this is a combination of physical attractiveness together with godly wisdom is a is a combination that the Lord used in Abigail's life in a way that again changed David's life and destiny it says here a ring of gold in a pig's snout is like a lovely woman didn't have any discretion says that you could put a jewelry on a pig and it's not going to make that pig beautiful and the point that Solomon's making is that you can't substitute physical beauty is not a substitute for godly discretion and discernment that somebody can have physical beauty but be morally or spiritually ugly and Peter talks about this in 1st Peter chapter 1 he said verse 3 he says do not have your adornment only be external the braiding of the hair etc all those things are nice but rather let your adornment be the hidden person of the heart that is incorruptible beauty in God's sight when there's beauty on the inside that is what Peter's talking about this is very very precious to the Lord well let's get right into the storyline here 1st Samuel chapter 25 it starts off with a kind of a note in the story that Samuel died that's how the story begins now remember David just came out of chapter 24 where he was with Saul and in Gedi spared Saul's life Saul went back to Gibeah there was peace in their relationship at this point in time and in the it seems like there's a reprieve there's the chance that maybe there's going to be a permanent peace because Saul has really been impacted by David's kindness and generosity to him then in the midst of this Saul the great prophet dies and all of Israel gathers and laments for him and then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Perun and undoubtedly Saul's death brought great pain to David and possibly it dashed any hopes of a permanent reconciliation with Samuel because he was thinking maybe I mean a permanent reconciliation with Saul because David's thinking well Saul's like tender and he's he's in a conciliatory mood and if I get Samuel involved maybe this thing is going to really mellow out and maybe this is the beginning of the end of sorrows well then Samuel dies undoubtedly this causes great pain to David and it's paragraph B David moves further south to the wilderness of Perun and I think he moves further south he says you know what I think Saul's going to rev up again so I'm going to even go deeper further away deeper into the wilderness region further away from Saul now as he's down there in the south Roman numeral three paragraph A looking at verse two there was a man and this man his name is Nabal he's in this the city of Moab and his business is a mile away in this second city named Carmel that's not the Mount Carmel up in the north that Elijah is associated with there's a couple of cities called Carmel in Israel at that time so there's this man he's very rich verse two he's so rich that he has three thousand sheep and a thousand goats and he was shearing his sheep a mile away over in where his business was in the town of Carmel verse three now this man Nabal his wife was Abigail and they couldn't have had two more opposites she was the picture of of godly wisdom and he was the picture of foolishness and stubbornness and being evil in his doings now Abigail the Bible describes her I love this the first thing the Bible highlights she was a woman with godly understanding she had when it says good understanding she had an unusual measure of understanding she was a woman that saw the big picture she didn't get caught up in the trivial small things to where that it's so easy to get caught up male or female to get caught up in the middle of that and to lose your way like her husband did but she had understanding of God's ways she had a big picture she saw things with a perspective of understanding and she was beautiful in her appearance now the man Nabal was harsh but not only was he harsh in his speech and his dealings he was evil he lacked integrity in his business dealings and he was of the house of Caleb and the reason that matters that he's of the house of Caleb because it ends up and you can read the notes to put this together that David is a kinsman because they're both from the tribe of Judah and so they have this certain kinship because those that were in the twelve tribes of Israel members of their own tribe had a bit of a family kinship with one another and they would talk about it they would count on it with one another well David was counting on this kinship with this man because he's from his own tribe of Judah from this family line of Caleb now the story picks up that verse 2 he was shearing his sheep in Carmel in paragraph B now the reason that's important because the shearing of the sheep was a they did it twice a year the spring and the fall this was a very festive time because when they sheared the sheep they had tremendous profits from the wool and when the profits came in an unusual way like at the harvest time they you know they would have a unusual festivity and celebration and there was gaiety and goodwill and everybody was in a good mood it was a time of generosity and celebration because all the big money was now coming in all the work they have done all through the months was cashing in now okay let's look at a Roman numeral 4 paragraph 4 here I mean verse 4 David heard in the wilderness now he's down the way you know he's down in the wilderness of Paran and that's close by and he heard that a little bit up north that a Nabal was in the shearing of the sheep's time and so he thought hey this is the time to go to my kinsmen and say hey could you help me in this festive time with some food particularly in provisions you're a very wealthy man I mean probably the wealthiest man in that entire region and David verse 5 he sent ten young men up to him and he greeted him in a very kind way peace to you Nabal and peace to your household and peace to all that you're involved and we come in goodwill and verse 7 we want to inform you of what we've done on your behalf because you might not know when your shepherds were down with us with all of your thousands of sheep and goat and our 600 men we were in the same area we didn't hurt them at all we didn't take even one sheep or one goat from you all the time that we were with you he goes on later to say in the passage we were like a wall of protection to you now the reason why this is so important because in those days there would be many marauding bands and raids where they would when the the flocks would be away from town like the Philistines would raid and take all the flocks I mean take them all and so David says our 600 men we were functioning like a patrol for you I mean we were working hard and we were protecting your prophets and we never once presumed upon them and took one goat or one sheep for ourselves but we kept the robbers the thieves the Philistines away because it's a very very dangerous it was a very dangerous time when at the time of the harvest that's when the Philistines would attack or at this point in time they would come and take the sheep so they could have the wool themselves so David was suggesting in this he goes in verse 8 let my young men he sent ten men there he goes find favor in other words whatever you have in your heart to give us in this festive time we have protected you for many months and we've not asked you anything and we are wandering without a very good food supply and you are a multimillionaire the richest man in the name in the area and David was suggesting that he was entitled to an unspecific but an appropriate compensation for doing that now that was pretty common throughout Israel this in today's culture we look at that and say well Nabal didn't hire him I mean what's he talking about but being kinsmen and protecting your neighbors in that way and then the wealthy would pay you back it was a it was a unspoken agreement that happened all through Israel this kind of arrangement well paragraph B verse 10 Nabal he's a harsh evil man an ungrateful man though a very wealthy prominent man he responds negative he gets a bad spirit in verse 10 he answers David's servants he goes who's David we mean who's David he was a national hero that saved Israel from the Philistines with Goliath the whole nation was singing his praises who's David he's the king's son-in-law he's one of the main commanders of the army what do you mean who's David he goes who is this son of Jesse that's that derogatory term that a soul would use when he would have talk about David so it's already giving a negative answer here he goes I know who David is and those guys with him there are many servants these days that are breaking away from their masters he goes he's like a renegade slave that's rebelling against his master Saul he goes he's a good-for-nothing renegade that's what he is he's just a wanderer a drifter no I'm not giving him anything I don't care if he protected my my flocks for months and he didn't take anything from me I don't care verse 11 shall I take my hard-earned money my bread and water and meat and give it to these guys I don't even know of course David say don't know I I am well known in the nation and I am a kinsman I'm of your very tribe and I've been helping you out of my good the goodness of my heart for Roman will fight David responds this is the worst that we see David responding in terms of being mistreated he gets insulted I've never seen David insulted in the whole narrative this one time I mean he's never another time like this and I mean anger gets a hold of him not just the chapter before he excelled and maybe it's the he's thinking you know this is not an issue I've settled this issue I you know when I mistreated I understand how it works God did a miracle for me put Saul into my cave and I had favor with Saul and Saul repented maybe I got this one down and everything's fine and and I don't know what David was thinking maybe there was some sadness in David because of the death of Samuel I don't know but whatever's happening David responds in entirely different way that he did just recently in chapter 24 verse 12 David's a young man they heard this answer from a naval and then he turned on their heels I mean they went running back to David they said David you're not gonna believe what this guy said he insulted you in a huge way he said you're a nothing but a runaway slave he doesn't he doesn't appreciate any of the work we've done all these months protecting him from a marauding bands and Philistines and other attacks of other people verse 13 this is one of the low spots of David's life right here verse 13 David said to his man gird your sword every man put his sword on all 400 in essence we're gonna go kill this man David chill he just said you're a runaway slave he's not gonna give you food I mean he didn't I mean it was insulting it was wrong what he did you're going he says it real clear in a minute you're gonna kill him you're gonna murder him because he insulted you yes I mean this is very inappropriate this is evil David is now about to do what he detested in the character of Saul he was about to take a man's life and kill all of his servants to pay him back this was very soul like and David is in a really bad way so every one of his men he goes get your swords 400 of you too high because there's 600 men 200 of you stay here with the supplies and we're gonna go teach him a lesson we're gonna take out Nabal and all of his family we're gonna kill them all like David I've never seen you this way before what happened again it's maybe it's the sadness of Saul maybe it's the he's not alert he's not watchful that's what I think that's what I think it is he goes well I've had I've got this issue settled I mean the Lord's with me I think I don't have an issue with this David you will always have an issue with this unless you're alert and keeping it in check in and bringing your heart to the Lord there's never a time in this life we graduate where we are now not able to have very dark emotions in many different ways if we're not connected to the Lord we're not aligned to his heart things that you might have done months ago or years ago you can do them again and you can do them far worse than you did him back there because that capacity is in every one of us the only thing that keeps us from doing it is our connection with the Lord we're realigning our heart where we we find a fresh sense of motivation and reality in our relationship with God and that keeps us in check on these things that's what somebody says this leader in the body of Christ he did this can you believe it like of course I can believe it absolutely can what I can't believe is how many aren't doing it I mean that's the miracle and what I mean by that I don't mean that in a cynical way that human nature is to sin the miracle is living in relationship with God and not yielding to it I'm not through I'm not blown away when somebody does it what they what it means to me they've got some bitterness in their life they're disconnected from the Lord their burnout their disillusion they're unhappy and situation goes on and on and on they're not watchful they're not thinking they're gonna stumble in that some months go by maybe a few years go by and they and they and they stumble in the trap I mean it's it's easy to understand how that works if you think you stand take heed if you think you stand without connecting with the Lord and and staying in that interchange with him and being in the body of Christ and staying in relationship and being responsible about your bitterness and your disappointment and really lining up with the Lord regularly if you think you can stand without doing that take heed lest you find out you can't that was the message that David was learning here so on top of page 3 verse 14 one of the young men who heard this who heard Nabel just give this horrible statement to David's 10 men this delegation of 10 that David sent up one of the young men told Abigail the Nabel's wife he goes you're not gonna believe what happened the famous national hero David the he sits at 10 guys to talk to your husband he goes I was right there he goes and he came to greet him and he blessed him and talked about how he's serving Nabel and took care of his flocks out there and protected he goes and your husband which would have been this young man's boss my boss and your husband Abigail he reviled these men he just all but cursed David and said go tell David that's how I think what I think about him he says verse 15 he goes Abigail David's men they were good to us when we were out in the wilderness out in the frontier there they were like a wall of protection day and night I mean they were always there we felt so secure because David was on the perimeter over there all the time we kept the sheep out out there in the wilderness we had this security and this sense of well-being because of David and he goes and your husband is just he's uh he's like all but cursing him because this isn't good verse 17 he goes now therefore Abigail this is the one of the Nabel's young servants talking to the wife Abigail he goes consider you're a very smart woman I mean you have great understanding you know God do something and do it quick because harm is determined against our master and against his household now I don't know how Nabel's staff member found out that David was determined to come and to kill them I don't know how that news got up to him but he goes great harm is around the corner he goes and we need to cut this thing off for he is such a scoundrel your husband is whatever a scoundrel it doesn't sound good I don't know the definition of that is but it's bad he goes nobody can approach this man anybody that's approaching me is defensive he's harsh he won't listen to any reason nobody can talk to him and make sense we've just offended the most powerful anointed military hero in Israel's in all the land and this and he goes and I got the word that he's really offended somewhere through the communication network it got back to them he goes David is offended and this is bad news so this servant is urging Abigail respond quickly do something the whole household is in danger so paragraph C verse 18 well Abigail she got right with it very quickly she didn't procrastinate now there's a time where procrastination is bad really bad she got 200 loaves of bread she got some wine five sheep a bushel of grain clusters of raisins cakes of figs she loaded him on a bunch of donkeys verse 19 and she goes let's go bring him to David before he comes up here and kills us she said now send all the supplies ahead of me and I will come behind the supplies and as David I she goes I know the pathway that the David in his in his group is probably going to come on probably it was a common pathway or a roadway he'll undoubtedly be on this one it's it's the main one and as he comes towards us let him see the donkeys and all the supplies before I get there because that will even soften his heart I'll go like what's this this this is interesting that this is a blessing and then after he warms up saying that my gifts then I'm going to appeal to him now it says verse 19 Abigail she didn't tell her husband enabled that she was doing this she goes no man he'll he'll intervene and he'll stop this whole thing and he'll end up dead by tomorrow you know different people use this verse and say do you tell your husband do you not tell your husband well someone's gonna murder your husband and he's gonna stop you from stopping that guy from murdering you know what to do okay and murder the whole family as well now here's the point I want you to understand David is in a very dangerous position spiritually right now he is about to commit a grave crime not just to kill Nabal but his entire household I mean this is murder this is what Saul did to the city of Nab I mean this is there's no reason I mean you're insulted they didn't murder you they didn't declare war they said some mean things to you didn't give you some food David your entire kingship is in the balance right here and the the story is meant to give us the insight on the virtue of this kind of wisdom and communication of Abigail I mean we're to learn the communication and how to intervene there's many lessons and we're going to learn a few of those but it's also the overarching message here is God saying I deliver David even from David I deliver David from Saul in chapter 24 now I'm gonna deliver David from David because at the end of the day I am the reason that David's gonna make it and I'm gonna give David every opportunity to have an out now remember the verse we looked at earlier although I didn't read the whole verse if you think you stand take heed lest you fall I didn't read the rest of the the passage it says that God is faithful that he's not going to give you a temptation that you cannot find a way of escape out of the Lord says I will help you find a way of escape and God's going to give David a way of escape now David has to respond in a humble spirit David can still say no and ruin his life right here but David with his own awareness and his own alertness isn't he's gonna stumble but God stirred up this woman and the larger message here in chapter 25 is God saying I am intervening yet in a different way to save David I have intervened so many ways I have a growing list of all the ways that because I'm still always finding another little angle as I read this life of David I got about 15 different ways God delivered David and in this chapter God's delivering David from David but the Lord stirred up this woman and made the appeal and because of David's humility he actually did receive it but at the end of the day it was God who delivered David and David even understood that the end he says Lord oh if you would have let me have my way it would have been disaster not just the murder as disastrous that is of an entire family I mean that's that's disaster beyond measure this would I mean this would have been such a a disqualification for David and his role as king of Israel I mean you can't have a Saul like figure as king we don't want another murder the Lord's raising up a man after his own heart not another Saul and David was about to act like Saul I mean this would have been a disqualifying sin in his life this would have created a scandal that would have stayed in his ministry if you will all the days of his life David's in his 20s right now this way he would have been accused of this in his 50s and 60s many years later this would have hung over his head and the Lord says David I'm gonna give you a way of escape I'm gonna give you an out I'm gonna raise up a testimony and if you listen to it it will deliver you and that's the Lord's commitment to his people he goes I will make a way of escape for you I will create a circumstance I will have a person speak a word I'll give you a dream or a vision I'll cause a scripture to come to you I'll cause a phone call to come to you I'll cause a circumstance to block you where you have to hesitate you have to pause you have to reconsider and relook at it again and the Lord says I'm giving you a way of escape and that's what he did here for David the Lord intervened yet another time but again that's that's the great message here but then the other message is the the model of how Abigail which we haven't got to yet how she actually approached David and the way she presented herself I mean she did a better job in this reconciliation than David did with Saul in many ways it was better but like I said last session it's just different but it was very very powerful and very instructive for us today okay paragraph D well she's on the donkey and she's got all this you know 200 loaves of bread and in the raisins the figs the the sheep and she's bringing all these supplies and she's a little bit behind because she wants David to see the gifts first to soften up his heart verse 20 she went down under the cover of the hill so in other words she went to some little out of the way place because there's people all over the land and I mean her husband's a very wealthy powerful man David is being looked for by all of Saul's I mean Saul has this whole intelligence network that's spying on David to give reports back where he's at and so they go to some out of the place out of the way place called the term here is under the cover of the hill where others couldn't see her David and a few of his men they came down to her and as David is on the journey before he gets to her this is a verse 21 he's still journeying hasn't met her yet he is frustrated and he's mumbling and and venting and he goes surely in vain I protected all this fellow now she he's calling Nabal this fellow all that he has and he repaid me for nothing all that I did like he's really venting like David just stop it be David David don't and the truth is David would say I am this is part of who I am I'm not proud of this part but this is part of my story because I do have this negative element that I have to overcome so don't have this idea that David just kind of popped out of the womb sanctified he had to overcome these same elements that we do so verse 22 David makes this oath but now notice the oath he makes and the oath is he's gonna kill everybody in Nabal's family and household but notice the language of the oath David gives himself an out as he's making this oath he says may God do so and more to the enemies of David if I leave one man and there's all household this whole staff of Nabal's I mean the household didn't mean just family members they meant all the the workers and the hired hands if one of them are alive when the morning light comes up we're gonna kill them all tonight we're gonna go in at night and kill them all during the during the sleep he goes I he goes if may God do so and more to the image of David now the reason that David's it's an oath he's making a note that that's the language of an oath but I look at this a little carefully and David kind of hedged it a little bit he goes I vow God kill my enemies if I don't keep this vow you know he didn't say kill me he said kill my enemies I know that's kind of a fairly safe vow to make may God have retribution on my enemies if I break my vow like okay it's not that serious of a vow but okay I get it verse 23 now David's traveling there it's during the day because they plan to kill them all at nighttime when the Sun goes down it's dark but he's not aware that Abigail has a whole entourage coming to meet him on that common roadway undoubtedly or pathway that they're on verse 23 now Abigail saw David she sees him and she dismounts quickly from her donkey she bows down to the ground and so before she says a word David has seen this generous offering of the food that's all he wanted and he sees this woman bowing down in humility very opposite of Nabal very opposite of her husband he's going boy you know never was a couple more opposite than this paragraph E now she makes her appeal to him it's a very very remarkable appeal but her appeal began with her nonverbal actions before she ever said a word she's on the ground and she's bowing before him deferring to him I mean he's an outlaw fugitive but she goes well you might be an outlaw and in terms of soul's esteem but in my esteem I know who you are yeah you may be a fugitive outlaw on the run and my husband may hate you but I know you're the Lord's anointed I know you who you are in God and I'm gonna honor you for who you are in the sight of God even though in the sight of man that you don't have that station right now I get it so she's bowing down and she shows her humility and respect the very fact she's at his feet is a statement give me mercy before she says a word she's already pleading for mercy by her very posture this is a this is a very discerning woman of good understanding verse 24 she fell at his feet and she said on me on me be the iniquity of my family don't put it on my husband put it on me kill me I offer myself to you here verse 25 I didn't see the ten young men you sent to my husband the other day I didn't see them if I would have seen them I would have answered differently than my husband verse 26 she goes let me tell you what's happening right now David and we're skipping a few points here the Lord is holding you back from bloodshed he goes you're about to commit a disqualify sin that would disqualify you this isn't a stumble of a sort this is murdering an entire household this is blood guilt this is not okay and you're avenging yourself this is opposite of what you do he goes I know you this is opposite of what you do I've heard the stories the story about how you treated Saul it got around the country already we all know what kind of man you are how you let the Lord avenge the very words of your mouth have got around the story kind of gossip fine verse 28 now she kicks into some prophetic encouragement she goes I know the eyes of man you're an outlaw and a fugitive but I want to tell you the eyes of God he will make you an enduring house which means you're not only gonna be king you're gonna have a dynasty that's going to go on and on for generations and generations you're not going to be a temporary dynasty where one or two generations and you're cut off you've got an enduring house so she's talking about his dynasty his calling in God that would impact generations that's what she's saying here she goes and certainly the Lord is going to do this it doesn't look that way now David it looks like you're a loser but I know the truth about you you're not a loser I know who you are in God David verse 28 he's kind of lining up his heart all the way goes yeah blood guilt yeah that does sound like Saul I'm so against that and how he slaughtered the people of Nob avenging with my own hand that's what I told Saul I don't do and he's in it she's speaking and he's lining up his heart he goes and enduring house yeah the Lord promised me I would be king and and it would go on and on and she says and you will fight the Lord's battles because you don't need a personal vendetta between you and my husband because you're the anointed to fight God's battles you you gotta be you're a big-picture guy you're not stuck in this little vendetta of a insult and offense and you're a big-picture guy I'm a big-picture woman I get the big picture David what are you doing this isn't you the Lord's trying to prevent you from this David's pondering and she goes on and says in verse 28 evil should not be found in you throughout your day she goes if you murder this entire household this evil this scandal this even potential disqualification will be on you the rest of your life you know but I would you go there are some things people can do that though they can be for they're forgiven by the Lord but there can be implications that go on and on in this week moment David's entire life could have been shifted minus this woman coming to him so I think of that I think oh Lord thank you for your intervening grace your restraining grace the phone call the conversation the circumstance that prevents us that at least holds us makes us take pause makes us step back and reconsider that is the restraining grace of God but I also say what an amazing woman what a gift of God to David to have a woman she's not caught into the vendetta the insult the tit-for-tat she's bigger than all of this and she's being used in such a kingdom purpose I mean can you imagine the history of Israel if David was taken out right now this woman is directly responsible for the goodness that happens in David's life because he's not taken out right here at this time she goes verse 28 now she continues in her prophetic she goes yeah there's a man who's risen up to seek your life that's obviously Saul everybody knows who that man is but let me tell you the life of my Lord speaking of David he's calling her my she I mean he's giving her I have this respectful title calling her his Lord she's calling David calling him my Lord which means you're superior I respect you the Lord's going to preserve your life and he goes and as the lives of your enemies listen to this she really pulls on the strings of David's heart God's going to take your enemies he's going to sling them out like a slingshot and David instantly is thinking of Goliath and how God's anointing was on him and how he was doing it God's way and she's using this national story says God's gonna destroy all of your enemies and fling them like with a slingshot David's going yes that is who I am yes that is who I am I'm not an avenger of my offenses that's not me I don't murder people that's not who I am and she's calling him into reality as to who he is into understanding now this is how we do it when we're not just encouraging somebody but even in a reconciliation we want to tell people who they are in God not just tell them how they sinned and she's using she that's the approach she's taken I mean there is a place to talk about issues that need to be settled but there's no accusation there's no sarcasm here there's no anger here there's no pettiness here there's no you hurt my feelings I don't care what you I want you to you know get in trouble because you're bad you know there's none of that stuff going on she's at a whole different level going on saying David I know who you are now be that man and let's not do this I mean what a remarkable approach to reconciliation she goes verse 38 he'll come to pass when you are the ruler one day you're the king you're not going to have any grief or offense you're not going to have this blood guilt on your conscience or on your public record you don't want this mistake this grievous sin more than I'm mistaken grievous sin you don't want this on your heart or on your record before God or man you really don't David don't do this I mean David is just he's moved by this lady and then I love it at the end she says and when the Lord's done all these good things for you she slips in remember me I love that she slipped it at the very end hey remember remember that we have this situation where I've helped you and I've been a blessing to you top of page four well David paragraph F he has been corrected and encouraged by her beloved that's hard to correct and encourage in the same to do that well she did it well again no sarcasm no accusation she no anger no petty offenses she's making in a very effective pill she starts with a confession of her own sin she goes you know what it's charge it against me not on my family I will take the responsibility for it paragraph G I put the passage here in Exodus this is what she's appealing to the Exodus 23 the command God says if if you kill the innocent I'll not justify you if you kill the innocent you murder them it is serious that's she's appealing to the seriousness of what he's going to do well paragraph H David receives her now again God gave him the occasion the conversation he raised this gal up to give the conversation to him to make him pause to hesitate to reconsider but David did have to respond with a humble spirit he had to have a teachable spirit he did receive the correction verse 32 he said to her blessed is the Lord he sent you to me he goes oh man God thank you he's appreciating her but he's taking a step back he goes God you just delivered me from me I'm so used to you delivering me from others I need deliverance and he says verse 33 your advice kept me God used you to avert a disaster I mean there's a humility in David even in this he sees it goes you're right because she said earlier back in verse 26 she goes God's trying to keep you from a very serious mistake and here in verse 33 he goes you know what I agree with you I just got delivered by your words he goes if you would have hurried to meet me today we're gonna get there by nightfall we were gonna kind of lay in the bushes for a while till the night came we're gonna break in and kill everybody at night verse 35 he goes I heed your voice I respect your person I mean what a glorious exchange here but the reason he respected her person was the way she postured herself now again this isn't about women talking to men some people read that and they go that's a woman's chapter no this is just how this is how godly people talk to people who are offended this is a model of godly appeal and reconciliation Roman numeral six well the story goes on verse 36 Abigail she you know David sends the troops back home says okay you're right I heard you calling off the destruction guys back home to our camp so Abigail gets back you know and and the feast is kind of going on that evening it's good in full full you know fully going and she gets back it's probably late at night the distance they had to travel I assume and and and Nabal is very drunk in the party because remember it's the sheep shearing time of celebration and all the prophets are coming in that week and Wow and so in the next morning she says you know what you know that group of ten people you offended the other day David the great warrior the hero the military hero he was going to come kill you last night when you were drunk and a stupor he's gonna slaughter everybody and Nabal his heart died within him became like a stone I mean it was like he had a stroke of some sort of heart attack plus a stroke or something like that and verse 38 ten days later he was in this comatose kind of state and the Lord struck him and he died and what the Lord wants in the story is that God struck Nabal it wasn't just he had a medical condition that you know came up but it was more than that that the Lord was actually involved in it well the end of the story verse 39 just real quick here well let's see David now how many of you like a romantic story okay I saw those hands okay good tell me if this is romantic okay verse 39 when David heard that Nabal was dead he said hey hey the Lord delivered me from evil he goes he kept us he kept me from doing evil so he recognizes that again like he did in like verse 33 and verse 26 then he sent a proposal to Abigail to take it as to take her her as his wife so the servants of David came up and they knelt down before Abigail and said would you please have David's hand in marriage it's not very romantic is it I mean the the guy sent somebody else hey will you go to the prom if I ask you so now I don't think it was that way but David sent somebody else to propose to her that doesn't sound that great then put her on a donkey and said hey come back my way there were some issues David was learning he's a young man he hasn't got it all figured out verse 41 she arose bowed to the ground and she said here's your maidservant and this this is her humility she's a the wealthiest woman in the entire region great social stature and she means this she goes I will marry you yes but I want you to know I'm going to take a position of a servant's heart because that's what she was in this entire relationship she goes I'm not too good to wash the feet of people that come in I mean that's not all she do but my point being she goes I'm not I'm not too good for anything I'm so grateful to the Lord of what's going on I'm gonna bring this servant attitude into this relationship and so Abigail rose in haste and rode the donkey back to David and became his wife and it ends it's a great ending and so until he got a couple more wives but anyway that's another story for another time we'll look out later yeah the David had some issues in this whole romance department that uh will not get too involved in tonight okay because I don't want to lose the glory of the story and the glory of the story is that God delivered David when David was counting on yesterday's victory today and he was not alert and he was not watchful and he was yielding and the greatest defeat in the area he had the greatest victory in recently but God said David I love you I'm gonna give you opportunity I'm gonna create a situation that causes a pause a hesitation again it might be a phone call might be a conversation for someone might be a circumstance might be a dream I'm gonna give you a chance to back away rethink it through and if you respond right I delivered you and David did it but then in the midst of that we're looking at the way that and you can see the notes I break it down a little bit in the notes there the way that this godly woman with a servant spirit approaches reconciliation I don't know that there's a better model of this in the Old Testament than chapter 24 David was Saul and chapter 25 Abigail with David amen let's stand before the Lord Lord here we are before you Lord we say we want to be a peacemaker we want to be a reconciler we want to be like Abigail Lord I thank you for that humble spirit of this wealthy prominent lady God I asked you make me a peacemaker like Abigail Lord I say yes to this the Lord says that blessed are the peacemakers Ellen they'll be called the sons of God Lord I ask you for this peacemaking anointing that is highlighted in these chapters here to be released upon us and I say oh Lord I want to be a part of this I say yes to this I I'm gonna be a man that operates in the spirit that this woman was operating it I want to invite people to come forward if you're saying I'm in a conflict right now or I'm a step away like Abigail was a step away I mean I mean the conflict was her and her husband I mean David and her husband she was kind of in it but she was a step away as well but maybe you're a step away but you see another one that's close to home but you're but you're saying Lord I want to be a peacemaker in that situation or maybe you're in one and you could be the peacemaker and yeah and you're saying Lord I want to take some steps forward I I want to use this model and now walk this thing out of my and my life in a practical way if you'd like prayer if you're any kind of conflict you would like prayer or you're in a peacemaking situation but you need that little nudge to go forward I want to invite you to come up and receive prayer tonight if you would like it there's so many broken relationships all over the body of Christ and just society and families some of you are being mistreated and the Lord wants you to respond like David in chapter 24 our first session you're saying Lord I need to do that and I want grace greater grace to walk that out others of you could just stay where you are you're saying Lord I'm grateful you have delivered me by your restraining grace you've intervened when I was about to stumble in an area where I had victory before but I was about to stumble in it and I can remember that situation I want to thank you for it that you intervened that your grace was sufficient Lord I ask you for the grace of the peacemaker blessed are the peacemakers I invite anybody to come up and pray for folks if you would some of these folks are being attacked in their chapter 24 others are peacemakers it's chapter 25