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[0:00] Good morning. And just before we do our reading this morning, I just want to say what a privilege it is to be here with you this morning. And it was the idea of coming along to a different church was slightly daunting, I have to admit, but you've all made it extremely easy.

[0:19] And so thank you for all your kind words and encouragement as I was coming through the door. Now, I'm not a full-time pastor or full-time preacher of any sort. And I'm just a regular guy who does a little bit of preaching at Liberty.

[0:33] I maybe only normally preach about four or five times a year. So I apologise in advance this morning if things aren't up to the standard you're used to with your regular pastor. But thank you for having me along with you.

[0:43] I don't think I've actually, I think, I only have history today with one person who's here this morning, that's Mr. Bell, who together we actually went to a Rangers game around about 20 years ago. So don't hold that against us in any way whatsoever, please.

[0:56] Because a while back I was a friend with, used to be good friends with Dale Bell, and also was good friends with Greg Dyer at one point, who used to come to the churches.

[1:08] Well, not that we've fallen out in any way, but just sometimes life takes you in different directions, you know. So I understand as well that you've been going through the Book of Acts over the last couple of years, and I'm actually quite a little bit jealous, to be honest, that I haven't been part of that, because I love the Book of Acts.

[1:23] I think it's a tremendous book that shows tremendous acts of faith and courage of the early apostles who are responsible for setting up of the early church, which is now a part of our history as to where we are today.

[1:37] But today I want to delve back slightly further in history, and I want to actually go back into the Old Testament, because even though we don't live in the same context of the Old Testament anymore, in that we live under the New Covenant, under the blood of Christ, and they lived under the Old Covenant, this by no means render the Old Testament in any way irrelevant to us whatsoever.

[2:03] And as we go through this wonderful story of the Old Testament this morning, I really hope that we're going to see that this morning, that there's things there that are still relevant to us today, as they were all those years ago.

[2:13] So, now this morning I would like to look at 1 Samuel and chapter 25. And we're going to read the whole chapter. It is quite a long chapter, so bear with me as we read right through the chapter.

[2:26] And I see you actually have it up there as well. Now unfortunately, I see there as well you have it in the ESV. Now I should have checked with Cal beforehand what translation you were in the habit of using here, and I would have made mine the same.

[2:39] But I'm in the habit of using the NIV, so I'm going to read from the NIV this morning if that's okay. At the end of the day, it's all God's word. So let's read together 1 Samuel chapter 25.

[2:51] Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and moored for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down to the desert of Maon. A certain man in Maon who had property there at Carmel was very wealthy.

[3:06] He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. His name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings.

[3:20] He was a Calebite. While David was in the wilderness, he heard Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.

[3:32] Say to him, Long life to you, good health to you and your household, and good health to all that is yours. Now here at the sheep shearing time, when your shippers were with us, we did not ill-treat them.

[3:44] And the whole time they were at Carmel, nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants, and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable towards my men, since we come at a festive time.

[3:55] Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them. When David's men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David's name. Then they waited.

[4:07] Nabal answered David's servants, Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water and the meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men coming from who knows where?

[4:26] David's men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. David said to his men, And each of you strap on your sword. So they did, and David strapped on his as well.

[4:38] About 400 men went up with David, while 200 stayed with the supplies. One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them.

[4:54] Yet these men were very good to us. They did not ill-treat us. And the whole time we were out in the fields near them, nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us, and the whole time we were shearing our sheep near them.

[5:08] Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him. Abigail acted quickly.

[5:19] She took 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five breast sheep, five sears of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.

[5:31] Then she told her servants, Go on ahead, I'll follow you. But she did not tell her husband, Nabal. As she came riding on her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending towards her, and she met them.

[5:48] David had just said, It's been useless. All my watching over this fellow's property in the wilderness, so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back, evil for good.

[5:59] May God deal with thee, David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him. When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground.

[6:14] She fell at his feet and said, Pardon your servant, my Lord, and let me speak to you. Hear what your servant has to say. Please pay no attention, my Lord, to that wicked man, Nabal.

[6:25] He is just like his name. His name means fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my Lord sent. And now, my Lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives, and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed, and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies, and all who are intent on harming you, my Lord, be like Nabal.

[6:47] And let this gift, which your servant has brought you, my Lord, be given to the men who follow you. Please forgive your servant's presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my Lord, because you fight the Lord's battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in your life as long as you live.

[7:07] Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my Lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God. But the lives of your enemies, he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.

[7:20] When the Lord has fulfilled for my Lord every good thing he promised concerning him, and has appointed him ruler over Israel, my Lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed, or of having avenged himself.

[7:34] And when the Lord your God has brought my Lord's success, remember your servant. David said to Abigail, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you to meet me.

[7:45] May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed on this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.

[8:06] Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought to him and said, Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request. When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king.

[8:19] He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak. Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things and his heart failed him failed him and he became like a stone.

[8:35] About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Praise be to the Lord who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt.

[8:46] He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal's wrongdoing down on his own head. Then David sent word to Abigail asking her to become his wife. The servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, David has sent you to take you to become his wife.

[9:02] She bowed with her face to the ground and said, I am your servant and I am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my Lord's servants. Abigail quickly got on a donkey and attended by five female servants, went to David's messengers and became his wife.

[9:16] David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel and they were both his wives, but Saul had given his daughter, Michael, David's wife, to Paltel, son of Leish, who was from Gollum.

[9:30] And we trust that God will bless the reading of his word. Now I'm just going to hand back over to the musicians again for another hymn and then we'll dig further into what this passage has to say. Thank you.

[9:40] Well that is quite a long chapter and there is a lot in there this morning so we probably won't pick out absolutely everything there is in that chapter but I think it's one of those situations where it's important that we do consider the whole story together, Baker, because it is a complete story, a complete event that happened in the life of David in the Old Testament.

[10:16] But before we get into it, let's perhaps look a little bit at the background so we can put this passage into a little bit of context this morning and help us understand what's going on a little bit better.

[10:28] Well David is currently on the run from Saul so even though David is the Lord's anointed, he is the future king of Adriel, he is actually at this point in time an outlaw.

[10:40] He is not the king and as far as the people of Israel is concerned, as far as the current king of Israel is concerned, he is an outlaw. We're told right at the start of this passage that Samuel has died.

[10:55] Now Samuel was the one, as we know, who anointed David to be the future king of Israel So the presence of Samuel would have served in some respect as an element of protection for David because the people of Israel still had a respect for Samuel even though David was on the run from Saul.

[11:17] But Samuel having died, that actually puts David in a slightly more vulnerable position. So this is mostly probably why he's on the move again and we're told that he has moved to the desert of Maon.

[11:28] Now the main focus of this passage and the situations that we come across is wisdom or in some of the situations we come across is the lack of wisdom and hopefully we're going to see that as we go through the passage and look at perhaps some of the characters in the narrative this morning.

[11:46] Now there's four main characters in this passage that we're going to consider as we go through. First of all there's David who we've already identified as the future outlaw king of Israel.

[11:59] There's Nabal who is described as a mean fool. And there's Abigail who is described as the beautiful, intelligent, wise woman, the wife of Nabal.

[12:11] Then of course as in every biblical narrative in the Old Testament the main character even if not mentioned by name the main character is always God.

[12:22] And we do see God mentioned by name in this passage but even when God is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament he is ever present and he is always part of what is going on and is always in control with everyone.

[12:34] He's the one that we really hope to learn the most about here this morning. So let's just consider the plot.

[12:45] What's actually been happening here in this passage? Let's break it down a wee bit into more manageable chunks that we can perhaps understand. As we've already mentioned David has moved to Maon where he comes into contact with a group of men shearing sheep in Carmel.

[13:02] We're told that the men shearing the sheep are employed by Nabal who's a Calebite who would be a descendant from Caleb. So if we were to cast our minds way back we know that Caleb was one of the twelve spies that were sent into Israel and I don't know if you ever sung the song in Sunday school of twelve men went to spy and Canaan ten were bad two were good well Caleb along with Joshua was one of the good guys.

[13:27] He was one of the good spies. So Caleb was a man who like David was described as a man who had a desire to follow God. So David is probably under the impression here that he stumbled across an ally in Nabal with Nabal being a Calebite.

[13:45] So he has an opportunity here to overpower these men of Nabal and take their provisions for himself to get provisions for his own man. So he has a decision to make here.

[13:58] He's already considered an outlaw he's already an outcast. He doesn't really have a lot to lose by simply taking what he needs from these men. He can't really get much worse reputation than he currently has even if it's a wrong reputation he can't actually make it much worse.

[14:13] And as we read in verse 13 he has 600 men of his own so he has the manpower to do so. However he decides to act honourably towards these men and provide them with protection in the hope that he can find favour with their master this Calebite who he probably thinks is an ally as we'll see later on he wasn't.

[14:33] But he probably thinks if he goes about it this way go about it the right way offer these men protection and then perhaps Nabal their master will give him some provisions in return for his kindness and the protection that he has offered his men.

[14:49] So even though David has been labelled an outlaw he still acts properly towards these men he comes into contact with. He still treats them in the way that he should be treated that they should be treated.

[15:02] David then sends men on his behalf to ask in his name that Nabal provide them with provisions. He sends them with the request that Nabal help him in return for the help that he gave Nabal's servants.

[15:16] He gives Nabal respect in verse 6 he says say to him long life to you and good health to you and your household and good health to all that is yours. And he appeals to Nabal's conscience and again he doesn't try to take anything by force he simply makes what he believes and what I think most of us would agree with is a reasonable request.

[15:39] So how does Nabal respond to that reasonable request from David on? Verse 10 we read Nabal answered David's servant who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse?

[15:51] Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water and the meat that I have slaughtered slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men coming from who knows where?

[16:02] And so Nabal quite clearly refuses to help David. So we see here a lesson here as well just because we behave correctly towards others it doesn't necessarily mean that they will always respond favourably towards us.

[16:17] And when we act favourably towards others we do so because it's the right thing to do not because what we might get back and return and we see this many times in the New Testament in the lives of people who did what was right but received opposition nevertheless and of course the ultimate example of that is the Lord Jesus who was rejected by the ones that he came to save.

[16:40] The very people that he loved and that he came from came to save were the ones who were responsible for the horrific death that he died on the cross. We also see here the Nabal's response that he credits his possessions and his achievements to himself my bread and water the meat that I have slaughtered.

[16:59] This is quite similar to society today where it very often is all about self. We often hear terms today very common like the need of self-awareness the need of self-confidence the need of self-esteem the need of self-assurance the need of self-empowerment but what we really need is more God-awareness more God-confidence more confidence in God more God-assurance more assurance of God in our lives and we need to be empowered by God rather than looking to our self for self-empowerment.

[17:33] In short we need less of self and more of God. John 3 verse 30 says he must become greater I must become lesser it says in another version he must increase and I must decrease.

[17:48] So we see here that Nabal sees David as an outlaw he has absolutely no respect whatsoever for him and we see this in the statement that he makes regarding servants breaking away from their masters and this is basically Nabal making the false accusation here that David has in some way broken away from Saul and is running from Saul has rejected Saul in some way but the reality is actually the opposite David hasn't rebelled against Saul it's Saul that's driven him away if we look back in 1 Samuel 18 we would see that it was Saul's jealousy of David's success and the fact that God was with him that led Saul to despise David and to drive him away so Nabal's accusation here is false either he has an incorrect picture of the true situation or is he perhaps just looking for excuses not to show David kindness I think it's most likely the latter giving Abigail's apparent understanding of the situation as we'll come on to a little bit later she was quite clear on who David was so I think it's pretty certain that Nabal was as well and of course

[19:03] David did not rise up but rather Saul has driven him away as we've already mentioned and further evidence of this is given later on in 1 Samuel in chapter 24 when David has the opportunity on more than one occasion to kill Saul but he spares his life so whether it's deliberately or through ignorance Nabal does not recognise the reality of the true situation he does not recognise David as the future king of Israel and because of this he doesn't share his provisions with David and Nabal obviously acts foolishly here and we'll see further evidence of this later in the passage when we see how God ultimately deals with him there's similarity here of course in the way that people dealt with and still do today deal with Christ some saw Christ as a rebel who spoke out against the religious leaders of the time while others recognised him as he truly was and that was the son of God so it's really important here we don't make the same mistake about Christ that Nabal made about David and David's men of course return and report

[20:08] Nabal's response to David in verse 12 David's men turn round and went back they arrived and they reported every word so what was David's response how does David respond to what Nabal has said in verse 13 we read David said to his men each of you strap on your sword so they did and David strapped on his as well about 400 men went up with David while 200 stayed with the supplies so David's response immediately is to seek vengeance upon Nabal so he proceeds to gather 400 of his men together to stage an attack on Nabal and his men and in verse 21 we read the full extent of David's plan David had just said it's been useless all my watching over this fellow's property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing he has paid me back evil for good may God deal with David be it ever so severely if by morning I leave one male of all who belong to him alive so he plans to completely wipe out

[21:12] Nabal and his men and he takes these matters completely into his own hands there's no mention here of him seeking God's guidance or looking to God as to what he should do and although David mentions God here it's clear that this was not what God wanted as we see what happens in his encounter with Abigail David presumes God's plan here rather than seeking his will he proceeds to do something in God's name that is not of God and in so doing he uses God's name in vain it wasn't David's place to seek vengeance upon Nabal but rather it was God although it was true what David said that Nabal had returned him evil for good it's not right that David should then return evil for evil Romans 12 verse 19 says do not take revenge my dear friends but leave room for God's wrath for it is written it is mine to avenge

[22:19] I will repay says the Lord on the contrary if your enemy is hungry feed him if he is thirsty given something to drink in doing so he will heap coals of fire upon his head do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good so David's decision to act in anger towards Nabal and to take matters into his own hands was not an action of wisdom he puts his own feelings and his own pride ahead of the will of God however in the meantime we can see God is still at work working out his own plan and we see this in the actions of Nabal's servants they recognise the error in Nabal's actions and they decide they want to speak up for David and his men so they appeal to what we would often describe here as his better half and in this context I think it's quite clearly that Abigail was Nabal's better half and in verse 14 we read one of the servants told Abigail Nabal's wife

[23:19] David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings but he hurled insults at them yet these men were very good to us they did not ill treat us and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing night and day they were a wall around us and the whole time we were herding sheep near them now think it over and see what you can do because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household he is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him and remember here unbeknown to them David is on his way to kill them so even though David might have good reason to want some sort of justice on Nabal he is most definitely wrong here to go after Nabal's men who are completely innocent of any wrongdoing in the situation so it was wrong of David here to treat Nabal's men as guilty by association and Nabal's men they actually act quite wisely here they recognise that there was an injustice carried out by their master against Nabal against David but they don't revolt or they don't stage a rebellion against their master Nabal or take matters into their own hands they appeal to someone else who in this case is Abigail they appeal to Abigail because she is perhaps in a position to do something about it so how does Abigail deal with the situation verse 18

[24:39] Abigail acted quickly she took 200 loaves of bread two skins of fine wine five dressed sheep five sears of roasted grain 100 cakes of raisins and 200 cakes of pressed figs and loaded them on donkeys then she told her servants go on ahead I will follow you but she did not tell her husband Nabal so first of all here we see that she acts quickly she sees and she recognises the magnitude of the situation she knows what needs to be done and she does it it's not enough to know the right thing to do we have to actually do it she acts extremely courageously in faith I think it's important that we just take a moment here perhaps just to consider the enormity of what Abigail is actually doing we generally consider David to be a good man he is described in scripture as a man after God's own heart so at first read we could be forgiven for the misconception that this is a very sort of civilised affair and that

[25:40] Abigail is setting out here to meet a gentleman for a reasonable discussion at a different point in David's life this might have been true but it definitely was not the case here I want you to imagine that it's a Saturday afternoon and it's not just any Saturday afternoon it's old firm Saturday afternoon when Rangers are playing Celtic I want you to imagine that in the 89th minute of the game Celtic got a goal chopped off for being disallowed and then in the 90th minute the referee gives a dodgy penalty to Rangers who go on to win the game can you imagine the feeling of the Celtic fans imagine how angry they would be now I want you to imagine that you're a Rangers fan and you put on your Rangers strip and go down to the Celtic supporters club wearing your Rangers strip and carry nothing but a picnic basket to go and meet them well that doesn't even begin to compare to the enormity of what Abigail is actually doing there first of all we need to remember as well that in this particular context

[26:47] Abigail as a woman in that time would be extremely vulnerable in that particular culture she would be seen as a lesser person to a man they would have no in general men would have much less respect for a woman coming to meet them than a man coming to meet them she's sent out here as well to meet 400 angry outlaws who have got swords who have got weapons and they're on their way to wreak vengeance upon her husband so it doesn't really bear thinking about what Abigail is actually doing here and we see there the tremendous faith and courage that she has you know sometimes having faith or trusting in God requires us to do things that are humanly speaking impossible or humanly speaking extremely unattractive at the least and that's why it's important that we do things in God's strength because when we do things and we lean on God's strength we can do these amazing things and we often sing the song leaning in the everlasting arms and we sing the other song as well

[27:58] I don't think it's actually supposed to be a Christian song or a hymn lean on me when you're not strong and that's why we need to lean on Jesus but sometimes it takes faith to lean on Jesus sometimes it involves doing something which is the complete opposite of what we would really like to do it's not always like to lean on Jesus it's not always the attractive option it's not always like the idea of leaning down into a nice big soft fluffy cushion you know sometimes it might be a bit like that and in times of trial and times of difficulty God does gather us up in his arms and it can be like that but on other occasions it requires faith Jesus said if any man comes after me he must deny himself just by way of perhaps an illustration to maybe explain a little bit more what it's like to lean on Jesus one of my hobbies when I'm not working or looking after my three year old son which doesn't really get me very much time for hobbies these days but one of my hobbies is motorcycling and I think back about maybe 12, 13 years ago

[29:03] I had a bit of a midlife crisis and decided I had to learn to ride a motorbike and get a motorbike so I did that and I remember first time riding in the yard of the instructor riding the motorbike I'm fine going in a straight line it's absolutely no problem and I'm coming to the end of the line at the end of the yard approaching the fence and I can hear the instructor shooting at me you need to turn so I turn the wheel and of course what happens is the bike becomes all unstable because you've got one wheel going in one direction and we've got the other going in the other direction and it becomes unstable and it can be like that with us with God sometimes that we want to go one way and he wants to go the other and when we don't go his way it just becomes all unstable and we get nowhere so my instructor takes me aside and he says I'll tell you what you have to do here he says you have to lean over and I'm thinking is this guy a little bit crazy here he's telling me you know I want to ride this motorbike and lean towards the ground that doesn't really make a lot of sense I don't want this touching that that's not a good that's not a good thing to happen but when you think about it from an engineering perspective when a wheel tilts over it wants to turn doesn't it when you lean that bike over both wheels then want to turn and both wheels then want to go in the same direction and that's what we need to do we need to lean on Jesus we need to lean on God but sometimes leaning it can't take that faith it can't take that step of faith to do so if I had my motorbike with me this morning which I don't

[30:34] I'd be able to take you and show you the rear tyre on the motorbike and you would see that around most of the rear tyre is worn but there's two wee bits at the edge that aren't worn you know why they're not worn because I'm not leaning the bike over enough I'm not leaning over enough and you know what that means don't we call those wee bits in the motorcycle fraternity we call them chicken stripes because you're too chicken to lean over and when I don't lean over that bike's not getting used to its full potential it's not going as fast around the corners as it's made to do so and when we don't lean on Jesus when we don't have that faith when we don't put our full faith and throw it all into Jesus we don't live up to the full potential and fulfil that full plan that God has for us and so we see here the great faith that Abigail has that she's really properly putting her faith in the Lord and realising that she cannot do any of that in her own strength so Abigail then meets David and addresses him so let's take some time just to consider this address firstly we can see here that she acts humbly in verse 24 she fell at his feet and said pardon your servant my Lord and let me speak to you here what your servant has to say secondly she recognises

[31:50] Nabal's error she says please pay no attention my Lord to that wicked man Nabal he is just like his name his name means fool and folly goes with him in other words what she's really saying is she's saying please excuse my husband for he is an arrogant idiot I wonder ladies if there's anybody had to say that from time to time I'm pretty sure my wife has had to say that about me from time to time please excuse my idiot husband she then humbly points out to David the error in taking matters into his own hands and avenging himself in doing that she shows great discernment between right and wrong she shows David that unlike Nabal she recognises who he is as she says the Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for you my Lord because you fight the Lord's battles she recognises that God is with David and that he is the future king she then reminds David that God is with him and that he doesn't need to take things into his own hands as God will take care of it for him verse 29 even though someone is pursuing you to take your life the life of my Lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling she also points out the consequences of taking matters into his own hands and verse 30 the staggering burden of needless bloodshed so as we've already mentioned

[33:20] David was on his way to actually kill some men that were actually innocent completely so how does David then respond to Abigail well firstly he recognises that Abigail was sent from God praise be to the Lord the God of Israel who has sent you today to meet me and he recognises God's hand in this he recognises that it was God who sent Abigail he recognises Abigail's wisdom he then goes on to say in verse 33 may you be blessed for your good judgement and for keeping me from bloodshed on this day and from avenging myself with my own hands otherwise as surely as the Lord lives the God of Israel sorry as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives who has kept me from harming you if you had not come quickly to meet me not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive at daybreak in this he also recognises the error of his ways he recognises that he was wrong in what he was about to do and so that's great wisdom it's wisdom when we can recognise when we're wrong and learning from our mistakes that's wisdom and David shows wisdom even though he was going to do something foolish he's now showing a bit of wisdom as he brings it back to God and recognises

[34:37] God's hand and actually is looking at the way God wants to do things rather than his own way Abigail then returns and tells Nabal what she has done in verse 36 we read that when Abigail returns to Nabal she finds him drunk and having a banquet like that of a king so she doesn't go and tell Nabal right away what she's done we're not specifically told why but it's most likely because of his drunken state we've already been told that Nabal is a fool so she's probably afraid that he'll act even more foolishly than normal because of his drunken state timing is often important earlier on when the situation requires it Abigail acts quickly but in this situation she's not impulsive and she recognises that although action is required it doesn't need to be done right away and she chooses the right time to do this and in so displays great wisdom once again and so how does Nabal react to this confession in verse 37 they read that when Nabal hears what Abigail has done his heart fails him and he turns to stone so it would appear that I had a heart attack or a stroke or both however that's not really important what is important is that 10 days later

[35:50] God struck him and he died so although God prevented David from killing Nabal and all his men he still deals with Nabal but he deals with Nabal individually and doesn't harm any of his men God does it his way and not David's way and we see here we're all individually accountable before God Nabal was held accountable individually before God after Nabal dies David then sends for Abigail with the request that she become his wife and Abigail accepts and becomes his wife however we are told in verse 43 that David was already married to Ahinoam of Jezreel in Deuteronomy chapter 17 we read rules and recommendations for kings and in verse 17 we read that a king should not take many wives or his heart will be turned from the Lord we're not told specifically why David chose to marry

[36:51] Abigail but we are told that she was beautiful and intelligent we're also shown that she's wise and godly and now that her husband is gone she would have been perceived as vulnerable in that society so it may have been for any or all of these reasons but either way it was going against the recommendations set out in the law regarding how a king should be and as the future king David should have been considering this however we have to be careful we don't paint David out to be the guide or the villain and all of this because we know he is described as a man after God's own heart but it does remind us that even this great man David didn't always get everything right but we should be encouraged by David's life because we do see in David's life that he makes several mistakes but despite the fact that he makes mistakes God still uses him in a great way so whilst we must always be on our guard not to become complacent in our faith we must always be on our guard from sin or for doing things wrong but it doesn't really matter sorry

[37:54] I wouldn't say that it doesn't really matter of course it matters but as far as God is concerned it doesn't really matter in terms of how God can use us God still uses David in great ways despite his failings and we should take great encouragement from that this morning that God will still it's important that we recognise our sins and recognise we're wrong but God will never put us on the scrap heap he will always use us for his glory when we're willing so in summary we've been seeing a lot about wisdom in this passage so what we've actually learned about wisdom well first of all we've seen that wisdom involves recognising right from wrong Nabal didn't recognise right from wrong Abigail clearly did Nabal's servants recognised right from wrong David perhaps a little bit of both throughout that he got it wrong and right secondly wisdom involves focus on God rather than himself unlike Nabal who credited himself on his own strength for all his achievements we need to credit all of our achievements and strengths to God not ourselves wisdom also involves recognising

[39:04] God's plan and God's sovereignty as Abigail clearly recognised God's bigger plan and the sovereignty of God in every situation also involves acting in faith and doing what we know to be right even when it might be hard and again we see this with Abigail as well we see also that wisdom involves acting at the right time Abigail in one situation when it's required acts quickly but in another situation she takes a little bit more time to think about it and do it the right way in the different situation wisdom also involves as we see from David recognising when we're wrong as David clearly recognised the mistake he was about to make and he revises his actions accordingly when that's pointed out to him also involves depending on God and not taking matters into our own hands as David was about to take matters into his own hands but ultimately God dealt with the situation we have to trust God to deal with things rather than ourselves so fine what does this teach us about the character of God well first of all it teaches us that God is just

[40:14] God ultimately dealt with Nabal for his sin so God is just and God won't stand sin shows us also that God honours righteousness Nabal's men and Abigail for acting righteously they were protected shows us that God will judge the wicked as we see this in Nabal's death as God takes the wicked man Nabal's life secondly it shows us God has a plan we see quite clearly in this passage the future plan that God had for David and we see God's sovereignty and we really see the control of God in this situation in this story that we read this morning finally in summary we can just summary very quickly what it means to be wise I think we can summarize it a bit like this to be wise is to know God to fear God recognize who he is know right from wrong and act in faith and courageously accordingly and finally wisdom is to trust

[41:15]  God hope you find some of that helpful this morning thank you very much for having me with you thank you