When US Airways flight 1549 went into the Hudson River on January 14th of this year all 155 passengers were safely accounted for. I remember the picture of the passengers standing on the wings of the plane – they were shivering in the icy waters, but they had realized that they had had a brush with death. I don’t imagine that they minded the cold. They were thankful to be alive! They had escaped a tragic death.
As we have studied the life of Nabal in I Samuel 25, we see that Nabal had very close to death, but he doesn’t even realize it. He’s oblivious to the dangerous situation he had placed himself and all the men in his household in. He was delivered because Abigail had intervened for him again. I wonder how many times she’d had to do that in the past? She was able to talk to David on Nabal’s behalf and settle his anger down. David laid down his sword and is now willing to let the Lord avenge the wrong that was done to him.
In verse 36 of this chapter we read that Nabal had been feasting like a king. He wasn’t a king, but he was feasting and making merry as though he was one. His heart is merry because he is drunk. This was his only source of happiness because he did not know the Lord.
People drink for many reasons. As you read this list composed by members of AA, think about Nabal who was a hard drinker.
We drank for happiness and became unhappy.
We drank for joy and became miserable.
We drank for sociability and became argumentative.
We drank for sophistication and became obnoxious.
We drank for friendship and made enemies.
We drank for sleep and awakened without rest.
We drank for strength and felt weak.
We drank “medicinally” and acquired health problems.
We drank for relaxation and got the shakes.
We drank for bravery and became afraid.
We drank for confidence and became doubtful.
We drank to make conversation easier and slurred our speech.
We drank to forget and were forever haunted.
We drank for freedom and became slaves.
We drank to erase problems and saw them multiply.
We drank to cope with life and invited death.
Being drunk is a cheap substitute for what God wants to do in our lives. God has the answer in Ephesians 5:18 – And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. The emptiness, the sorrow, the hurt, can all be resolved through the Holy Spirit. He gives you strength and help to either change the problem or endure them. Don’t settle for Satan’s substitute like Nabal did.
In the last part of verse 36 we see Abigail’s great wisdom. She told him nothing at all ‘til the morning light.” She intends to tell him, but she’s discerning about when to tell him. Imagine what she would have said if she hadn’t controlled her tongue –
“Do you know what you almost caused to happen by your selfishness? There was almost a civil war here because of you! Now here you are stone drunk! You can’t even control yourself…”
He was such a fool and was really acting like it, but she says NOTHING. That takes the control of God’s spirit over your tongue. Prov. 17:27,28 – He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Here’s another rule to apply here:
Don’t discuss anything really important after 11:00 at night. HALT! If you’re hungry, angry, lonely or tired, stop before you speak!
In verse 37 Abigail goes to Nabal and tells him what had happened. I imagine that he had a really big headache, but his head is clearer than the night before. I believe she loved him. If you love the Lord, you’re going to love your husband. You might not like the things he does, but you will love him. When she told him what happened, the Scripture says that his heart became like a stone. He had something like a stroke, then ten days later he died.
It must have broken Abigail’s heart. How many times had she prayed for her husband? How long had she sought God’s face to work in his life and bring him to a place of surrender? Now he is dead with no hope. I don’t believe she ever prayed that God would kill him. Her husband never changed. He died a fool, but she did not have the guilt of taking his life. Nor did David have Nabal’s blood on his hands. They let God do the avenging. Nabal’s sin ended his life. God will not allow the Nabals of this world to sin indefinitely. Proverbs 2:22, 24:20 If you’re a Nabal, that should put fear in your heart. If you’re an Abigail, it should make you know that you can trust the Lord to do what He wants to do in his time.
Psalm 37 is psalm full of promises about how the Lord will deal with the evil man. We can live with the fools in our life if we’ll believe these promises. God ultimately delivered Abigail from this difficult situation, and He will deliver you. We think about David’s mistreatment, and also of the hard things that Abigail endured. But in God’s way and time He delivered her out of this marriage.
Many women have to live for years with a foolish husband. They must continue to love him with a Christ-like love. I’m not suggesting that God will take the life of a foolish husband, and we should never pray that God would kill him. If we have a heart for God, we will be praying that this man will come to repentance.
God has a cup of wrath, and when that is full He will judge. You can trust Him to deal in the right way and in the right time with the fool in your life, because He is a righteous God!
If you’re acting like Nabal and stiff-arming God, realize how close you are to God’s judgment. He is merciful and desires that all come to repentance. Is the “plane getting ready to crash?” The only way we’ll be safe is to be God’s child with sin confessed. Don’t be a Nabal – God loves you and is calling to you today.
