Wisdom and courage to be a part of the solution

In case you missed my introduction post, I am a Nazarene minister, and I co-lead a family outreach ministry. I want to start posting a blog based on our topics each week, and figured "no time like the present!" We follow a theme each month, and for March it's Peace. (Image credit to ThinkOrange)

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The sermon this morning was on not-yet-king David and his encounter with Abigail. The story comes from 1 Samuel 25:1-35. If you're not already familiar with the story, it might be helpful for you to read the story really quick. I'll wait. If not, I'll be recapping, so no worries.

So, David and his crew don't have very much at this point. Really, they just have the bare necessities. (Image credit to Disney)

They're passing through a land that is ruled over by a king known as Nabal. Nabal is not known for being the nicest, kindest guy, and the territory that David is in has a reputation of being kinda rough. There was a lot of theft that would happen in the area. David didn't have much worth stealing, but they met up with some shepherds that worked for Nabal, watching several thousands of sheep and goats. David and his crew set up camp with these shepherds, and helped them protect their flock. Not a single sheep was lost.

Now, things are going pretty well for King Nabal, and David hears that he's ready to have a feast. He sends a messenger to Nabal and says "When your shepherds were with us, we treated them well. The whole time they were at Carmel nothing that belonged to them was stolen. Ask your own servants. They’ll tell you. We’ve come to you now at a happy time of the year. Please be kind to my men. Please give me and my men anything you can find for us” (1 Samuel 25:7-8 NIrV)."

To me, this seems pretty reasonable. But Nabal responded with a solid "No" (albeit phrased more rudely and insulting). David gets pretty mad, and prepared to march to war against Nabal. The shepherds that they had helped, run home, but they don't go to Nabal, they go to his wife, Abigail. She was basically Nabal's opposite, known for her kindness and wisdom. They tell her what's going on, and that trouble is coming if they don't do something. She immediately gathers up a bunch of food and supplies, and goes out to intercept David.

When she gets there, she tries to talk him out of this war. Look at what she says in 1st Samuel 25:30-31. "The Lord will do for you every good thing he promised to do. He’ll appoint you ruler over Israel. When that happens, you won’t have this heavy load on your mind. . . . You won’t have to worry about how you got even. The Lord your God will give you success. When that happens, please remember me” (NIrV).

She basically says "God's got your back already. You don't need to do this. Turn away now, and your conscious will thank you." David thinks about it, and does, taking her peace offering.

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So, what can we learn here? Every situation needs a peace maker. We, as Christians, are called to that role (it's one of the beattitudes. Look it up). But, that's not an easy thing to do. Being an effective peace maker takes two things: wisdom and courage. Wisdom is the proper application of knowledge. Knowledge is useless if you're not doing anything with it. Abigail had the knowledge that something bad was coming, and it needed to be stopped. Her wisdom is shown when she takes the action to actually do something about it. Connected to this is courage. It took serious courage for her to approach David like this. It would have been easy to just pass it off to her husband Nabal and let him handle it, but no. She knew what needed to be done and did it herself.

Simetimes, God will call upon you to be an Abigail. Do you have the wisdom and courage to do what needs to be done as a peacemaker in your family, friendships, work, school, church, or anyone else?

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Please let me know in the comments what you think, or if you have other biblical or historical examples of wisdom and courage working together.