“From Hostile Vengeance to Humble Trust” – FBC Morning Light (5/12/2023)

Well, a good Friday morning to you. I hope you're looking forward to a good weekend. Of course, this Sunday is Mother's Day, and we get to celebrate and honor mothers on this coming Sunday. I hope you have a mom that you can rejoice in and that you can honor and that you will, however you may.

My mom went to be with the Lord a few years ago. Great memories of her and honor her on Mother's Day. I hope many of you can as well. Well, on this particular Friday, we're reading in 1 Samuel 25 -26, Acts chapter 6, and the 95th Psalm.

David’s Restraint in 1 Samuel 25

All this week we've been in 1 Samuel, and today is no different. I want to focus on an interesting development in David between chapters 25 and 26. A contrast, if you will. Chapter 25 sees David ready to take action and kill a man who's a perceived enemy, and in chapter 26, it's quite a different response.

What I'm talking about in chapter 25 is this situation with Nabal. David and his men have been out and on the run from Saul, and where they've been kind of hanging out for quite some time is where Nabal, a very wealthy livestock owner, where his herdsmen have been taking care of all their animals, and David and his men have been making sure actively even that these herdsmen are protected and nothing happens, no harm comes to them, and so forth.

It's time for the sheep shearing, and during that time there's a great party atmosphere, feasting, and everything else, and David and his men need some supplies. They're hungry. They need groceries, and so David sends some of his men to Nabal and say, hey, how about sharing some of the goods?

You've got plenty. Share some of it with us. We've protected you and your herdsmen and made sure you didn't have any loss to your herds, and so come on, share. His men go to Nabal, and Nabal spurns them.

He says, who's David? He's a fugitive from his master. I'm not going to help him out, and the men come back and tell David the response of Nabal that he's not going to help him out. David says, all right, men, strap on your swords.

Let's go take care of this Nabal character. Off they go, and they're going to kill Nabal and plunder him. Word gets to Nabal's wife Abigail what's happened, and Abigail must be a very prudent, wise woman.

She gathers together very quickly as much groceries as she possibly can, puts them on the backs of some animals, and heads toward David to cut him off at the pass and prevent him from doing what he intends to do, and it succeeds.

There's this very interesting interchange between David and Abigail. Abigail comes to David, and she says to him, what are you doing? Don't do this. She says, forgive the trespass of your maidservant.

The Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house. Speaking to David, the Lord is going to take care of you and make for you an enduring house, because you fight the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.

She goes on to talk David down from his plan of executing her husband. In verse 32, David replies to her and says, blessed is the Lord God of Israel who sent you this day to meet me. In verse 33, she recognizes that Abigail has been providentially directed by the Lord to prevent David from acting in his anger and killing her husband.

He says, blessed is your advice, and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. Hang on to that. You've kept me from that. The Lord has kept me back from hurting you unless you'd hurried and come to meet me.

Surely by morning light, if you hadn't come to meet me, no males would have been left unable. I would have wiped them all out. But the Lord providentially directed you to me to keep me from doing this, from avenging myself with my own hand.

David Learns Not to Avenge Himself in 1 Samuel 26

Here's a man, David, who in his anger is confronted and has also enough humility of heart to recognize the Lord's confrontation and keeping him from doing wrong, doing ill. Let's look at the next chapter, chapter 26.

Saul, remember how we talked yesterday about Saul seeming to be repentant and weeping and all this kind of stuff, and David's more righteous and all that? Should David have gone back with Saul? No, he needed to earn that trust.

Saul proves that he's not trustworthy. He comes back out against David, wants to kill him once again. Once again, we have an occasion where David has the opportunity to get rid of his enemy. Saul and all his men are lying around sleeping, sound asleep in the middle of the night, and the Lord has caused a deep sleep to come upon them.

David now has the chance to go down into camp and execute Saul. In fact, that's exactly what Abishai wants him to do. Abishai and David go down into the camp, everybody's sound asleep, David comes up where Saul is sleeping, and Abishai says to David, God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day.

Now therefore, let me strike him at once with the spear right to the earth, and I will not have to strike him a second time. Think about this. Think about what happened in the last chapter. The chapter before that, David got the impression Saul was pretty much repentant, he confessed and all that kind of stuff, and now Saul's come back out against him, wanting to kill him, he's not repentant.

This enemy has to be done away with once and for all. In the intervening chapter, you had this situation with Nabal, and you saw David's anger rise up against Nabal, and he was going to execute Nabal and all his men, except that Abigail intervened.

David, in humility, recognized the hand of providence that kept him from, as he said, avenging myself with my own hand. When Abishai says, let me avenge you of your enemy with my own hand, David says, do not destroy him.

Don't destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? Then he says this in verse 10, as the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.

The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. David learned a very valuable and important lesson, that is, he was not going to avenge himself with his own hand. The Lord taught him that lesson, and he learned it, and he applied it in a very specific and practical situation.

Learning Providence, Humility, and Grace

Oh, that we would be so wise and prudent, and we would so grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that when he teaches us these lessons, he confronts us with conviction and stops us in our tracks.

Oh, that we would learn the lessons and then act on them, apply them, the next time that situation arises. God, give us the grace to do so. Our Father and our God, we do thank you for this challenge from 1 Samuel.

Lord, I pray that we would learn, we would see your hand of providence that directs us, that keeps us from wrongdoing. Then, Father, may we learn from that and apply that lesson the next time the opportunity arises.

Give us that wisdom, we pray. May your Spirit give us the grace and strength to apply, we pray it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. All right, well again, have a wonderful rest of your Friday, a great weekend, and don't forget to gather together with God's people on this Lord's Day, on this coming Mother's Day.

May it be a great blessing to you. Good day. God bless.