SPEAKER_00: Well, hey everybody, it's great to see you.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you're here in the room or joining us online, I'm honored to have you along for the ride.
SPEAKER_00: And before we get to the content for today, just an honest confession: if I don't seem to be quite as nimble as normal, it's not because I'm not trying to crease my shoes.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that still is a thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's a battle, but we're working on it.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually because I had this great idea.
SPEAKER_00: My two oldest sons are painting houses this summer, and they've got this big house in Ottawa Hills, very high on the sides, lots of soffits or those overhang eve things.
SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know what I'm gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go help them.
SPEAKER_00: Because I was a painter back in college, which is only a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, when I got there, I realized they had not done much at all with the really high soffits, and so I, as a superhero would decided I would climb up on that ladder and start painting.
SPEAKER_00: And about seven hours later, I got I got done, and my body went into shock and rebellion.
SPEAKER_00: Have you experienced this?
SPEAKER_00: So we drove home and we went to see the new Spider-Man movie because that's what Jesus would do.
SPEAKER_00: And at the 80 level 5, and they have those seats that come up like this, and about 20 minutes into the movie, we were just getting started.
SPEAKER_00: My my legs, my calves, everything just locked up, and I had to stand up in the movie.
SPEAKER_00: And my wife says to me, Are you okay?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, No.
SPEAKER_00: And so she's worried, and I'm walking, I end up standing in the back of the theater like a weirdo because my legs weren't working.
SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, all that to say, um, I don't know what the lesson is from that, but we painted the house.
SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, we are in the third week of a series called Hard One Wisdom, uh, in which we're gonna explore the life of uh Israel's most famous citizens, a guy named David.
SPEAKER_00: And to get to go of what I want to talk to you about today, I want to ask you another question this week.
SPEAKER_00: It goes like this Have you ever done something you wish you could undo?
SPEAKER_00: And I know, yes, right?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was something you said, something you posted, somewhere you went, a relationship you pursued, and like almost immediately after you did it, you wish you hadn't, you wish life had an undo button.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and I thought about this a lot preparing for this talk, and I'm convinced that the decisions that we come to regret the most, well, they're rarely made when we're thinking clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: In my experience, they're made when we're angry or exhausted or afraid, or when we've been wounded in one way or another, we're compromised.
SPEAKER_00: And I bring this up because in the narrative we get to unpack today, uh David almost had one of those moments, came right to the edge.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, I would argue that if the story we're about to read had gone differently, I think it's fair to say we'd remember David differently.
SPEAKER_00: But the story takes place during an incredibly challenging season of his life, one in which Israel's king, a man named Saul, had become completely obsessed with killing him.
SPEAKER_00: And as the narrative begins, David has literally spent years on the run.
SPEAKER_00: Along the way, he's amassed a following of a few hundred men who are convinced that someday the promise will come true and he will be the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: But at the time of this story, David is physically exhausted and he's emotionally discouraged.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's important for us to note because, again, in my experience, most people don't make their worst decisions in a vacuum.
SPEAKER_00: It usually happens after a season, sometimes even years, of disappointment, followed by something that initiates an oversized emotional response.
SPEAKER_00: You ever had one of those?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's like an unfair comment or a betrayal or even a simple act of disrespect that sort of lights your proverbial fuse and causes everything you've been carrying within you to come rushing to the surface.
SPEAKER_00: I think it happens for us, it happened for David.
SPEAKER_00: Um here's the setup.
SPEAKER_00: After surviving, uh, after years rather, of surviving instead of just living, David finally sensed that life might be getting a little better.
SPEAKER_00: He might catch a break.
SPEAKER_00: And the author of this story tells us that it was uh sheep shearing season in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And I know what you're thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, right, hang with me, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sheep shearing season, and that that generally is a time of celebrating and feasting and acts of generosity.
SPEAKER_00: The narrator also tells us that for months leading up to this season, David and his men had been protecting the flocks of a wealthy man named Nabal.
SPEAKER_00: And so when sheep shearing season arrived, David sent ten of his men to Nabal with a request.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he told them.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I want you to go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.
SPEAKER_00: Say to him, Long life to you, good health to you and your household, and good health to all that's yours.
SPEAKER_00: Now I hear that it's sheep shearing time.
SPEAKER_00: He says, When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel, nothing of theirs was missing.
SPEAKER_00: Ask your own servants, and they will tell you.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, he says, Be favorable towards my men, since we come at a festive time.
SPEAKER_00: Please give them, please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.
SPEAKER_00: And just notice, David isn't demanding, he's asking for kindness in return for kindness.
SPEAKER_00: He's basically saying, Hey, we we tried to bless you.
SPEAKER_00: If you're willing, would you bless us?
SPEAKER_00: And now, before I show you Nabal's response, I want you to imagine how David might have been feeling while he was waiting for his men to return.
SPEAKER_00: I bet he was hopeful that his life might finally be taking a turn for the better.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, like grace and love and peace were gonna fall on him.
SPEAKER_00: But then his men return empty-handed, and they relay Nabal's response to David's request.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Nabal had said.
SPEAKER_00: Who is this David, right?
SPEAKER_00: Who is this son of Jesse?
SPEAKER_00: 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?
SPEAKER_00: So Nabal doesn't just refuse to help David, he humiliates David, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, everyone in Israel knew who David was.
SPEAKER_00: He was Israel's national hero, he was the giant slayer.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you think about it, with his response, Nabal was making a statement, essentially, uh, David, you mean nothing to me.
SPEAKER_00: I owe you nothing, and you deserve nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And those words became the spark that ignited years of buried frustration in David.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly all of his pent-up emotion found somewhere to land.
SPEAKER_00: He tells his men, each of you, strap on your sword.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, let's get ready to rumble.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's it's in the Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta trust me on that, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And 400 men begin marching towards Nabal's house.
SPEAKER_00: Can you picture that?
SPEAKER_00: 400 men, swords hanging by their side, like dust rising with every step.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's laughing, nobody's talking, they know where they were going.
SPEAKER_00: And I think word probably has already begun spreading to the countryside.
SPEAKER_00: David is on the way.
SPEAKER_00: But from David's perspective, I mean, this is revenge, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna get back at Nabal, and revenge always feels justified when you're the one who's been hurt, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: But again, David wasn't just responding to Nabal, he's responding to everything Saul had been doing to him for years, which reminds me of something I suspect we've all experienced, and it goes like this unhealed pain has a way of looking for a new target.
SPEAKER_00: Ever noticed that?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we think we're arguing with our spouse about the dishes, but we're really arguing about months of them feeling unheard.
SPEAKER_00: We think we're angry about an email that we received, but we're really frustrated that our boss didn't provide some sort of affirmation after years of disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: We think this person caused our reaction, but often they simply exposed what was already there.
SPEAKER_00: And that was certainly the case for David.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he had been hunted for years, and now he becomes the hunter.
SPEAKER_00: He had been the victim of Saul's insecurity for years, but now the victim has become the perpetrator.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like unhealed pain has a way of looking for a new target.
SPEAKER_00: And uh that certainly was David's story, but thankfully David isn't the only person in this story.
SPEAKER_00: As it turns out, one of Nabal's shepherds hears what's happening and runs to tell Nabal's wife, an incredibly wise man named Abigail.
SPEAKER_00: So listen to how he describes David's men to her.
SPEAKER_00: He says, they were very good to us.
SPEAKER_00: They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them, nothing went missing.
SPEAKER_00: Night and day, they were like a wall around us, like they protected us the whole time.
SPEAKER_00: We were herding our sheep near them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I think it over, think it over, and see what you can do because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting the shepherd doesn't say, David is coming, the shepherd says what?
SPEAKER_00: Disaster is coming.
SPEAKER_00: It's like everybody can see where David's anger is headed except for David, and I think that's often true for us.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when we're angry, everyone else can see what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Our spouse can, our friends can, even our kids can.
SPEAKER_00: But anger has a way of convincing us, hey, I'm thinking clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody has to do something.
SPEAKER_00: Well, everyone around us is thinking, please don't do this.
SPEAKER_00: This is a very bad idea.
SPEAKER_00: If someone sitting next to you is doing this right now, don't nudge them.
SPEAKER_00: It's awkward.
SPEAKER_00: Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: But it's interesting, Nabal's shepherd senses there isn't time to argue with Nabal, like his boss.
SPEAKER_00: He bypasses the boss, goes to the only person in the household he believes can intervene in the situation.
SPEAKER_00: And check out what happens next.
SPEAKER_00: The author tells us Abigail acted quickly.
SPEAKER_00: She didn't panic, she doesn't complain, and she doesn't even blame her husband.
SPEAKER_00: She responds.
SPEAKER_00: The author tells us, he says, she took 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five sayahs of roasted grain that's like 10 gallons, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them onto donkeys.
SPEAKER_00: Then she told her servants, go on ahead, I'll follow you.
SPEAKER_00: But look at this.
SPEAKER_00: But she did not tell her husband a ball.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Abigail hears the situation and decides to move towards disaster and to try to interrupt disaster.
SPEAKER_00: She and her servants set out to intercept David.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like a movie.
SPEAKER_00: David and 400 men walking towards Abigail with every step, David becoming more convinced that he's doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually they come up over a ridge, and there's like a few servants and a single woman riding donkeys with a whole bunch of stuff on it.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder, in that moment, um, what was Abigail thinking?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, she's vastly outnumbered.
SPEAKER_00: What gave her the courage to do what she did?
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't know whether David will listen to her.
SPEAKER_00: She may lose her life.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I think is going on.
SPEAKER_00: I think Abigail decides that there are moments when doing nothing is actually more dangerous than doing something.
SPEAKER_00: Even if that something is really, really hard.
SPEAKER_00: I would argue that's courage.
SPEAKER_00: Abigail is courageous.
SPEAKER_00: Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's deciding that something else matters more than the thing that we're afraid of.
SPEAKER_00: Abigail believed that saving lives mattered more than her protecting herself.
SPEAKER_00: And so she moves towards David.
SPEAKER_00: And just think about this: like you know, the the 400 guys, David at the front, Abigail and her crew come into view.
SPEAKER_00: Before David hears a word Abigail says, he has to stop because she's in his way.
SPEAKER_00: And that brings us to another interesting observation.
SPEAKER_00: I would argue that sometimes the most gracious thing that God does in our lives is to interrupt us before we do something we'll regret.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, Abigail reaches David, she gets down off her donkey, and it's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: So she bows to the ground and begins speaking.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that would have caught David off guard.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, David is an outlaw and a fugitive.
SPEAKER_00: He's a man on the run.
SPEAKER_00: And Abigail is a wealthy merchant's wife.
SPEAKER_00: She has every reason to stand tall, but she voluntarily lowers herself because apparently she knows that humility has a way of accomplishing what force never can.
SPEAKER_00: And then she speaks to David.
SPEAKER_00: She says, Let the blame be on me alone, my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This is what peacemakers do.
SPEAKER_00: They're willing to take a hit if it means restoring the peace.
SPEAKER_00: So Abigail takes responsibility for a situation that is clearly not her fault.
SPEAKER_00: And then she begins talking about her husband.
SPEAKER_00: And she doesn't pretend he's been misunderstood.
SPEAKER_00: She says this pay no attention.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, what she says leads me to believe their relationship was interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what she says.
SPEAKER_00: Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man, Nabal.
SPEAKER_00: My mama told me I shouldn't marry him.
SPEAKER_00: I did anyway.
SPEAKER_00: He's just like his name.
SPEAKER_00: And check this out, his name means fool, because that's what Nabal means in Hebrew.
SPEAKER_00: Who names their kid that?
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, uh, his name means fool, and folly goes with him.
SPEAKER_00: And then Abigail stops talking about Nabal and she speaks directly to David.
SPEAKER_00: And I honestly think this is one of the wisest conversations recorded anywhere in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: But before we read her words, once again, remember who she's talking to.
SPEAKER_00: David has been running for years, sleeping in caves, and watching Saul sit on the throne that God had promised to him one day.
SPEAKER_00: He's emotionally exhausted and he's just been publicly humiliated.
SPEAKER_00: Abigail knows he's fragile, and so she doesn't tell him to calm down or shame him for being angry.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, and again, this is so brilliant, she reminds him of what God had said about him because she knows that when emotions become loud, God's promises to us can begin to sound quiet.
SPEAKER_00: So she looks at David and she says, The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because you fight at the Lord's battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, David, God hasn't changed his mind about you.
SPEAKER_00: Think about the power of those words.
SPEAKER_00: God hasn't changed his mind about you.
SPEAKER_00: Saul has spent years trying to convince David that his future is slipping away.
SPEAKER_00: Saul's trying to get in between David and his future.
SPEAKER_00: And so one insult from Nabal, and David almost believes it.
SPEAKER_00: But Abigail reminds him that God's promises have not changed just because David's emotions have.
SPEAKER_00: She says, you fight the Lord's battles.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, David, don't start fighting your own battles.
SPEAKER_00: If God is the one who called you, then God is the one who will establish you.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to seize what God has already promised you.
SPEAKER_00: He is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally she says, No wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, David, don't let one painful interaction become the thing that defines the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about it, Abigail isn't speaking to the man.
SPEAKER_00: David is acting like.
SPEAKER_00: She's speaking to the man God is shaping David to become.
SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you a question?
SPEAKER_00: Like, does somebody in your life speak to you like that?
SPEAKER_00: Who has the permission to remind you of who you are when your emotions are trying to convince you that you're someone else?
SPEAKER_00: I think we all need people like that in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We all need people like Abigail in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Because we all have moments when we lose our perspective and disappointment clouds our judgment, and when anger starts writing a story for our future that we'd never choose if we could see it clearly.
SPEAKER_00: That said, I think sometimes God's greatest gift to us isn't changing our circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: His greatest gift is sending someone who reminds us of who we really want to become, who speaks prophetically to us, who confronts us before we do something that we later would wish we could undo.
SPEAKER_00: And that's certainly what Abigail does for David.
SPEAKER_00: And she's not done because then she takes the conversation deeper by reminding David that in spite of what he feels, his future isn't hanging by a thread.
SPEAKER_00: His future is secure in God's hands.
SPEAKER_00: She says it this way The life of my Lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_00: In the ancient world, valuable possessions were often tied together in a small pouch so that nothing precious would fall out.
SPEAKER_00: And Abigail looks at David right in the eyes and she says to him, This is what your life is like to God.
SPEAKER_00: David, you've been living as though everything depends on you.
SPEAKER_00: But your future has never rested in your hands.
SPEAKER_00: God holds your future.
SPEAKER_00: And then she asks him a really helpful, clarifying question.
SPEAKER_00: Like after affirming to David, one day God is going to fulfill every promise he's made to you, you're going to be the king, and this crisis will be behind you.
SPEAKER_00: She essentially asks him, Listen, when all of this is behind you, when all of the pain, all of the confusion, all of the frustration, all of the disappointment, when all that's in the rearview mirror, David, what story do you want to tell?
SPEAKER_00: And that's an incredible question.
SPEAKER_00: Because it has the power to shift perspective from the present to the future.
SPEAKER_00: It's a question that forces us to ask how I will feel about this decision tomorrow or a year from now.
SPEAKER_00: Or when I'm telling this story to my grandkids around a fire making s'mores in 20 years?
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, the strongest emotions that you feel today rarely tell you the whole truth.
SPEAKER_00: But thinking of the future has a way of bringing clarity.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why one of the wisest questions any one of us can ask before making a significant decision, it goes like this What story do I want to tell when today is nothing more than a story that I tell?
SPEAKER_00: What story do I want to tell when today is nothing more than a story that I tell?
SPEAKER_00: Abigail asked David this question, and suddenly it's like the lights come on, and David realizes he's no longer looking through the eyes of anger.
SPEAKER_00: That's a mistake.
SPEAKER_00: He's looking through the eyes of wisdom, and wisdom asks questions anger never thinks to ask.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom doesn't ask what feels right, it asks us, who do I want to become?
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom doesn't ask us what do they deserve, but wisdom says, who will I become if I do this thing that I want to do?
SPEAKER_00: I think this is one of the greatest questions we can ask ourselves too.
SPEAKER_00: Like before you send the text, you know the one.
SPEAKER_00: The one you write that you haven't sent yet, but before you send the text, before you hit post, before you quit or walk away, or retaliate, or give up.
SPEAKER_00: Just pause and ask yourself like, is that gonna help me become the person that Jesus is forming me to be?
SPEAKER_00: It's a great question because this is so interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Often the greatest enemy of wisdom is urgency.
SPEAKER_00: Am I the only one that's noticed this over the years?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Like we convince ourselves, I have to do something right now.
SPEAKER_00: This is like on fire, we gotta move towards it.
SPEAKER_00: But but see, very few decisions that honor God are made in moments of emotionally charged haste.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the ones that leave us with regret.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why often the wisest thing you can do is to wait until tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: Give it some space, let your emotions simmer down.
SPEAKER_00: Think about not only the action, but the implications of the action.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this.
SPEAKER_00: Think about your biggest regrets in life so far.
SPEAKER_00: How many of them happen because you waited too long?
SPEAKER_00: It's possible.
SPEAKER_00: We probably have a few of those, but how many of them happened because you acted too quickly?
SPEAKER_00: I took an inventory this week.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of mine were the too quickly part.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Like, because.
SPEAKER_00: You sent the text, or you quit the job, or you signed the papers, or you posted the comment, or you said the words, and as soon as they came out, you wanted to scramble and get them back, but that doesn't work that way, right?
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom has a way of slowing us down long enough to hear God again.
SPEAKER_00: And then David he hears Abigail out, and then he finally speaks, and what he says is so interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me.
SPEAKER_00: It's like David says, Listen, um, in encountering you, having you interrupt my mission, I have encountered the grace of God in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, This, speaking to Abigail, may you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.
SPEAKER_00: Like moments before, David believed revenge was justice.
SPEAKER_00: And now he calls it bloodshed.
SPEAKER_00: I would argue that is repentance.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it looks like.
SPEAKER_00: Repentance, it's changing their behavior, but sometimes it's more than that.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's even changing what you call things.
SPEAKER_00: I've been doing the pastor thing for a long time.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's one of the first signs that you have that God is changing someone when they stop baptizing their sins with respectable names.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, I'm meeting over coffee, and pride becomes pride.
SPEAKER_00: And gossip is gossip, and bitterness is bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: You're not trying to dress it up, it's like this is just where I'm at.
SPEAKER_00: And if I can take an honest look of where I'm at, then all of a sudden things can change.
SPEAKER_00: And so David stops calling revenge justice and starts calling it bloodshed.
SPEAKER_00: And he realizes something else.
SPEAKER_00: Like he was literally marching towards becoming someone he never wanted to be.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's this beautiful change of heart on the way to Nabal's house, and he accepts Abigail's gifts.
SPEAKER_00: He tells his men to stand down and he sends her home in peace.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the crisis is over.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what's so fun the story isn't yet.
SPEAKER_00: Because as the narrator continues, he says, hey, the next morning Abigail tells Nabal everything that's happened, and he's so overwhelmed that 10 days later you can't make this up, he dies.
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens to Nabal.
SPEAKER_00: And it's tempting.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was when I was reading this again, I just laughed.
SPEAKER_00: I thought, that's so great, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like God took care of it.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe he did.
SPEAKER_00: But I think the bigger lesson is that David didn't have to.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: David didn't need to force the outcome or write the ending because God was already writing it.
SPEAKER_00: And I just wonder how many regrets in our lives happened because we simply couldn't wait for God to finish writing the story.
SPEAKER_00: Like we felt like we had to say something, or do something, or fix something, or punish someone, or win the argument, or protect our reputation.
SPEAKER_00: And in the process, we almost became someone we never wanted to be.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, God is often doing far more than we can see behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_00: Which means that sometimes, and I don't like this, but it's true, I'm sure you won't like it either.
SPEAKER_00: We'll just share in that, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Trust sometimes looks like waiting.
SPEAKER_00: Trust sometimes looks like waiting because we choose to believe that God is still at work in our painful, crazy situations, even when we can't see it.
SPEAKER_00: If you think about it, um I was reflecting on the story this week and I thought, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Humanly speaking, Abigail is the hero of the story.
SPEAKER_00: She interrupts violence, she brings peace, she refuses to let her husband's foolishness determine her future, even though she married a guy whose name was Fool.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, Abigail, right?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: I bet he was just misnamed.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows, right?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And I love that Abigail never tells David, you don't have a right to be angry.
SPEAKER_00: He did.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, she reminds him of something he had forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: God has already secured his future.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why she keeps talking about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: She says, one day you'll be king.
SPEAKER_00: One day God will fulfill his promises.
SPEAKER_00: One day, David, this moment will simply become a story you tell.
SPEAKER_00: So again, don't let one painful afternoon rewrite the future that God has promised you.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's why David lowers his sword.
SPEAKER_00: Not because Nabal suddenly deserves mercy, but because David remembered his future wasn't in Nabal's hands, it was in God's hands.
SPEAKER_00: And at least for me, that's where the story points to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about it, Jesus also entrusted his future to his father.
SPEAKER_00: In a letter to early Christians, um, one of Jesus' first disciples, a guy named Peter, says it this way.
SPEAKER_00: He writes, When they hurled their insults at Jesus, he did not retaliate.
SPEAKER_00: When he suffered, he made no threats.
SPEAKER_00: And look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.
SPEAKER_00: Peter says, Jesus didn't refuse to retaliate because he lacked power.
SPEAKER_00: He refused to retaliate because he trusted his father, just like David was invited to do.
SPEAKER_00: Except, of course, Jesus succeeded perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: David lowered his sword.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus stretched out his hands.
SPEAKER_00: David was spared from being a murderer, but he needed Abigail to remind him that his future was secure.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus never needed that reminder.
SPEAKER_00: Every step he took towards the cross, he entrusted himself to his heavenly father.
SPEAKER_00: And because he trusted his father, he accomplished something David never could.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't simply avoid evil, he defeated evil.
SPEAKER_00: And he didn't merely spare one household, he opened the door for the salvation of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Which brings us back to us.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you think about it, every one of us is writing a story with our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And every conversation and conflict and disappointment is another sentence or another paragraph or another chapter in that story.
SPEAKER_00: And in years from now, when this season is over, as challenging as it may be, when this season is over, and when our emotions have settled and when the wounds have begun to heal, we need to ask ourselves, what story do we want to tell about this season?
SPEAKER_00: Because someday, even the worst season won't be the problem.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be yesterday's story.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's the divorce or the diagnosis or the betrayal or the conflict or the conversation, they'll all just become stories that we tell.
SPEAKER_00: And so the question isn't whether we'll tell them.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, who will we become while we're living them?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to tell the story of how you finally got even, or do you want to tell the story of how God's grace enabled you to become someone you never could have become on your own?
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the thing the stories we admire the most when we hear them are almost never written by people who let their strongest emotions inform their biggest regrets.
SPEAKER_00: They're written by people who trusted Jesus enough to let him write a different ending to their challenging season.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I know for sure.
SPEAKER_00: Sooner or later, every one of us will stand where David stood.
SPEAKER_00: Hurt, angry, afraid, tempted to take control.
SPEAKER_00: And when that day comes, I think the hard-won wisdom of David would tell us we need to trust the one who already has our future in his hands.
SPEAKER_00: Because he loves us and he's for us and he sees things that we can only begin to imagine.
SPEAKER_00: That, my friends, is some hard-won wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll pick it up there next week.
SPEAKER_00: But for now, I'd love to invite you to stand if you're willing and able.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I'll close our time in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you're here this morning and life is you're in a season that is just really hard, um, and you'd love to pray with someone before you go, we'll have some friends under the screen to the left who would love to spend some time with you.
SPEAKER_00: But for the rest of us, let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we thank you for preserving this incredible story from the life of David.
SPEAKER_00: And we thank you for Abigail, for her wisdom, for her courage.
SPEAKER_00: And we thank you for David modeling something that would serve us all so well.
SPEAKER_00: May we be a people who, when we are tempted to do something that we will later regret, may we be a people who would choose to trust you and to not take matters into our own hands.
SPEAKER_00: As we do, I pray that we would become more like the people you created us to be, more like your son.
SPEAKER_00: And it is in his name, the name above all names, the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Grace and priest fans, we'll see you next week.