Lessons From Abigail: "A Woman of Good Understanding.."

(I posted this on facebook in October)

I Sam 25, II Sam 2:2; 3:3 and I Chron 3:1

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice….”(I Sam 25:32-33- David’s reaction to Abigail).

Abigail was one of the eight wives of David. But of all of the wives, Abigail was the one that had the greatest influence for good and helped David to remember that he was the anointed one chosen by God in the keeping of the kingdom of Israel.

Abigail first made an impression on David when she was married to a cruel, drunkard of a man named Nabal. David had done much to help Nabal and his men, but when David asked for help in return, Nabal mocked him and refused. Abigail, hearing what has happened is wise enough to know how furious David will be and the horrible consequences that Nabal’s actions will bring to their household. (I Samuel 25:21-22 tells what David had said was going to happen to Nabal and all of his possessions).

With this understanding and with swift thinking Abigail goes to work making huge amounts of food (I Samuel 25:18) for all of David’s men. She sends her servants and she herself gets on a donkey and goes to deliver this food to David. She approaches David and humbly apologizes to him for her husband’s actions, giving God glory in her statement and praising David, that he is the chosen one to lead God’s people. Abigail’s supplication to David can be found in I Samuel 25:24-31.

David was obviously impressed with Abigail; she made a huge impression on him with her words and her actions. He thanks God for sending her and thanks her for advice. Because of Abigail all of her household was spared.

Shortly after Abigail tells Nabal of the foolish thing he did while drunk, Nabal dies. When David hears of Nabal’s death he asks Abigail to be his wife, which she humbly accepts.

Lessons from Abigail (hard to narrow it down, there are so many!).
1.We should not be influenced by the evil around us. Abigail was married to a horrible man (she calls him “foolish and worthless” in her speech to David). Our spouse has more influence on us then anyone in most occasions. But in Abigail’s situation she did not let Nabal’s foolishness influence her to act the same way. Because she was of sober mind she saved their entire household.

We should not let those around us, whether it is friends, family member, or coworkers that act in foolish and ungodly ways influence us to do the same.

2.We should be willing to work hard and do what is necessary. Abigail didn’t think twice about it when she learned what had happened. She went straight to work with her servants, making HUGE amounts of food. She did not complain, she did what needed to be done.

We live in a time where laziness runs ramped! It’s easier to take the easy way out in any given situation then it is to do the work necessary. We should learn from Abigail’s example of hard work and willingness to do what was necessary to make things right between her husband and David.

3.When we have the attitude that we should, when we work hard, and when we give God the glory that he SO deserves, we will be rewarded. Abigail’s hard work and humble attitude paid off in the end. David was so impressed with her. I can almost picture him watching her as she rides off into the distance after delivering all of that food and that impressive speech. And he did not forget her. She no longer had to be married to a horrible man like Nabal, but instead married and bore a son with the great King David.

If we work hard like Abigail and stay vigilant in our Christian walk, we will be rewarded. But most importantly, we have to remember to give God the glory in all that we do!

“I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.” (I Sam 25:28)

"I SLIDE!"

(I posted this on my other blog in July 2008. My son was less then 2 years old at the time and I was working at a Martial Arts school with kids.)

It’s funny how much you can learn from watching children. Spending so much time with Thomas at home and with the kids at Karate camp, I spend a lot of time evaluating myself because of things that they will do or say. Last weekend a group of friends and I took the kiddos to the park to play. It was extremely crowded so I was sticking close to little T to make sure he didn’t get lost in the crowd or fall off the steps that led to the slide. As Thomas climbed up toward the slide he said (with a HUGE grin on his face) “Hi. I slide” to every child that he passed. If you’ve been around my little man very much you know that he is like his daddy in a lot of ways, and one of those ways is that he takes a little while to warm up to people that he doesn’t know, so for him to be so open about this whole slide thing was a rare thing, indeed. Sliding is his favorite thing and he couldn’t wait to tell everyone he saw about the slide. It didn’t matter if he passed a boy or a girl, if they were black or white, bigger than him or smaller, he had to tell them about the slide because he was SO excited. He even had these two four year old girls look at him and say “What you want?” (cracked me up! However, it did remind me of your typical Montgomery service, but that’s another blog for another time). But that didn’t discourage him. He just went right on telling folks about the slide.

You can probably see where I’m going with this but I’ll say it anyway. Isn’t that how we should be when it comes to God’s Word? We meet people sometimes and automatically think that they probably wouldn’t care, or they don’t seem like the “type” that would be interested in God’s word, so we write them off. But who are we to pick and choose?? When Thomas looks at a person that’s what he sees, another person. He is so excited about that slide that he is about to slide down that he thinks everyone he passes should know about it, too. Imagine if we all had that kind of excitement and zeal when it comes to God and Jesus; if we said to everyone that passed us “Hi. I’m a Christian!”

'At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matt 18 1-4

"For Righteousness' Sake"

I decided to create another blog for my "devotional thoughts." I'm hoping that I can use this avenue to not only encourage others, but also to learn a thing or two myself. The more that I write concerning spiritual matters the stronger my faith becomes. So I'm trying to challenge myself to write more based on scripture, experiences, and what I learn from others. I will be posting things that I write, but I'm going to start by posting things that I have written in the past, so that I will have it all in this one place. I will also post things that others have written. My dad is an excellent writer and I will often share things on here that he has written; plus other things that I may come across that I find encouraging and thought-provoking.

I hope that whoever reads this comes away from this encouraged.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10