Bible Women: Abigail: The Father’s Joy

Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. 1Sa 25:3  

Who Can Understand Love?

Love is terrific because there is nothing a woman cannot do because of it. And Abigail is a living embodiment of Paul’s ode on the love which “seeketh not her own” and “thinketh no evil”.

And men killed Jesus because he loved too much.

Abigail’s name means “my father’s joy.” But she married Nabal. And Nabal means a fool.

I doubt his mother gave him such a name. Most likely it was a nickname given to him by people. Probably one man noted his churlishness and remarked rather sadly that he resembled a fool. And then other people noticed and they too agreed. And so the name stuck. A fool is a connotation for a miser, greedy, wicked, and an arrogant fellow.

And yet Abigail did not mind the tag. She saw him (as only a woman sees things), and she married him.

And that is what is terrifying about a woman’s love. It sees things other people don’t see. And God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son to die for it. But the world has never understood that.

David in the Mountains

This story takes us back to David, God’s beloved poet. He had been in hiding because of his adversary king Saul. So he became accustomed with mountain rocks and caves and desert places for a home. And today if we are blessed by his psalms it is because of his wilderness tears.

And that is how Nabal comes in. A ‘fool’ and ‘a son of Belial’ technically mean the same thing (worthless person). He did not regard God, nor was he ever in his thoughts. And to God (more than anyone else), that is a fool. Probably it was because of him that David gave us the psalm: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”

And then David heard that Nabal was around, as it is written,

And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.  And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.  Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. 1Sa 25:4-8  

And that was David’s request. It was adorned with humility. But the reply his men received from Nabal’s mouth was pure foul.

And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.  Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?  So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings. 1Sa 25:10-12  

And that answer got David raving, and immediately he gathered his small army for total war.

But one of the Nabal’s shepherds ran and told Abigail of the impending doom. And that is where Abigail’s quick understanding was fully employed. Her action averted a bloodbath. She gathered enough food for David’s army and when she met him on the way she “fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.”

She beseeched him. She used the words “I pray thee” three times in quick succession, the names “my Lord” eleven times, and the names, “the LORD” seven times in seven verses!

And that humbled David.

And Abigail returned home to find her husband drunk after “the feast of a king” in his house. She waited until morning when she broke the news to him: “But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died” (1Sa 25:37-38). 

So Nabal became the first man to die of a stroke in the Bible. Others think it was a heart attack.

But when David heard that he blessed God who had saved him from committing murder. He then sent for Abigail with a proposition to become his wife. And that is how she ended up as David’s second wife.

And so Abigail became a king’s wife. She had not anticipated it. She had not looked for it. But God’s favour just found her!

How do you judge things which happen in your life? For Abigail, it is not what she saw, but what God saw. It wasn’t her life but God’s. Can you see things like that in your own life too?

“God Moves in a Mysterious Way, His Wonders to Perform.” Take courage in that hymn.

Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. Jer 32:17 

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 1Co 2:9  

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Eph 3:20-21  

 

 

Bible Women: Peninah and The Uses of Our Adversaries

And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb. 1Sa 1:6  

Critics Hurt but They Are Profitable

I ran long distances in my mind because of critics. I panted. I got spent. I choked on my tears.

That was in 2013 when I started blogging. But I left quickly the same year when the pelting of stones refused to relent.

So I took leave of the social media for seven years. I returned last year, haltingly, but after a few attempts, God gave me a hard skin.

But even between now and then, many times I have thought to quit. And truly only the grace of God has kept me going until this far!

So today I want to encourage young writers and preachers not to give up. For truly God is faithful. He gives more and more and more strength! As it is written, “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa 40:30-31).  

Again be encouraged by these words God spoke to prophet Ezekiel, “And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house” (Eze 2:6).  

This truism is true. You will be damned for keeping silent, and you will be damned for speaking! So better speak!

The Lesson of Wilderness and the Promised Land

God did not give the children of Israel the Promised Land in Palestine in one fell swoop.

Rather God asked them to fight for it. Yes he assured them of victory, but he also taught them that victory does not come easily.

They needed to feel the lance of the spear. They needed to see blood. That was the baptism of the wilderness.

Yes enemies may hurt until we bleed. But even more they teach us how to become tough warriors – even prayer warriors!

That is what Saul’s hatred taught king David. It made him a tough warrior. It made him a poet and a prophet!

And that is what Peninah’s verbal blows did to Hannah. They kept her on her knees. They gave her a testimony which lives to this day.

Enemies make us war veterans.

So have you reached your Promised Land yet? Then get ready for war! And even after getting the victory don’t rest at ease. But start preparing for the next one, because it will come!

So get your pens ready. Get your Bibles out. Start praying now!

Practice Makes Perfect

So too Solomon advises his son in the Proverbs not to get tired of being corrected. Because that is the sure path to wisdom, “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” (Pro 3:11-12).  

Enemies strengthened Nehemiah. They will strengthen you too. But always carry a sword beside you. A sword is the word of God.

To Self-Suppress is to Choose Death

I have learnt two things: there are things we learn when tears are forming, and there are things we learn after the tears have dried up.

And by God’s grace I have gained immensely from both periods!

You can’t evade them. You can’t kill them. But you can pray for your enemies. And that is how we learn to live with them. They are the bricks God uses to plant us firmly in the soil of this earth.

But to shut up is to invite a terrible death.

So persist my dear and never give up. Satan would love to silence you forever. Nothing gives him so much joy. He will magnify your mistakes. You will preach a sermon and hate yourself for a week. Some days you will swear never to blog or preach again. That is his voice, so mark it.

You will make glaring mistakes. You will speak inappropriately. You will huff and pant. But the secret is not to stop. The secret is to write more or preach more!

You can only learn through mistakes. You can only learn through practice. Criticism gives you grit. You will fail so many times until lack of fear becomes natural.

Yet it is not I but God working through me. And for that he uses our harshest critics! Thank God and pray for them daily. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Mat 5:16). 

No, we don’t stop to sing just because it is dark. But we sing even more loudly until that music lifts us off from this body of death to his loving arms.

Many blogs I wrote in the past have been overtaken. I now know better than I did then. And even in future I will look back at what I’m writing now and know I could have done better.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psa 90:12. 

LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Psa 39:4.  

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Ecc 9:10.  

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. Joh 9:4.   

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 2Co 4:8-9. 

Bible Women: Peninah and the Heart of Malice

And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb. 1Sa 1:6  

Ridicule, Malice and Contempt

The simple definition of malice is hate. No one ridicules another because of love. It is because of the recoil of the heart.

It is also because of ignorance. The people who killed Jesus were more ignorant than hateful.

So I read the thanksgiving prayer of Hannah with amusement. She thanked God for salvation over her enemy. But in one tongue she praises God, and in another she can’t refrain herself from throwing barbs at her enemy, ‘Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth’ she utters to our shock.

But we understand where she’s coming from. Back in the days of Moses to pay back was the law, so one gave an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. So Hannah gave back to Peninah what she had received from her.

It is why Jesus had problems with the Pharisees, the custodians of the law. Jesus not only forgave sinners but he ate with them. Even worse he healed people on Sabbath day. So in the end they killed Jesus to defend God! 

They ridiculed him. They scorned him. A few regarded him with utter contempt.

But Jesus forgave them at the cross, even though this only raised their ire. He forgave, but it was like he added coals of fire on their heads!

Traditions, Prejudice and Hate

Contempt was rife in our old traditions. Hate was raised into the stature of virtue. You hated your enemies like death. And you were praised for it!

But then Christianity came and the problem of forgiveness surfaced. People became good Christians but that was during the day. At night they crawled back to the safety of their traditions. They could forgive like their pastor had told them to, but they couldn’t forget! So they forgave, but the scorn on their face remained.

And this discrepancy persists to this day. We inherited it not only from our parents but also from Adam. We fell. And now we are more prone to love the darkness than the light. And so we are ever condemning and ever getting condemned!

The Body of Death

We should love to do good but we can’t. But are we alone in feeling this misery? No. It rattled Paul as much.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Rom 7:18-24  

What delivered Paul from ‘the body of this death’ is what Pastor John Piper calls belief in future grace in his marvelous book, Future Grace.

And what was that grace or promise? ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit’ (Rom 8:1).  

A believer should believe that with his whole heart. Else one risks remaining stuck in unbelief. People will condemn you. Satan will condemn you. And even your own heart will condemn you!

But don’t get trapped in what people or your own heart or Satan is saying. Believe only what God is saying.

‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (Joh 8:32). And again, ‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed’ (Joh 8:36).   

You prayed. You believed. So move and believe that you have moved even though the voice says you haven’t. Rather find your strength in God’s promises:

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 5:1 

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 1Jn 3:20  

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Gal 5:1  

The Just Shall Live by Faith

So we understand why Hannah couldn’t forgive even though she rejoiced in God! She answered to the salvation by works theology. We answer to the salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ theology.

And so too we feel not so much hate against Peninah but compassion and pity. Her husband Elkanah had put her in that position for having two wives (and loving one more than the other) which is what polygamy always does.

We may feel the urge to condemn her. But again we can’t, for she’s our own blood and flesh. If she was prone to an unbridled tongue it is because we are prone to one too.

But we shall run to the cross of Jesus Christ each time that happens. It is there that he settled it all, saying, ‘It is finished.’

I pray that you will believe that with your whole heart, for ‘without faith it is impossible to please him.’

If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph 4:21-24  

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. Rom 1:17  

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Heb 10:38  

Bible Women: The Story of Hannah and Our Struggle to Understand the Will of God

But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb. 1Sa 1:5 

The Will of God is Complex

We struggle to accept God is not bad. But we also struggle to accept that we are not good.

Job struggled too. He brought out his mental arithmetic book, and on one side he counted his goodness which was almost full. On the other side he counted God’s goodness which was perfect. But his equation did not add up. Else why was he suffering when he had so much good to his credit?

The unspoken question of Job was what had he done to deserve this? And so we read, “but the LORD had shut up her womb.” And being human, we ask, “What had Hannah done to deserve this?”

God’s Will versus Human Will

We read, “ Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev 4:11).  

And immediately we feel that is not an easy thing to accept. Our natural self-love rejects it. But take heart, for even men of great stature like Paul struggled too!

“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Rom 9:14-15).  

“Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” (Rom 9:19-21).  

So God acts for his own glory in everything that happens. He raised up Pharaoh, and he raised up Moses. He raised up the blind man for his glory. We struggle to accept God created Satan. But that throws us back to our struggle not to accept God is bad! (Ecc 3:11).

But all the saints of the Bible were sorely tried but they never lost their faith. Will you now because you struggle?

And here again Paul throws in his wonderful exhortation: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:35-39). 

Self as a Stumbling block to Knowing the Will of God

Love for self is the chief stumbling block to knowing the will of God. Because it is very hard to accept something painful as being God’s will.

“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me” cried David. He did not cry that because he saw anything good in himself. Rather it staggered him that God knew so much about him (more than David knew about himself)! That is what one feels in the presence of God. He feels naked. He feels crushed. He feels small.

We can’t know our true self unless God reveals that to us. As the prophet wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jer 17:9-10).  

But the Bible encourages us to wait on God. It does not give a time limit. It can be one day, or four, or ninety years. I believe that is the attitude we should carry with us to bed every night until all our tomorrows are subsumed into eternity.

Moreover we are commanded to be strong, to have courage, and to hope continually. For it is by loving God’s commandments as they are that we begin to walk on the road to heaven. It is by cherishing him and him alone that our iron chains are broken.  

But Jesus taught us to pray for God’s will to be done. That makes his will supreme. Suffering may bring the better side of us, or the worst. I pray that it will end in your salvation as it did to the psalmist: “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” (Psa 119:67,71).  

Hannah’s Victory Came at Last

Hannah was barren. Peninah made her life hell. She wept. She was angry. She was bitter. She tried to pray but only a whisper escaped her mouth. But God heard it. And he picked it up. He gave her a new song. “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation” (1Sa 2:1).  

I believe God has a song for you too in the making. Just don’t allow anger and bitterness to overwhelm you.

Hannah had spent her voice until only a whisper stayed. Let your anger be spent. Let your bitterness begin to thaw. And then let a new song begin to form in you even though now it is only a whisper.

Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? Job 11:7

For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. Lam 3:33  

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. Heb 2:18  

 

Bible Women: Ruth’s Undying Loyalty

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. Rth 1:16-17  

For Better, For Worse

The story of Ruth is our own story. It speaks of every thought which came to the mind but halted. It speaks of every journey we started but returned.

She had every reason to return. Her husband had died. She had no children with him. She was young, and she was in her own country and her own people. But Ruth declined. She chose instead to follow this misery laden old woman from another country and another God.

This was the argument of Naomi to her daughters in law. Orpah saw it and returned. But Ruth refused.

Trusting in the Providence of God

Ruth swears by Naomi’s God. She had married from his people. She had tasted him and found him to be good. The Lord gave and the Lord had taken away. And would she now desert him and his people?

They returned at the beginning of the barley harvest. And she said ‘Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace.’

And the grace of God brought her to the field of Boaz. He was ‘a mighty man of wealth.’ Love had been busy preparing a place for the beloved.

And from that stage both Boaz and Ruth become smitten with that love. It shines her rays through their uneven days. The tempo is raised, and the speech is hurried. And love says it is now and if it is not now it is never.

It is a fire which infects Naomi. Love will change the color of a room even at night. ‘And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen’ (Rth 2:20).  

The Science of the Heart

Men can be as hard as steel. But men can also be very weak. Our grandmothers knew that. God had blessed them with the science of the heart. And Naomi was an old hand. When a woman lies at the feet of a man his heart dies completely.

Naomi’s advice to Ruth worked magic. ‘And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman’ (Rth 3:8-9).  

That is how scary a woman’s determination can get! But if we are taught of God in all things we shall also know what we shall do in all things.  

The old hand continued. ‘Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day’ (Rth 3:18).  

Boaz was an old man, God fearing and upright. He allowed her to sleep at his feet until early morning when she left. After that he did not rest.

Ladies, some days men will only act after being jolted! Guys, if you have been jolted please act fast!

And God was busy at work to bring everything to pass ‘after the counsel of his own will.’ Can you feel him working something like that in your own life right now?

Joy Comes in the Morning

Boaz, fired up, moves like lightning. ‘Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down’ (Rth 4:1-2). 

So Boaz becomes the next of kinsman who redeems both the land and Ruth the wife of Mahlon (‘to raise up the name of the dead’) after the next of kinsman declines. ‘So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel’ (Rth 4:13-14).  

At the beginning Naomi saw nothing but darkness. But it did not endure forever. Morning came at last – and with it a lot of joy!

And Ruth’s reward was the beginning of a glorious event which is the great news of the whole world up to this day. ‘And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David’ (Rth 4:17). 

And Jesus Christ is ‘the son of David.’

So at last we learn that mothers and daughters in law can actually come from heaven. And Ruth’s story is also a homage to our mothers and sisters, for many times (by God's grace) they have proved better ‘than seven sons.’

But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Deu 7:8  

For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. Isa 54:5  

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Tit 2:14