GOD ADVOCATES FOR HIS PEOPLE

In Genesis 12 and 20, we have unusual stories of God protecting Abraham and Sarah while they were living in areas controlled by the Egyptian Empire.   In chapter 20, they were actually in an area that would later become part of Israel - very near what we would call the Gaza strip today.

In both cases we see what appears to be a lack of faith on Abraham's part to trust God to protect him and Sarah.  He literally lies to the local kings, telling them that his wife, Sarah, is actually his sister.  This is only partly a lie [Genesis 20:12], since she was the daughter of Abraham's father, but not his mother.  

In each case, Sarah - being noticeably beautiful, even at an older age - was taken into the harem of these foreign kings.  This is preposterous to us as we read it today!  It seems completely inconsiderate of Abraham to allow such a thing to happen!  Abraham's self-preservation offends us!  In the first case, Sarah is there long enough to have made an impression on the king!   

However, in each situation God takes up Sarah's case by intervening with these foreign kings.  

In chapter 12, the king's household begins to suffer a severe skin disease as a punishment for the Pharaoh's sin.  He realizes that it is because of his sin with Sarah and immediately releases her.  Having given tremendous wealth to Abraham, the Pharaoh then asked Abraham to leave the area with his massive flocks and family system.  

In chapter 20, God spoke to Abimelech in a dream, warning him: "'Look, you are a dead man because the woman you have taken into your harem is a married woman.'  Up to this point, Abimelech had not physically approached her."  [v.3-4]  

This episode is peculiarly interesting because of God's validation of the King of Gerar:

ABIMELECH:  I took her in my harem without knowing the truth.  I acted with integrity.  I am completely innocent.

Then God replied to him still in his dream.

ETERNAL ONE:  Yes, I know you did this with integrity in your heart.  It was I who prevented you from crossing the line.  I protected you from yourself by not letting you touch her.  Now do the right thing. Return the man's wife.  He is one of my prophets.  He will pray and intercede for you, and you will live. But if you do not give her back, I assure you, you will die - you and everyone associated with you.  [vs.5-7]  [All scriptures are from The Voice Bible]

 The odd thing about these passages is that Abraham comes off as being the one with a lack of faith!  But, in his shortfall, God steps in to protect him and Sarah, as well as the Egyptian kings and their families!  

_______________________________________

There are several things we can presuppose from these incidents:

1. God is always watching!  He knows the intricate details of our lives and circumstances.  He misses nothing!

2.  Not only is God always watching, but He intervenes!  God has not left this world like a clock that is wound and is now winding down!  He is engaged!  He inserts Himself in the affairs of His people!  He cares!  God acts!

3. God protects us!  One of the wonders we will marvel at someday in the distant future is when God reveals His actions on our behalf!  We have benefitted from His protection at times and in ways that we have no awareness of!  Some of our greatest - most passionate praise - will come when these things are revealed!  Some of us have stretched the duty of our guardian angels by our careless and wreckless behavior!  😉

4. There are people who cross our lives who are faith-driven although we may never know it!  Abimelech was clearly a God-fearing man who was concerned to live his life with integrity!  We should never assume that people we deal with in the discourse of our day are spiritually lost people!  God's people are sprinkled everywhere!  The person who rear-ended you last week may be a believer who was simply distracted.  Bring an awareness into every connection you make, watching for signs that this person (or these people) may be Christ-followers!  

_____________________________

Kind and Loving God,

Thank You for protecting us 24/7!  Thank You for advocating for us even when we are unaware that You are doing so!  Thank You that You are always pressing forward in people and places that might surprise us - to make Your love and Word known!  

You're an awesome God, and it's our privilege to serve You!  Amen.

 

ARE YOU CORRECTABLE?

 I Samuel 25 tells a story about David's intersection with Nabal (whose name means 'fool').  

Here it is in brief form:

David and his 600 men have been laying low in the area where Nabal lived.  Nabal was a wealthy farmer with 1,000 goats and 3,000 sheep.  He also had a wife, Abigail, who was intelligent and beautiful.  

When David and his men lived in an area, they provided protection for anyone else who lived nearby.  Consequently, Nabal benefitted from David lingering in his area for an extended period of time.  

At the time of sheep-shearing, David sent men to Nabal asking for a gift of food.  

Nabal is described several times in this chapter:

• surly and mean in his dealings  [v.3]
• a wicked man that no one can talk to - (his servant) [v.17]
• He is just like his name - his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. - (his wife) [v.25]

Nabal responds harshly to David's request:

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?  [v.11]

David is incensed when he is given this report.  He arms his men and takes 400 men to exact revenge on Nabal.

A servant reports what has happened to Abigail including the arc of safety that David's men have provided over previous months.  She acts quickly and puts together  a large quantity of food and supplies to give to David and his men.  

• 200 loaves of bread
• 2 skins of wine
• 5 dressed sheep
• 5 bushel of roasted grain
• 100 raisin cakes
•  200 cakes of pressed figs

She did this without telling Nabal.

She met David descending into the valley.  She bowed at his feet with her face to the ground.  

She said:  “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 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. 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. And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

“Please forgive your servant’s presumption. 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. 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. When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, 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.”

Wow!  She really is a wise woman!

1. She offers reverence to David by kneeling before him
2. She proclaims her husband a fool for treating David improperly
3. She suggests that she has been sent to prevent David from shedding needless blood.
4. She wishes him well and prays protection over him
5. She presents her very generous gift 
6. She suggests that he will always have God's protection since he fights the Lord's battles
7. She predicts that he will be the ruler over Israel
8. She suggests that if he turns from his intent toward Nabal, he will have a clean conscience
9. She asks for his favor when God has honored him

David graciously accepts her gifts and turns from his intent toward Nabal.  He acknowledges that she has been sent by God to keep him from bloodshed.  

Abigail went home and found Nabal having a drunken banquet.  The next morning she told him what she had done and his heart failed him and he became like a stone.  About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.  [vs.37-38]

When David heard what had happened, he sent word to her inviting her to become his wife.  She agreed and came to be his third wife and the mother of his second-born son, Kileab.  [Michal, Saul's daughter was his first wife, but Saul later gave her to another man;  as divine retrifution for mocking David, she had no children to the day of her death.  II Samuel 6:23]  

________________________________________

APPLICATION

     I.   Those who are fools by character (according to Proverbs) are:

            1. Close-minded – thickheaded/stubborn (convinced they’re right)
            2. Lack spiritual perception
            3. Hardened

Nabal was all of these!  Be careful NOT to let these characteristics define YOU!

   II.    Abigail was wise and sensitive to the Lord's leading.  She courageously faced her problem  with tact, grace and humility!

  III.    David was correctable.  Even in his anger, he was able to back down and hear just counsel.