Dear Abby
The Original Game of Thrones

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All right, good morning everyone! We’re continuing our series through the book of 1 Samuel. We have entitled this series, “The Original Game of Thrones, an exposition of 1 Samuel. The reason we call it “The Original Game of Thrones,” is because, ever since Adam and Eve, mankind has been trying to get on the throne instead of putting God on the throne. It’s been a wrestling match, a “game of thrones,” if you will, between us, trying to be in control of our own lives instead of surrendering it to the Lord. For this particular sermon, we’re going to be looking at 1 Samuel 25. For those of you that have been following along, you may be wondering what happened to chapter 24? Well, I did it for the moms; I did it for Mother’s Day. We’ll get back to chapter 24 next week.

Chapter 25 has a woman named Abigail in it. There’s really only three prominent people in this chapter 25. It has David, of course, it has this guy named Nabal and a woman named Abigail. It’s because of Abigail that I have entitled this message, “Dear Abby.” Abigail was a wise woman who gave counsel to David, she gave him Godly advice.

Our sermon title nods towards that newspaper advice column, “Dear Abby.” I know the young people here are wondering, What in the world is he talking about and what’s this thing called a newspaper that you used to get in the mail or thrown up on your front door? A woman, named Pauline Phillips, came up with this advice column, first indicated back in 1956. She wrote under the pen name, Abigail Van Buren. or Dear Abby. Pauline died in 2013, but the column is still running today in many newspapers throughout America, carried on by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips. This column is known for its practical advice.

Abigail, on the other hand, didn’t get her wisdom from the newspaper. She got her wisdom from the Lord. She offers her wisdom to David and helps David make a better decision with his life.

Where do you get your advice? Where do you get your wisdom? How do you know what you’re going to do in your life? Where do you look for advice?

When we are growing up, many of us look to our parents or to our grandparents for advice. It depends on where your parents or grandparents are getting their advice, right? Some of us look at the horoscope or we look to Hollywood to a star or to a sports star. Some of us look to our peers or from the culture for advice. I would say, bottom line, that we’re all pretty much just doing what we want to do. That’s the state of affairs for humanity. We like being in charge of our own life. We like doing it our way. We like doing it the way we want to do it.

The bible warns us in Proverbs, the book of wisdom in the Bible, Proverbs 3:7 (ESV) “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.” Be careful about trying to do it your way because you’ll end up doing it the wrong way instead of God’s way. There’s a better way. We can live by Godly wisdom.

In the book of 1 Samuel 25, the Lord gave a woman named Abigail Godly wisdom to give advice to David and prevent him from making a terrible mistake with his life and falling into sin. We, too, can live by Godly wisdom. What does that look like? What does it look like to live by Godly wisdom?

If we look at the text, I believe we will see three marks for living by Godly wisdom. Let’s look at chapter 25. If you’ve been following with us for the past few weeks, you’re thinking, This is not a long read at all. It’s only forty-four verses. Last week, the man read three chapters. It’s starting to be funny whenever you think forty-four verses is not that much, but here we go.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The LORD has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41 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.” 42 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. 43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. 44 Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

1 Samuel 25:1-44 (ESV) “Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah.

(Pastor Gary – commentary) Just one little verse right there for Samuel, whose namesake this book is named after. We won’t hear from him again in this book until we have a sort of “surprise appearance” later. Samuel has died and all Israel has come. And then, it continues by talking about David, how he rose and left that area.

Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2 And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 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. 4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name.6 And thus you shall greet him: ‘Peace be to you, and peace be to your house and peace be to all that you have. 7 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 they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will 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.’”

(Pastor Gary – commentary) So, David is activating a well-known practice in the Middle East. This was the practice at the time of the shearing of sheep, which happened twice a year in the Spring and the Fall. You would have a feast and thank God and celebrate the bounty that comes from God. You would invite your neighbors, friends and everyone around and have a great feast .

9 When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited.10 And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. 11 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?” 12 So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this. 13 And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage. 14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. 16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.” 18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs,

(Pastor Gary-commentary) That’s a lot of fig newtons. I don’t care who you are, that’s a lot.

and laid them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. 21 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. 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.” 23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. 24 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. 25 Let not my lord regard this worthless 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. 26 Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, because the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt 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. 27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For 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.29 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. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 And when the LORD has done done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.” 32 And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand! 34 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.” 35 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.” 36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. 37 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 a stone. 38 And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died. 39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The LORD has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.” 41 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.” 42 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. 43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. 44 Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim . This is God’s word. Amen.

Three marks of the one who lives by godly wisdom: 1. Puts others ahead of self.

As I’ve noted, there are three major characters in this chapter. David, Nabal and Abigail. But Abigail, not David, is the star of chapter 25 because she’s the one who brings Godly wisdom. She does it, first of all, by putting others ahead of herself.

Notice, in verse three, it says that she was discerning and beautiful. She was probably given to Nabal by her father. Fathers would arrange marriages in those days. Nabal was a wealthy man from that very famous line of Caleb. Abigail probably didn’t love him. She might have been 14 or 15 years old and he might have been 30 years old when they married. Here she is. This beautiful wise woman in the house of a fool named Nabal. His name stands for fool here, calling him worthless.

Maybe you’ve heard this word before when you’re studying the scriptures. It’s literally in the hebrew, belial, which is often ascribed to the word evil or even to satan. Here, it’s translated “worthless,” which is an appropriate translation, as well. But, he is known by his servants and even by his wife as being “belial,” being a fool, being worthless.

Notice earlier, it says that Abigail was discerning and beautiful, but that Nabal was harsh. In other words, he wasn mean; he was harsh and badly behaved. What a marriage they must have had. It must have been a difficult thing.

It was the time of the shearing of sheep. Here’s where things are happening. Let’s pop a map up. Whenever we’re studying through a historical document like this, I like to look at maps. We started off up in Ramah. Samuel has passed away. This is where he lived. He lived in Ramah. This is where he had the Tabernacle. All of Israel turned out; I believe that included David. He probably went in secret and disguised himself. He says goodbye to his mentor, the one who had laid hands on him and had given him advice. Now, David doesn’t have him anymore. Samuel has passed away and David runs as far as he can from King Saul. King Saul lives in this area too.

David goes all the way to the Wilderness of Paran, which is way down in the desert. It’s like he’s reliving what the Israelites had to do when they were wandering in the wilderness. David’s recounting this story in his own life. He’s living down there. I visited this area; it’s just desert. They call the sea right next to it, the Dead Sea for a reason. Then, he moves back up to the forest, in Ziph. He’s in this area of Maon and Carmel. We know that Nabal lives in Maon, just up the road from Carmel, where the sheep shearing is taking place.

Why do I take the time to look at maps and to talk about places? Often, when we’re reading the Bible, we tend to skip over place names, but we shouldn’t do it, because they’re in the bible for a reason. These are real places; these are real people. These are real events that really happened. It’s important, church, to remember that.

Samuel has passed away and David is probably lonely. Who does he turn to for advice now? He prays to the Lord. He’s got all these men and their families that depend on him now. He has worked all of this season. The sheep shearing happened usually in the Spring and in the Fall. He’s been watching the sheep all winter; he took care of them. He was thinking, when the time of the feast comes, my men will be able to eat and I’ll be able to take care of them.

Then, Nabal, the fool, disrespects David. David becomes rash; he becomes angry. He says, “strap on your swords.” He’s ready to go kill Nabal; he’s insulted. Nabal didn’t slap him; he didn’t kill one of his men. He didn’t even threaten him. He just says, Who are you? I don’t even know who you are. You are probably some runaway slave or something. David is insulted; he is so flying mad now that he’s ready to go kill him.

This is something that we haven’t seen in David before . David’s not the star of chapter 25. In previous chapters, we’ve been saying that David is like the foreshadowing of Jesus. We can look at David and see Jesus, but not in this chapter. In this chapter, we see a man just like any other man. In this chapter, the foreshadowing of Jesus is Abigail. She’s really the one that’s showing real Godly wisdom.

David is ticked. Here’s what the book of proverbs warns about when we’re angry and we’ve got an anger management problem. Here’s what the book of proverbs says, Proverbs 19:11 (ESV) “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.” David’s not walking in wisdom right now, He’s not going to overlook this offense. He is going to kill him and all of his men. “I’m gonna kill everybody in his house.” That’s where David’s at; David’s about to go do the opposite of his anointing. His anointing was to be a protector of Israel. He’s now becoming like Saul and killing his own people. This is how close he’s coming because of his anger.

Abigail, in verse 18, makes haste. In other words, she shows initiative. She loads up her donkeys with a whole pile of food: 200 loaves of bread, two skins of win and five sheep already prepared. Now, how did she have five sheep already prepared? It is because Nabal was getting ready to have a party and maybe he had 20 sheep already prepared. She slipped into the cupboard and got five of them. She’s heading out with a load of stuff. She took a bunch of groceries.

When Abigail saw David, she jumped off her donkey and she laid before him on the ground and she said to him, an amazing thing. This is where, I think, you’ll see Jesus if you look close. She says this, “On me alone (verse 24) be the guilt. She wasn’t guilty. She wasn’t even there when it happened. But, she says something that’s straight from the Lord. She says, If you want to kill somebody, let it fall on me.She was innocent.

I’m always talking about this, people. How do you read the Old Testament? You look for Jesus on every page. Look for glimpses of Him on every page, because this book is a book about Him. It’s a book about God and it’s a book about Jesus. Here, we see a picture of what Jesus will be like. He will be so humble that He will put us ahead of Himself, laying down His own life for us.

I can teach you and myself all about Godly wisdom from the Bible, but we won’t be able to fulfill it and use it unless we get a new mind and a new heart. We need to transform our way of thinking.

The only way to get that way of thinking is to get the mind of Christ. How do you get the mind of Christ? You need for the Lord to overwrite your hard drive. You need a new hard drive. Romans 12 talks about this, that you can let your mind be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Look at this verse that talks about the kind of mind that we’re supposed to have when we have the mind of Christ. It’s in Philippians 2:3-8 (ESV) 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves… 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Don’t miss this. You can’t have this unless you have Christ. If you have Christ, you can have the mind of Christ, you can have the wisdom of Christ, but you can’t do it on your own. It’s yours if you’re in Christ, Who, though He was in the form of God , did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This is the picture that Abigail’s pointing to, already giving us a hint towards what Jesus would do.

On this Mother’s Day, I’m reminded of how humble and selfless my own mother was. I lost my father when I was eight years old. He died of cancer at age 39. I’m the oldest of four children. My mother raised all four of us alone, I would say, though, she was not alone. One of her favorite prayers was a quotation where she read, Lord, You promised to be a father to the fatherless and a husband to the widow. I’m claiming Your promise. I can still remember hearing her pray that in her room when she thought no one was listening. My mother is with the Lord now. She passed away July 6, 2001. I still think of her; especially on a day like today, which is why I’m wearing a white carnation. I remember her always putting us ahead of herself. That was her whole mission in life was to raise those four little “crumb snatchers” up to follow Jesus. She didn’t finish 9th grade. I was the first one in my family to go to college. On the third day of the month, we would get excited because that was the day that our social security and VA checks would come in. My father had fought in the Korean War. So, we used to get these checks in the mail. We would get excited because that meant we would get groceries and some nicer things, but we always ran out of money before we ran out of month. My mom always figured out how to make it stretch and how to get through. She never had much, but she gave us Jesus. I’m thinking she was kind of like Abigail.

I don’t know what kind of mom you have or what kind of mom you want to be. You don’t have to have children to be a great mom. Wisdom would say put others first and you can be like Jesus. Will you receive this wisdom to live by? The wisdom of God is to put others ahead of yourself?

Here’s the second mark that we see:

Three marks of the one who lives by godly wisdom: 2. Obeys when warned against sin.

The mark of wisdom in Abigail and in those that would follow Jesus is we obey when warned against sin. When you are warned against sin? Do you say, Thank you for warning me. I’m not going to go that way, I’m going to go the right way. Or, do you get ticked off and say, Who do you think you are trying to correct me?

Let’s see what happens in this story. In verse 26, God used Abigail to restrain David from sin. We see it again; David repeats it. Abigail restrains him; the Lord sent Abigail to restrain David from sin. Abigail is very diplomatic about it; look at verse 26. It’s funny how she did it because she doesn’t want to just go and say, Hey, if you do this, you’re a sinner. He might not be too amenable to that. So, she’s very diplomatic. She talks like David has already listened to her. 26 “Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, because the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt 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.” Abigail is saying that David is not going to do it now. She can tell that he is not going to do it now. She is speaking as if it already happened; this is a very diplomatic approach. She’s very wise and discerning.

David, in verse 32, says to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!” He sees her as one sent, like an apostle from God, like a prophet from God. He says that God sent her to me to keep him from sin today. He gives recognition of this. She says that the Lord is going to restrain him. In other words, God is going to keep him from sinning.

What kind of sin is this? It’s named twice, in verse 26, and then again in verse 33; you’ve been restrained from blood guilt. Blood guilt is first degree premeditated murder, which is against the Ten Commandments. It, also, puts you in a situation, according to medical law and according to Middle Eastern tribal law, that if you kill Caleb’s house then Caleb’s house has to come to kill you. It creates a blood guilt situation which pollutes the land.

Remember what God told Cain after he killed his brother, Abel? He said, “his blood cries out from the earth to me.”

And so, Abigail says to David that the Lord has sent her to him to restrain him from blood guilt, because if you kill that whole house of men, just because of an insult, you’ll never be the anointed king of Israel, like God promised you. You will blow the whole thing.

The wise listen to Godly advice. Remember what the servant, Abigail, said about Nabal earlier? She said, You can’t talk to him, He’s worthless. That’s why we’re coming to you Abigail, because we know you’ll figure out what to do about this thing. Nabal was known for a guy that would not take advice.

What about David? David is a “hothead.” He’s passionate. He can “fly mad.” Watch out, if he has a sword in his hand. He could almost be like the man he was running from: King Saul. He could go bad.

Anger will do that to us, friends. We must watch uncontrolled anger. But, David was wise enough to listen when he heard Abigail speaking to him. She sent all of those gifts and all of that food; he realized that was close. He almost fell into the very sin that he saw in Saul. . And so, David listens.

Here’s what it says in Proverbs. Remember, Proverbs is the book of wisdom. If you ever want to get started reading the bible and you’ve not been a bible reader in the past, the book of proverbs has 31 chapters. That’s the longest month of the year, right? Most months have 28 or 30 days. If you want to know what chapter to read, today is May 9th; read Proverbs, chapter nine.

You’ve heard it said, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Well maybe, “A chapter of proverbs a day will keep the devil away” and, also, make you more wise. It’s a good thing.

Here’s some verses from proverbs, Proverbs 19:20 (ESV) “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” You want to be wise and listen to advice. Proverbs 12:15 (ESV) “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Do you listen to advice? Godly, wise people listen to advice. More than that, they receive correction. Proverbs 9:8 (ESV) “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.” So, if you try to correct a scoffer, a fool, they’ll hate you for it. They’ll hate you for trying to correct them. But you correct a wise person. They’ll love you for it because they recognize that you saved them from sin. You helped them avoid a mistake.

We have an acronym in our church for people that we’re looking to put on our ministry teams, especially leadership. The acronym is F. A. T. We are looking for F.A.T. christians. We’re looking for F.A.T. leaders and F.A.T. servants of the Lord. The F stands for faithful, the A stands for available and the T stands for teachable. We’re looking for people that will stand correction and want to grow. It’s really hard to work with someone who thinks they know it all already. We’re looking for people that want to grow up more like Jesus, which means they have to be teachable and correctable.

David was a passionate man. He could turn his passion to anger, but when the wisdom of the Lord was given to him from a woman that he didn’t even know yet, he listened. He said, God sent you and I’m going to obey you. Do you see that in verse 35? It says, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition.” He’s obeying the correction that comes from the Lord. We are to obey when warned against sin.

Here’s the third mark of those who would live according to Godly advice.

Three marks of the one who lives by godly wisdom: 3. Trusts in the Lord for salvation.

Trust in the Lord for salvation. All three of these marks come from inside of an observation that we’re making about Abigail, nested inside of verse 26. We’ve already pulled out the first part. “Now, then, my Lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, because the Lord has restrained you from blood guilt.” We’ve talked about that. “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.” What’s that? You tried to do God’s job; you tried to save yourself. She’s saying, You’ve been saved from a double-edged problem. You are trying to work out your own salvation, which you can’t do . You can’t do it; you can’t save yourself.

The Hebrew word here is יָשַׁע yâshaʻ which means to deliver, to rescue and too save. It means salvation. The name of Jesus is “Yeshua,” God’s salvation. You can hear the “Yeshua ” in there, but you can also hear the “io,” which is from Jehovah God. His name is salvation.

Abigail tells David that he has tried to work out his own salvation. David repeats it in verse 33; he says, “Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!” He was trying to take this into his own hands.

Do you ever get impatient? You feel like God has put a calling on your life but you feel like you need to help Him? There’s something you’re supposed to do, but you start trying to take shortcuts. It’s amazing to me what will happen to us as believers. We will believe God for something; we think He’s going to do something in our life and we’re on track. Then, we’ll try to shortcut it with human wisdom. We try to save ourselves.

There’s someone here today that is far from God. You’ve tried everything in the world to save yourself and God will have none of it. You can’t save yourself. You have to listen and let the Lord be your salvation. We see that this is what Abigail is talking to David about. Not only that, in verse 31, she talks about how she saved him from grief and pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause. Verse 31 says this, “My lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

David had almost killed a man just for insulting him and his whole house. Just think; for the rest of his life, he would have carried that with him. Abigail is speaking so much great wisdom.

Have you ever lost your temper and said something that you knew, you shouldn’t have said or done something you shouldn’t have done? Then, afterwards, you are “eaten up” with guilt. Abigail says to David, Let the Lord save you from that. Let Him help you with your anger.

She’s blessing him. Going through here, she says, in verse 28, “ Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For 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.” The Lord will give you a sure house; He’s gonna build your house for you. You don’t have to build your own house, your own kingdom. He’s gonna make you a sure house. He knows you’re fighting His battles. These are not God’s battles. You’re trying to fight your own battles to fight the Lord’s battles if men try to pursue you.

The scripture goes on and talks about the “slingshot thing” . She’s just blessing and blessing and blessing him. And then, she goes on to talk about how he is going to be the prince of Israel. In verse 30, “you’re going to be king.” Stop trying to do it in your own power.

And then, this final little statement she makes, “And when the Lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.” Don’t forget me because I know you’re gonna be king someday. David doesn’t forget. We see that Nabal dies and David takes in Abigail, his widow, and marries her as his wife. I believe Abigail was God’s gift to David; David was lonely.

We see, as the chapter closes, that Saul took his first wife Michall, the princess, and gave her to another man. Saul does this, as if to say, You’re not even my son- in-law anymore. David is lonely. He’s lost his mentor, Samuel. He’s lost his wife whom he loved. Now, he’s alone. Then, God gives him a beautiful woman who is also wise and discerning.

Can you imagine how much that was a help to him to have a woman reminding him, You’ll be king; be patient. You’re a good man . I’ve got a woman like that. I don’t know, men, if you can find any more. I might have gotten one of the last ones. There might be some new, young ones out there that Godly families are raising up. It’s hard to find a woman like that; a Proverbs 31 woman. She is such a blessing to her family, to her husband, to her children, to her siblings. She gives them wisdom and encouragement.

This is Abigail, “dear Abby.” She is a wise woman. David takes her as his wife. We have a little bit of bad news, as it’s “tacked on” at the end of the chapter. David, also, took Ahinoam of Jezreel for a wife, which began a bad habit that Samuel warned about. If you make kings, if you make a king of a man, he’ll take your daughters and add them as concubines. He’ll take your sons and make warriors and army men out of them. He’ll take your land for taxes.

We will find that, as David gets older, he makes more and more mistakes, as it involves women, especially one named Bathsheba. This gets him in a lot of trouble. But, today, he gets a good woman; her name is Abigail. She was a woman who reminded him that he must trust the Lord for his salvation.

You see, God is our salvation. It says in Isaiah 12:2 (ESV) “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” You can’t save yourself, only the Lord can save you.

The scripture says in Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) 8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” You see, there’s nothing to brag about if God saves you. The only thing you can brag about is Jesus. You can brag about Him because He is our salvation. He is our Yeshua, our salvation. We can’t save ourselves.

If you took a survey of Wilson County, going door to door and asking people, “If you were to die tonight and face a holy God and He were to ask you, Why should I let you into My heaven, what would you say? What do you think most people would say? Well, I don’t have to guess. I’ve been a pastor almost 30 years in this county. I know what most people will say. You know what they’ll say? They will say, I’ve tried to live a good life, so I think God will let me in on my good works. People try to save themselves with their own hand. They visualize up in heaven, that there’s a scale of good works on one side and bad works on the other If my good works outweigh my bad works, God will let me in. But if my bad works outweigh my good, I guess I go to hell, I guess I go to that other place. People like throwing the dice and believe that good works will be good enough. There’s only one problem. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” No one is good enough. Only one was good enough and His name is Jesus. He tells us to let our guilt fall on him. He’s good enough. Let him put His hand on the scale, let Him put his righteousness on the scale because His righteousness is sufficient. He’ll take your sin and He’ll give you His righteousness. He’ll take your separation from God and He’ll give you His Sonship. He’ll take your death and He’ll give you eternal life. Is it Jesus who offers this. We can’t work it out ourselves.

Abigail reminded David of something he already knew. Only the Lord can save, only the Lord can do this thing.

Have you trusted Him? Do you know Him today? The only way to have Godly wisdom the way Abigail did is for it to come to you from the Lord. Here is what it looks like; putting others ahead of yourself, obeying whenever corrected and being easy to correct because you’re humble and you want to do it, God’s way, not your own way. Trusting God for your salvation and for your calling.

David was called to be king. He was trying to do some things in his own power. But he listened to a wise woman named Abigail and he turned. The apostle Paul talks about the source of our power and of our wisdom; 1 Corinthians 1:24, “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Do you know Jesus today? If you know Jesus, you can have, available to you, the wisdom of God and the power of God.

Let’s pray. Dear Lord Jesus. We are talking to You, right now, because You are the source of Godly wisdom. If we have You, we know we have all that we need to live. Lord, I pray for that person, right now, that came in far from You today. They came in trying to live life according to their own wisdom, according to the world’s wisdom, according to others’ advice. If that’s you, my friend, and you’re ready to surrender your life to Jesus, you can pray like this with me. Would you do it right where you are? Just pray, Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I’m tired of living my life according to my own strength and wisdom. Lord, I surrender my life to You. I believe You died on the cross for me, Lord and You were raised again on the third day. Come and live in me, forgive me of my sin, make me the person You want me to be. I want to be a child of God. I want You as my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer right now, believing, the Lord will save you. He will do it. All you have to do is ask and mean it in your heart when you ask. And then, for those of us who have done that, we’ve received the Lord but we are struggling with anger. Is that a problem for you? Are you like David sometimes? Do you head off, without Godly wisdom, and you make mistakes. Would you confess your uncontrolled anger to the Lord right now? Say, Lord, give me self control. Put my anger under Your control right now. Lord, help me. Maybe you’re here today and you’ve tried to do things in your own power. Would you say, Lord forgive me for trying to rescue myself through my own schemes, in my own thoughts and my own ways? Help me not to go back to the old way, but Lord, to do things Your way. Help me to be correctable. Help me to listen when You correct me. We lift it all up to You now. In Jesus’ name. Amen.