Heavenly Father, we humbly approach your throne, acknowledging you as the one true God who spoke to heaven and earth into existence. I pray that you bless this message, bless this ministry, open up the eyes and ears of your elect. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 25 for the reading of the scripture. That's 1 Samuel chapter 25. And Samuel died and all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Tyre. And there was a man named Mahon whose possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very great and he had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and of beautiful countenance. But the man was curlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the house of Caleb, shady character. This guy's a shady character. Uh-oh, not good. 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 you 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 shearest Now thy shepherds which were with us, we heard them not, neither was there art missing unto them. All the while they were in Carmel. Ask the young men, and they who show thee. Wherefore let the young men find favor in thy eyes, for we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand, unto the service unto thy son of David. And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David and ceased. And Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Thereby many servants nowadays that break away from every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shares and give it unto men whom I know not? Whence that be? Uh-oh, not good. So we see David has a problem. Okay, here's the problem. David has a war machine. He has many, many men that he has to feed to keep them in tip-top shape in the event they have to do battle. He's trying a diplomatic approach to go to this guy, Nabil, and get food for his men. So he tried it the diplomatic way. He sent his men to them and he instructed them to wish peace upon his household and all that he owns in a very respectful diplomatic manner. Now, then Bell responded, basically, what of it? What do I care about who David is and who this guy is? And he might've broke away from his master and so on and so on and so forth. And we know from the very beginning, this guy is a shady character because the word of God said he was evil and shady in his doings. So now let's see how David gonna respond to this situation. So David's young men turned their way and went again and came and told them all those sayings. And David said unto his men, grid ye on every man his sword. And they gridded on every man his sword, and David also gridded on his sword. And there went up after David about 400 men and 200 a boy by staff. But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabil's wife, saying, behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he reiled on them. But the men were very good unto us and were not hurt, neither missed we anything as long as we were conservant. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything as long as we were conversant with them when we were in the flocks. They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master and against all his household, for he is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him. Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisin, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. And she said unto her servant, go on before me, behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. And it was so as she rolled on the sea, on the ass. And it was so as she rolled on the ass that she came down by the covered of the hill and behold, David and his men came down against her and she met them. Now, it's good that Abigail responded the way she did because David, tried the diplomatic approach, and he didn't get anywhere. And David's in one of those situations where he's got to feed the war machine. And he came to Navajo very respectful. And Navajo basically kicked him to the curb. So David, in response, told his men, put your swords on. We're going to go down here, and we're going to get us some food. Now, it's good for Nabal that his servant told his wife, because it wouldn't have ended well for Nabal if David showed up with his men and his swords, and they was about to go down there, and there was going to be some bloodshed. So his wife, Abigail, being smart and intelligent, because the word of God says she was smart and intelligent, she probably understood what was coming next. That's the reason why she did what she did. Here we go. And it was so as she rode on the acid, she came down by the cupboard and on the hill, behold, David and his men came down against her and she met them. Now David has said, surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness. so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him. And he hath required me evil for good. So and more also do God unto the enemies of David if I leave all that pertained to him by the morning light, any that pisses against the wall. And when Abigail saw David, she hastened and lightened off the acid, fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. and fell at his feet and said, upon me, my Lord. Upon me, let this iniquity be, and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thy handmaid. Let not my Lord, I pray, be regarded this manner by Leal, even Nabal, for as his name is so is he. Nabal is his name, and Iphali is with him. But I, thy handmaid, saw not the young man of my Lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my Lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seest the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thy own hand. Now let thy enemies and thy that seek evil to my Lord be as Nibel. And now this blessing which God has made has brought unto my Lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my Lord. I pray thee, forgive thy trespass of thy handmaid, for the Lord will certainly make the Lord a sure house because my Lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil has not been found in thee all the day. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy soul, but the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life, with the Lord thy God and the souls of thy enemies, them shall be slain out of the middle of the slain. And it shall come to pass when the Lord shall have done to my Lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed the ruler over Israel, that thou shalt be no grief unto thee, nor offense of heart unto my Lord, either that thou has shed blood costlessly, or that my Lord has avenged himself, but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord, remember thy handmaid." Wow, that's a lot. Let's break all this down. Abigail recognized that David is a servant of the Lord. And apparently the word has gotten out that David is being pursued by Saul. or has been pursued by Saul. Because we can tell based on what she said to David, that she was aware of the situation. And she was also aware of the fact that the Lord was with David. Now, Abigail came as intercession for her husband, knowing that David and his men were about to perform some serious bloodshed on the whole entire clan of Nabal. And that wouldn't have ended well. So let's see how David responds to Abigail and see how this is going to turn out. And David said to Abigail, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me. And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which has kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself. And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which has kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with my own hand. For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which has kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hast hasted and come to meet me. Surely there had not been left. Unto Nabal by the morning light, any that pisses against the wall. So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up, and peace to thine house. See, I have hearkened to thy voice and have accepted thy person. And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of kings. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken, and wherefore she told him nothing less or more until the morning light. But it came to pass in the morning, and the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart dried, died within him and he became as a stone. And it came to pass about 10 days after that the Lord smote Nabal that he died. Hmm, how about that? The Lord took vengeance on him for being a wicked human being. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, blessed be the Lord that has blessed. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, blessed be the Lord that has pleaded the cause of my reforge from the hand of Nabal, and has kept his servant from evil. For the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own hand. And David sent and communed with Abigail to take her to him to wife. And when the servants of David were come to Abigail, to Carmel, they spoke unto her, saying david sent us unto thee to take thee to him to wife and she arose and bowed herself to her face to the earth and said behold let thy hand may be a servant to wash the feet of the servant of my lord and abigail hastened and arose and rolled up on her ass with five dazmels and hers that went after her and she went after the messengers of david and became his wife david also took Ahen'oam, Jezreel, and they were also both them his wives. But Saul has given Miguel, his daughter, David's wife, to Thalti, the son of Laish, which was of Galilamba. Oh, well, that's a lot. That's a whole lot. Let's break some of this stuff down. Let's see if we can break it down. You see, David has found a wife, but during the process of David finding a wife, and I believe this was an arrangement by God, that when David presented himself in a diplomatic way to a wicked and evil ruler, the wicked and evil ruler chose not to be merciful and chose not to share his wealth with David who was in need. Fortunately for Nabel at the time that his wife was informed of the situation and she understood what was coming next. Abigail, very intelligent, smart woman. So she met David at some point between point A and B and prevented him from coming into the camp and shedding blood because he had every intention to wipe out the whole entire clan. David, being an intelligent man, listened to the words of Abigail and she knew he was a man of God. Now, when Nabal's service sobered up, his heart turned cold and 10 days later, God struck him down. When David found out about it, he decided to take Abigail as his wife. So we see the providence of God working out here. David got what he wanted, food for his troops, plus a wife, and God got rid of the evil wicked ruler. So the moral of this story is this, if you have wealth, it is Good that you do the right thing with your wealth and help others who are in need. You can be a blessing to others with your wealth. And it's also good that if you have the ability to intervene in a situation before something terrible happens, you should do that. Because Abigail saw what was coming next and she took it upon herself to intervene in the situation to keep something terrible from happening to her husband and the entire clan. And David responded to that intervention that she performed in a merciful manner, which is a good thing because he realized that she prevented him from shedding blood. So at the end of the day, David got a wife, he got food for his troops, and the providence of God works out as usual. God does provide. So we've concluded this chapter. And as I always say, stay in the Word of God, continue to pray, and remember, Jesus is Lord. Amen, amen, amen.