Disaster Interrupted by Grace

Highlights from 1 Samuel

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

July 2, 2023

Disaster Interrupted by Grace?

Turn with me to 1 Samuel 25. Next week we’re going to start our Summer in the Psalms series and we’ll return to 1 Samuel in the fall.

My mom’s life was saved by an interruption. It was the 70’s and my mother had just taken lunch and was returning to her office when the receptionist called her over to ask a few questions. It was a delay of just a few minutes, but it was long enough to irritate her.

And it was long enough to save her life. While she was talking to the receptionist, a man walked by them, quietly walked into the office room she worked in, closed the door and shot and killed the two other women in the office, then quietly sat and waited for the police to show up. He was the estranged husband of one of the women and the other woman just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And my mom would have been in the wrong place at the wrong time too if it hadn’t been for the receptionist’s providential interruption.

Today we’re going to read about a providential interruption that saves many more lives than one.

In chapter 25 David hears that a wealthy man named Nabal is having a feast to celebrate the shearing season. David’s men had protected Nabal’s shepherds and treated them well, so he sends ten of his men to Nabal with a respectful request that he share a little of his bounty with David’s men. Let’s pick up in verse 2. I’ll be reading from the NIV.

² A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. ³ 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—he was a Calebite.

⁴ While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. ⁵ So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. ⁶ Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

⁷ “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. ⁸ Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”

⁹ When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”¹² David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. ¹³ David said

to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies. 1 Sam 25:2-13

David is angry! He had done good to Nabal and Nabal repaid him with insults and accusations. He tells his men to strap on their swords, they’re going to set things right and teach Nabal a lesson.

But Nabal has a wife named Abigail. Nabal is a mean-spirited, brute of a man. His name in the Hebrew means “fool”. I don’t know if his mom and dad took one look at him and named him “fool” or if it was a nickname that stuck, but everyone calls him “fool”. Abigail is the opposite: she is intelligent, wise, and beautiful. I think the only answer for how she ended up with him was that it was an arranged marriage.

Abigail hears from the servants how Nabal treated David’s men and they warn her that disaster is hanging over their entire household and appeal to her to do something.

¹⁷ 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.”

¹⁸ Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. ¹⁹ Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 1 Sam. 25:17-19

By now the perceptive person might be seeing signs that this is not a healthy marriage. Abigail doesn’t tell Nabal what she’s doing because she knows from experience that Nabal doesn’t listen to reason. You can’t talk to him the servant said. Fools don’t listen to others because they think they are always right, everyone else is wrong.

Husbands, we are foolish if we don’t listen to our wives. God has given them wisdom and perspective we need to hear. I have learned over the years to value Janice’s wisdom and perspective. I remember when we were at Lamb’s Chapel a member was encouraging us to join a multi-level marketing business where you made money by recruiting people who then recruited other people and your lines generated money that flowed upward to you. It sounded great to me! Too good to be true! And as a pastor, I had a good number of people I could recruit. I was like, “where do I sign?” But Janice had reservations. I remember being so annoyed at her. We can’t miss this opportunity, lets jump on this!

As we talked about it, me trying to convince her we needed to do it, she shared a piece of wisdom that has become a conviction for me. She said, as a pastor, if you’re trying to recruit people to join your business, they will always wonder “does he care about me as a pastor? Or as a potential upline money-maker?” Thankfully I listened to Janice and recognized the wisdom in that, and to this day I won’t participate in a sales side business. I don’t ever want people to wonder if I’m using them to get something. That was Janice’s wisdom. I could share many other stories. Husbands, make sure to listen to your wives. In my opinion, decisions should be arrived at together. That’s just wise.

Abigail, however, is on her own and she acts quickly loading up a ton of food and heading out to interrupt a pending disaster.

²⁰ As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. ²¹ 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. ²² May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!” 1 Sam. 25:20-22

David is getting angrier and angrier. Now he’s swearing to God that not one male in Nabal’s household will be left alive. People that had nothing to do with Nabal’s insults, people that see how wrong it was, little children and old men – David is going to mercilessly run every one of them through with the sword. The more he stews, the more he wants to vent his anger on anyone and everyone. David reminds us of Saul in this chapter.

In the heat of anger, it’s easy for us to lose perspective and proportion. We can say things that are incredibly hurtful and destructive and they seem right in the moment but when the anger cools, we regret them and often can’t undo the damage.

Prov. 29:11 says, Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. I’ve found that when I begin to vent my anger, my anger actually gets hotter. I might start saying something in anger I know I shouldn’t but rather than cool my anger, I want to turn the heat up on what I say. Uncontrolled anger wants to burn the other person down – in the moment it feels right but later when we see the smoldering embers of their hurt and our damaged relationship, we see how foolish it was. David isn’t there. He’s smoldering. His anger is getting hotter and hotter. That’s when Abigail shows up.

²³ When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. ²⁴ 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. ²⁵ 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. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. ²⁶ 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 my lord be like Nabal. ²⁷ And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you. 1 Sam 25:23-27

Abigail is a shining example of wisdom, grace, and action. First of all, she’s brutally honest with David. She says pay no attention to that wicked (worthless) man Nabal. Wow! He is just like his name, she says, his name means fool and folly goes with him.She’s not covering up for him at all. This isn’t meant to encourage us to kick our spouses under the bus, but Nabal crossed a line that was going to get all of the men under his care killed.

Then look at the three ways she speaks to David’s anger to cool him down and interrupt his plan of action.

1. She asks David’s forgiveness (vs. 28)

²⁸ “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. 1 Sam. 25:28

Please forgive your servant’s presumption. A friend of mine once said that humility draws out humility. David’s anger is white hot, but seeing Abigail humble herself and ask forgiveness for something she didn’t even do throws water on the fire of David’s anger.

I know when I’ve had conflict with someone, especially my wife, when one of us asks the other to forgive them for their part, it is like cooling salve on the fire. The relational break can start to heal when we humble ourselves and ask forgiveness. And when we ask forgiveness, it very often softens their heart to ask forgiveness for their part in the conflict too.

2. She blesses David (vv. 28-29)

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 you as long as you live. 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.  1 Sam. 25:28-29

Abigail knew a lot about David, and like Jonathan, she knew he was the Lord’s chosen King and that God was fighting for him. Nabal sneered, “who is David?” Abigail blesses David as the king of a lasting dynasty and the one God is fighting for. She uses beautiful poetry to describe God’s faithful hand on David: the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God, but your enemies will be hurled away as from a sling.

We should never flatter or be insincere, but we should learn, like Abigail, to be encouragers. You will change more hearts in a Godward direction through encouragement than you will through criticism.

3. She appeals to David’s conscience (vv. 30-31)

³⁰ When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, ³¹ my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.” 1 Sam 25:30-31

You don’t want to live with this on your conscience David.God’s going to do great things for you and you don’t want to look back with regret.You don’t want innocent blood on your hands and conscience. Let it go! Oh, and when the Lord brings you success – remember me!

³² David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. ³³ May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. ³⁴ 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.”

³⁵ Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.” 1 Sam 25:32-35

This was a divine interruption. God sent Abigail to interrupt David’s plans and send him on a very different path. God was saving David from himself. The biggest enemy Jesus came to save us from isn’t out there somewhere. Our biggest enemy isn’t the devil. Our biggest enemy is ourselves. Sin has bent our compass towards destruction and guilt and separation from God. Jesus came to cleanse us from the guilt and penalty of our sin and to heal the relationship between us and our God.

If you’ve never asked Jesus to be your Savior, I encourage you not to let another day go by. We never know what will be our last day on earth. I’m going to pray and if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sins, please pray silently with me.

Pray

For anyone who is struggling with anger, or unforgiveness, or bitterness, look up and see God as sovereign over your life. Trust Him with all things and let go of the desire to avenge yourself. Give it to God and ask Him to interrupt your trajectory of anger and replace it with His trajectory of love and grace.

Just to finish the story, when Abigail tells Nabal how close they all came to death, he becomes like a stone and ten days later it says God struck him and he died. David, who was obviously impressed with Abigail, then took her as his wife. God answered his need, and He answered her need to be released from a fool of a husband.