Abigail [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

When you see your intercessor, your mediator, and you hear what he has to say to you, you will drop your plans of bitterness. You will aspire to that which is noble. In other words, the Gospel changes everything. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series titled, God Used Who?

And you may just be surprised, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news? Though the world is full of many different voices competing for our attention, when you and your spirit hear the word of the Lord, and you hear God telling you who you are, and you are reminded of your destiny, when you see your intercessor, your mediator, and you hear what He has to say to you, you will drop your plans of bitterness. You will aspire to that which is noble.

In other words, the gospel changes everything. We're going to look at a hidden jewel. Her name is Abigail, one of the most beautiful names in all the world. I have a daughter named Abigail. We knew we were going to name her Abigail before we ever had her, when she was just a dream, when she was just something we imagined in our spirits. My wife said she always wanted to have a girl and named her Abigail because the Bible said Abigail was a discerning, a wise and beautiful woman, intelligent. And then at the time that Abigail was born, it was a time in my life in the 90s in which God had just done a remarkable thing and brought so much joy into my heart.

Just the fruit of joy just abounding, a whole move of just joy in my life was filled with so much joy and laughter. And Abigail means my father's joyful or my father's joy. Abigail, she's in First Samuel chapter 25. This is an absolutely scandalous story that a woman would do what she did.

And she is so discerning and she is so brave and so intelligent and wise. It changes the course of history and changes a king's heart. First Samuel chapter 25. We need to go through this whole story so it's a long text but it's a the story tells itself. Verse one, now Samuel died.

It's important to the story. David's life was changed by the prophet Samuel. Samuel anointed David with a flask of oil in the fields of Bethlehem and Samuel has died and all Israel assembled and mourned for him and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran and there was a man in Mahon whose business was in Carmel and the man was very rich. He was very rich. He had 3,000 sheep and a thousand goats. This is a very wealthy person and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now on the day of, let me give a few thoughts as we go through this story. The day of the shearing of the sheep on a large estate like this was a day of celebration.

It was a day in which they were going to reap a lot of profits and there's a big celebration that would usually go on. Now the name of the man was Nabal and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful but the man was harsh and badly behaved. He was a Calebite. So he's from the clan of Caleb. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So and you got to stop here and just let me tell you David is from the same clan so they are kinsmen and that's important to the story. David expects that he would receive hospitality from Nabal. So David verse 5 sent 10 young men and David said to young men go up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him in my name and thus you shall greet him. Peace be to you and peace be to your house and peace be to all that you have.

I hear that you have shearers now your shepherds have been with us and we did them no harm and they missed nothing all the time that they were in Carmel. Let me pause here and say what has been happening is you'll learn a little bit more about in a couple verses is that David's got a group of 600 men now. He's been on the run from King Saul who has got murderous intent towards David. David is eventually going to be exalted to the throne over all of Israel northern and southern kingdoms. He is going to be the king over all but right now he's still been on the run and he's developed this ragtag group of fighting men and they are hungry and they're tired they're thirsty but they had been providing protection over Nabal's property.

They've been guarding around all the sheep and all of the herds and all the shepherds and they had not lost anything during this period of time. So David's making his appeal based on we've been blessing you could you bless us now at this day of celebration. Now verse eight ask your young men and they'll tell you therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes for we come on a feast day please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David. So when he says that to your son David here is the future king of Israel who is saying we're kin and he calls himself like a son to Nabal.

It's a gesture of humility. When David's young men came they said all this to Nabal in the name of David and then they waited and Nabal answered David's servants who is David and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where? So David's young men turned away and they came back and told him all this and David said to his men every man strapped on his sword and every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword and about 400 men went up after David while 200 remained with the baggage. So he left 200 back with all of their possessions and he took 400 of them up ready to slaughter them but one of the young men told Abigail one of the servants of Nabal broke ranks and came and boldly told Abigail what was going on and said verse 14 behold David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master and he railed at them yet the men were very good to us they were a wall to us both by night and by day all the while we were with them keeping the sheep now therefore know this and consider what you should do for harm is determined against our master and against all this house man he's such a worthless man that no we can even speak to him this is a bold servant who feels comfortable coming to Abigail with this news to say that Abigail made haste and took 200 loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seeds of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and 200 cakes of figs and laid them on donkeys and she said to her young men go on before me behold I come after you but she did not tell her husband Nabal and as she rode on the donkey and came down under the cover of the mountain behold David and his men came down toward her and she met them now David had said surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him and he has returned me evil for good you see how his temperament has changed earlier he was calling uh Nabal as if he were like a kinsman he's called himself your son David now he's just this fellow you know how it is when everything turns you don't even want to call somebody's name then verse 22 god do so to the enemies of David and more also if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him it's always kind of a struggle as a preacher to decide whether to tell you what the bible actually says in a certain verse because it's not always g-rated and sometimes there's some potty humor in here and uh I just struggle whether to tell you this or not but you should know that the Hebrew actually says um I'll try to put it as delicately as I can um God do so to the enemies of David and more also if by morning I leave so much as one relieving himself against a wall that's exactly what it says sorry about that sorry about that but that's what it says verse 23 that's how mad he is you know that's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series God's love you've heard about it with your ears you've believed it in your mind now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book lover of my soul the bible is a love story from beginning to end you are the spiritual bride of Christ the perfect bridegroom the bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you to win you and to walk with you hand in hand for any man who has fallen in love with a woman you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like for any woman who has searched for true love what you long for can only be found fully in God Gary Chapman renowned author of the five love languages says the incredible reality that God pursues us and love comes to life and lover of my soul ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart accept Christ's proposal enjoy his embrace revel in his love after all it's a match made in heaven it's lover of my soul by Alan Wright the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty that's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty or come to our website pastor alan.org today's teaching now continues here once again is Alan Wright when Abigail saw David she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground she fell at his feet and said on me alone my lord be the guilt please let your servant speak in your ears and hear the words of your servant let not my lord regard this worth was Pharaoh fellow Nabal for as his name is so is he Nabal is his name and folly is with him but I your servant did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent now then my lord as the lord lives and as your soul lives because the lord has restrained you from blood guilt and from saving with your own hand now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal and now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord please forgive the trespass of your servant for the lord will certainly make my lord a sure house and now her spirit turns and she begins to bless and she begins to prophesy to him the lord will certainly make my lord a sure house because my lord is fighting the battles of the lord and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live if men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the lord your god what a beautiful verse and it actually the word for bundle here can mean document and scholars think there's actually a reference to the book of life if men rise up to pursue you and seek your life the life of my lord shall be bound up in the book of life and the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling it hadn't been long before it that word had spread that david had defeated goliath with some simple small stones and a sling and now she evokes that image and says this is what god's going to do to your enemies verse 30 and when the lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he's spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over israel my lord shall have no cause of grief or pains of conscious for having shed blood without cause or for my lord taking vengeance himself and when the lord has dealt well with my lord then remember your servant she's saying you are blessed you are the future king of israel god is going to deal with your enemies he is going to establish you and you are going to reign and therefore you do not need to bring about this evil of slaughtering this estate and have that blood guilt on your hands and when you are on your throne she says remember me i don't know how much prophetic insight she had and what exactly she meant by remember me but she is going to become david's wife after her husband dies and when she said my lord my lord she kept calling david my lord you need to know in hebrew that also can mean my husband my husband my husband verse 32 and david said to abigail blessed be the lord the god of israel who sent you this day to meet me blessed be your discretion and blessed be you who have kept me this day from blood guilt and from avenging myself with my own hand for as surely as the lord the god of israel lives who has restrained me from hurting you unless you had hurried and come to meet me truly by morning there had not been left to nabal so much as one male then david received from her hand what she had brought him and he said to her go up in peace to your house see i have obeyed your voice and i have granted your petition and abigail came to nabal and behold he was holding a feast in his house like the feast of a king it wasn't a king but he was acting like a king and nabal's heart was very merry within him for he was very drunk so she told him nothing at all until the morning light and in the morning when the wine had gone out of nabal his wife told him these things and his heart died within him and he became as the stone and about 10 days later the lord struck nabal and he died when david heard that nabal was dead he said blessed be the lord who's avenged the insult i received at the hand of nabal and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing the lord has returned the eve of nabal on his own head then david sent and spoke to abigail to take her as his wife scholars think that this was probably the act of what was known as becoming a kinsman redeemer for in the culture where widows were often left very vulnerable it was often the expectation that closest kin would then marry that widow and so this may be what david is doing here and he takes her as his wife verse 40 when the servants of david came to abigail at carmel they said to her david has sent us to take you to him as his wife and she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said behold your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord and abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey and her five young women attended her she followed the messengers of david and became his wife david also took a hadnoam of jasriel and both of them became his wives and saul had given michal his daughter david's wife to palti the son of laish who was of galim what a story you know it's a story of it's a story of contrasts you know what i mean by contrast it's like something that is very different but when you put it next to something that's its opposite it stands out so much one drop of blue food color one drop of grape juice on a dark blue carpet not that big a deal one drop of grape juice down into a white carpet it's all you can see and so everything in this story just stands out and contrast sometimes contrast is used in great literature as a literary device the one of the most famous openings of a novel charles dickens tale of two cities it was the best of times it was the worst of times it was the age of wisdom it was the age of foolishness humor often depends also on contrasts right where it's not what you expect and then suddenly you see something a contrast like somebody told me this week about a woman that was in church and she was she was talking to a lady she didn't know and she started gossiping about the pastor and started saying you know the pastor's just i don't like him his sermons are boring and long and he's not a very good looking man and i don't think he's very nice person either and she's going on like that and the second lady said said ma'am do you know who i am and the first lady said no who are you she said i'm the pastor's wife whereupon the first lady said do you know who i am pastor's wife said no they said good off she went contrast let's see so there's a little humor in this story of the contrast that are here there's contrast here and the contrast of course between abigail and her foolish husband nabal but there's also a contrast between david and nabal and we don't have time to look at it but in chapter 24 that precedes this and chapter 26 that follows it in both stories david has an opportunity to kill king saul but says he will not raise his hand against the lord's anointed and he restrains leaving vengeance to the lord and we are reminded therefore that saul lurks in the background of this story david wouldn't even be on the run except for saul who is a maniac by this time and so there's a contrast between king david a worshipper of god and king saul who is so narcissistic and there's a contrast here also implied between abigail and mikal who is later depicted in the scripture as a woman who was david's wife who despised david and disdained the fact that he worshipped in an unfettered way also even though she's not mentioned in the story if you know the story of david you can't help but think how different this encounter is than what david experiences when he is on his throne having secured the borders and has all luxury and goes up in the palace to the roof one day and sees a woman bathing nearby and has to have her and he takes bathsheba and it's egregious sin and has uraya her husband killed in battle and you're left wondering what would have been different had there been an abigail to intercede and so all of these contrast and not least of which is the contrast between the way david was going to act and then what david actually did because in life isn't it amazing that sometimes the greatest contrast can be in our own character the difference between my flesh and who i am in the flesh and and and who i am in the spirit can be night and day and so it is with david and we see here the way of life let's go through the story a little bit david was in a fighting a fighting mood in the first place the elder statement statesman and a mentor to him samuel has died so david was in grief and sometimes when things have been taken away from you there's sadness but part of grief also is sometimes you get mad and david had been trying to help nabal and he'd set up a a camp all around him so that his kinsmen's herds would be protected protected from predators protected from intruders and while shepherds over large flocks would lose some of those animals not one animal had been lost as long as david and his men had been protecting them hospitality in that culture was not just a nicety it was an expectation if you had a relative come to visit you even if they weren't a relative just a stranger come to visit you it was expected that you would help provide he had been on the run from saul he had had a chance to kill saul but had not and now he is hungry he is thirsty and his 600 men are hungry and thirsty and when nabal sends back this surly response david like papa had had all he could stand he couldn't stand no more allen wright today's teaching on abigail from the series god used who we've got allen in the studio back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life and today's final word god's love you've heard about it with your ears you've believed it in your mind now experience it in your heart with allen wright's beloved book lover of my soul the bible is a love story from beginning to end you are the spiritual bride of christ the perfect bridegroom the bible tells about a god who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you to win you and to walk with you hand in hand for any man who has fallen in love with a woman you've tasted the sweetness of what god's love for you is like for any woman who has searched for true love what you long for can only be found fully in god gary chatman renowned author of the five love languages says the incredible reality that god pursues us and love comes to life and lover of my soul ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart accept christ's proposal enjoy his embrace revel in his love after all it's a match made in heaven it's lover of my soul by allen wright the gospel is shared when you give to allen wright ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from allen wright ministries call us at 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 or come to our website pastorallen.org allen as we look at the life of abigail what's the lesson that we're uncovering in this two-part series well we our our daughter's name is abigail we knew that we would name her abigail because my wife loved that name before we ever had children because the scripture says she's a wise and beautiful woman and indeed she was but we're going to learn not just about the wisdom that abigail had and her sense of savvy and how it was that her actions accomplished so much but the exciting thing in this story daniel is to see how abigail represents to us the picture of christ we'll see about this how she comes on behalf of a foolish husband to intercede of her own initiative humbled herself into taking the posture of a servant taking the blame for a wrong that she had not committed in so doing averts the righteous wrath of david and saved so many people this is what god's done for us in jesus so as you listen and you follow the story of abigail pay heed not only to her wisdom and take good counsel from that but learn of jesus it's a powerful picture today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Alan Wright Ministries