Abigail - Episode 5: An Eternal Perspective

do you ever play the if only game I do if only I had more hours in the day if only I had a different job only she wasn't so needy only I had more friends if only I had different friends if only he understood me we can play that if only game forever will always be tempted to think that if only something changes or if only everything changes our lives will be better welcome back to the women of the Bible podcast I'm Erin Davis and I'll be your host in each episode I'll gather some wise friends around the table and we'll see how the life of Abigail teaches us to deal with the difficult people in our lives in Scripture we see clearly that Abigail was wise she was discerning she was a woman of faith but perhaps she played that if only game two if only her husband wasn't so harsh and difficult to deal with if only he was kind and gracious like she was in this episode we'll see Abigail's life take a dramatic twist some of her if onlys are answered but ultimately what Abigail story shows us is that we can have hope if only a trust is in God [Music] [Music] welcome back to the women of the Bible podcast I'm Erin Davis I hope you've been following along with us as we've been walking through the study Abigail Abigail story is found in a single chapter of the Bible she's a hidden gem that maybe you've known before maybe you haven't but we love her we all want to be Abigail at the end of this discussion and I'm gathered with some friends of mine you've gotten to know them already through this podcast but I'll let them reintroduce themselves and I want you to tell us what does it look like for you to open God's Word with women in your own life well my name is Keisha Griffin and I actually love love love getting together with the ladies of my church and we normally get together once a month for our women's fellowship and what we do is I usually come with the lesson and it's very open discussion I present the information present the topics and the ladies just chime in and it's just so good to hear everyone's perspective yeah so we're learning from each other yeah we're learning from each other we're hearing how it applies in our lives from a different perspective getting women to talk never a challenge no but I love using the Bible and using that as our guide and opening the conversation exactly I love it meg what's it introduce yourself to them and what does it look like for you to open God's Word with other women yeah well typically I mean I love a good coffee shop conversation but this year it's actually looked a little different for me and I've really loved this tool so this is hopefully a good resource I've been using the Bible recap podcast that was created this year it was released and it's a chronological Bible reading each day there's posted a new episode it's 15 minutes long and it's a recap of what you read that day in Scripture and I've loved this because at the beginning of the year I was able to gang up with a bunch of different women hey are you gonna do the podcast let's do the podcast together and it's been really helpful for accountability for me to do the consistent daily reading because I know that those ladies are gonna be checking up on me did you hear today's episode it's you know I can listen to the recap on my way to work after I've read the scripture that morning that's been a really helpful tool this year for them I have a group of friends that were all in the same season of life I believe the season of life is officially called crazy where we have small children at home we have children in school we're doing a lot of running and so as often as possible we get together in person but to mitigate just sort of the season of life were and we text each other every morning yeah and what did you read in Scripture and there's not you know there's not a lot of in-depth analysis there unless sometimes it's like wow look at this thing that I saw or I feel convicted by this or pray about me for this but there's just that daily drip of accountability in our lives that you know somebody is gonna ask did you read your Bible today and it's a real motivator because I think all of us have the temptation to or at least I do prioritize the to-do list and think I will get to reading my Bible at some point at some point never comes so the women of the Bible podcast is women sitting around talking about the Word of God we have made it all the way to session number five unbelievably and let's just do a quick recap the players in this chapter of Scripture are David Meg remind us what where is David in his lifespan when we meet him here we find David in this place of grief samuel has just died he's been Samuel has been a mentor a leader a guide for David a covering really Saul's out to get him Samuel dies David is grieving makes this simple request you know to come over and to share in what Nabal has this wealthy man and he's met with this rude just cuts him off insults him belittles em and David's response is strap on your soul that's right he says every man which is really what I do when somebody's rude to me [Laughter] David and 400 men yeah are on their way too heavy strong conversations nice table because he's rude he's disrespectful yeah he's insensitive yeah and the human heroine of our story is Abigail and what does Abigail Duke he should remind us so she actually once she hears of David's plan she decides to prepare a feast hmm for David and all of his men and she approaches David and pleads with David reminds him actually of who he is and who God has called him to be and will you please basically have mercy don't do this you don't want guilt on your hand you're a man of God you're about to be king and so she comes to him humbly yet not passively yeah you know and she's just like let don't do this please mm-hmm there there's another way let God handle my foolish wicked husband able and David responds I mean he turns he realizes because of that reminder that you are the Lord's anointed Abigail says lower-case Lord many times and referring to David which is a statement of honor yeah humility but she says capital L Lord many many times you are the Lord's this is the Lord's battle and he turns and so we see in her the scripture describes her as discerning and beautiful we see that discernment we can't see a picture of her but we know that she has inner beauty and we don't ever see in the text abigail praying for Nia so notice so we'll have to go a little bit off script but what we're gonna talk about in this episode is how can we pray for the difficult people yes our lives because we all have nabel's yeah there is that woman listening who it's her husband and much like navel he's harsh he's rude one of the servants described navel is you can't say a thing to that man he won't listen he's bristly yeah and so for some women listening it's her husband yeah it might be the boss it might be a friend it might be a sister-in-law it might be a neighbor we all have an able and we'll talk later about how we might be the napal to somebody else but how can maybe we won't make it but how can we pray for the difficult people in our lives Keisha can you read us Matthew 5:44 but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you and who's talking in that passage is Jesus direct from the mouth of the Savior and he is giving us advice and one in the first episode we talked about hermeneutics which is how we interpret Scripture that's the fancy word for that and one of the laws of hermeneutics is we interpret it literally unless we have a reason to interpret it figuratively so if Jesus says love your neighbors love your enemies he means and when Jesus says pray for those who persecute you pray it means pray for those who persecute you I mean you don't have to get out your Old Testament and your old a New Testament guides you don't have to study Greek and Hebrew up well in the original language pray for those who persecute you means pray for those feel like sure maybe once or twice love them right then pray for them love them and pray for them it really is a biblical mandate yes that separates us from the world because in contrast think about our very noisy very rowdy culture yeah what yeah thinking even now this week as we're recording this podcast there's been some laws handed down and people are up in arms and what I don't see is love your enemy on this issue and pray for them what do we see instead in the broader culture when people disagree instead of prayer and love well you have to pay them back you know you have to take vengeance on your own you know in your own use you don't have to forgive you know you can cut them off you never have to speak to them again and what I'm actually through this study realized I realize how much we contribute an enemy to someone who's actually just a sinner yes like we're so quick to call everyone enemies yeah just because we have a disagreement doesn't mean work enemy sure right and so I think if i even got convicted a little bit because i'm like i'm not dealing with nabel's right I'm not dealing with nabel's why am i treating this person as an Abel hmm that's my strap it on my sword now why am i reacting this way this person is not enable they're not foolish they're not an unbeliever this is a godly person they're sitting there sinner and broken and so where my where's my compassion for them break verses treating them you know like an actual enemy I think we do that far too much that's right we do that in our homes I think you can think that man is my enemy that child is my any more queens of escalation she goes from here to here yeah yeah I see a lot of social media anger yeah that's how he responded you know we have this platform we have this voice dogon we're gonna use it yeah do you think we'll do that in person oh no I think we say much more on social media than we would say in person I think it's easier when there's a screen between you yeah that happened just this week Megan I attend the same church and a member of our church got angry and another member of our church and posted it including names oh and I just I don't I came to my attention tonight just my stomach hurt yeah because this is not who we are it's that reminder of Abigail and our pastor very swiftly intervened and called the poster and said this we are a family right and this is not how we act it's in the family and I was I'm so proud of our pastor but it was like you know instead pray for that person and maybe maybe that wasn't true persecution it wasn't true persecution there was annoyance right but if that poster had stopped to pray there would have been a different outcome instead of this very ugly public showing in the body not only to herself I did but to your church who did and then ultimately to Christ because people are watching and she repented but it was we see that in David and a previous chapter where it talks about self-control and David's need for self-control and his reaction well we see him call out as hundreds of men strap on your swords and what happens he goes and Abigail calls him out you know and says hey this isn't this isn't what we're gonna do this is not this is not for your handling this is God's situation exactly and in front of all those men you know he has to Humble himself and say that you're right yeah yeah yeah yeah and we know that David was a man of Prayer I mean he know the bulk of the Psalms yeah he speaks the language of prayers fluently but did he pause did he decide to walk the way of truth and pray for either the Lord to work in his own heart or enables heart based on actions I wonder yeah seems because you read previously what was going on with him with Saul he probably felt like I've already done I've done it with Saul I'm not doing it with you yeah you know yeah like I've been bear you know gracious what's all I could've took his head off but I decided not to but with you navel I'm at my wit's end I've had it I've had it sometimes we feel we go grace to this person okay yeah yeah enjoy mentioned in a previous episode that a lot of times we try to shift the external factor like Oh read this book listen to this would you have lunch with this person I think the question I would ask to those who are walking through this study and listening to this podcast and there's an able in their mind have you prayed for the Nabal have you prayed for that difficult person in your life or are you listening to this podcast walking through this Bible study hoping that we're gonna give you a little tool or a little tool and you're about to go fix your table instead have you prayed so what do we pray when somebody is difficult in our lives how do we pray they give you some kind of categories of Prayer this is not an exhaustive list prayer is a spirit-filled activity so it's not a checklist but these are some parameters and biblical ways to think about it we can pray for judgment there Psalms called the imprecatory psalms and the imprecatory psalms are those that call for God to pour out his judgment on the psalmist enemies now David wrote most of the Psalms and if I ever have a question whether David wrote it or not I can usually tell if it's an imprecatory song because David will be going along like praising the Lord O Lord and slaughter my enemies Lord so there's a complete list of the imprecatory psalms in the Bible study but I would love meg could you read a psalm 10 1 through 12 this is an imprecatory psalms by david and again it's not a script but i think it gives us an idea of how can ask the Lord to judge those who are difficult their lives and sometimes it's helpful to just pray the Psalms to someone that you're pointing us to that because it can be really hard to pray those prayers really enables sure and I love praying the scripture yes in those situations okay so 10 1 through 12 why Lord do you stand far off why do you hide yourself in times of trouble in his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak who are caught in the schemes he devises he boasts about the cravings of his heart he blesses the greedy and reveals the Lord in his pride the wicked man does not seek him in all his thoughts there is no room for God his ways are always prosperous your laws are rejected by him he sneers at all his enemies he says to himself nothing will ever shake me he swears no one will ever do harm his mouth is full of lies and threats trouble and evil are under his tongue he lies in wait near the villages from ambush he murders the innocent his eyes watch in secret for his victims like a lion in cover he lies in wait he lies in wait to catch the helpless he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net his victims are crushed they collapsed they fall under his strength he says to himself God will never notice he covers his face and never sees a rise Lord lift up your hand Oh God do not forget the hopeless there's some there's some venting happening there yeah and I gotta think that that is based on a person that's not just some that's true specific it's very specific was it Saul was it Mabel was it some other enemy of David we don't know but he's listing these are the reasons why this man is an enemy of mine or why I'm offended and then Lord take care of them yeah right and so there are these prayers where David is saying move God avenge me avenge your name judge this person and I'm wondering if you can think of any circumstances practically we aren't Kings who have enemies coming against our nation but practical situations where those kinds of avenged judge move prayers are appropriate in our lives we were just talking about this a little bit yesterday actually Keisha and I and we were talking about I mean just heavy heavy stuff we were talking about you know child abusers and pedophiles and stuff that you can't even don't want to begin to wrap your mind around because our brains just aren't meant to handle it and just evil and dark and in those situations we were talking about even how the church can sometimes give grace in the wrong scenarios and give grace to the wrong people you know we can sometimes there on the end of just accepting and loving and there are times and there are situations when when we should be praying for for judgments and justice yeah exactly we did we did speak pretty detailed about all right because I did you know we were talking about my my own sexual abuse past and although at the time I didn't pray for you know justice because I was so young you know and you want yet walking with the Lord I wasn't so it happened you know at the age between 9 and 15 those years so I wasn't thinking about justice but coming out of it and and as I you know grow in Christ and you do want to see justice for those who are the helpless and the needy you know the oppressed you do want justice and you do want the Lord to stop wicked the wicked and to you know avenge so I understand that prayer I understand that prayer but at the same time I also understand the the Matthew 5:44 to love your enemies because ultimately that's what Christ did for that's right but there is a time I think there is a time to pray righteously for judgment now the question is is my heart in the plush the right posture to pray this price good yea and that's where it gets a little fuzzy and asking for the Lord's judgment is not contrary to being loving no you know judgment ultimately the purpose of the Lord judgment is to bring us to repentance and so those verses might sound in contradiction or right are we just supposed to give warm fuzzies to terrorists and pedophiles were you supposed to love them right no sadly some think that which is what we were talking about pedophiles and perpetrators you know that you know like we're not loving them enough so that's what you're alluding to well there's a time for righteous anger in judgment yeah right and there's a parenting picture there I mean the purpose of our families is to reveal these mysteries of God right and for me to never judge the behaviors of my children we're never disciplined the behaviors is not children is not love I mean God disciplines those who he loved he does his children right and on a smaller scale than the kind of bigger pictures we're talking about I pray for my children send to be exposed I have four sons and if there is sin in their lives I want the Lord to expose it and their little I can think of a situation with Eli he came home from preschool and he's just acting funny and my discernment flares went up and I thought what's going on and I pressed I says buddy is there something you need to tell mommy and he just continued to act funny and finally I said buddy something isn't right I need you to tell mommy what's going on and he had stolen some seashells for his preschool class and you know we came out with a lot of Tears we immediately marched back to the preschool had to face miss Amanda the seashells and it was all pretty benign in hindsight but the Lord exposed sin in my boys life and so to ask the Lord to judge my boys is a loving kind of prayer and so when we face difficult people to ask the Lord to bring judgment yeah we can pray for their salvation yeah but is it possible that the Lord will use judgment to turn their hearts so again the goal of judgment is a is a turning it's the Lord's kindness that brings us to repentance but also sometimes his judgment so Meaghan ice pastor tells us not to pray get him God prayers not to just pray that they would be you know struck down by lightning or whatever so it's a heart issue the prayer is not just get them God it's not avenge me so much as is exposed this is another way we can pray is for reconciliation yeah God is a God of radical reconciliation and quisha I know that you had a pretty radical reconciliation with your own father I'd love you just give it to us in a nutshell you were estranged from your dad and the Lord did a work of reconciliation yes he did though the reconciliation came about once I had a forgiving heart so once I was healed from my hurt and pain and brokenness from the abandonment of my father and the you know him being estranged and all of these things once I forgave I pursued reconciliation it was just it was just a natural outflow of my forgiving heart so I actually pursued the relationship he always wanted the relationship it was my unforgiveness and bitterness and anger that prevented us from having a relationship so reconciliation came from my forgiveness I was able to pursue that relationship and try to mend our relationship back together I love that part of your story you can actually watch a video about it at revive our hearts calm but God gets so much glory from that story of reconciling and that's not how this story ends but let's let's choose our own adventure a little bit you remember those choose your own adventure books and if instead of naval dying if naval had had a change of heart repented yeah gone to david and said i sinned against you and against the lord and there was this brotherhood moment ending god's glorified in this story either way but god is glorified through reconciliation on i'm thinking of an able in my own life she's a member of my family she doesn't like me she doesn't like me for a long time there's a lot of tension there there's been a lot of tension there for a long time and when i tried to kind of vent all that to the lord it always comes back to that love your enemy yeah i pray for those who persecute you persecute you and I'm always thinking a lot have I prayed for her and is my heart open to reconciliation and it's a constant check because a lot of times I think no I'd rather her heart turn to a stone within her like navel and but I think the Lord wants me to be open to reconciliation and to pray pray for it pray for it so for the navels in your life are you praying for reconciliation as your heart open to it and pray for opportunities to give God glory I we're still talking about this story yes many many many many many many years after it happened because it's so much bigger than one rude man I mean if every man yeah gotten a passage in the Bible so it's so much bigger than one rude man so here's a broad question I'm interested in your thoughts how can God be glorified through our interactions with difficult people well I think um just using my father as an example once we reconciled we started hanging out more you know for the first time I went to a father's darters lunch just and I that has never had a mazing he started to come to our church our church started to show him love he started to feel love from God through the people of God in our church and then ultimately he's starting to see God differently yeah he's started to see us Christians differently he's starting to see what it's like to actually have the love of God poured out on you and so I think God is glorified not only that those in my church are able to witness the reconciliation they know my story they know where we were before they see us now they're able to glorify God in that and give them hope that you know if they're dealing with the neighbor or just someone who they may have a broken relationship with that God can restore and then reconcile as well so I think you hope yeah can you think of any other ways make that difficult people can't give us an opportunity to give God glory yeah I'm thinking back to Keisha's comment and that we can be really quick to call them our enemies and sometimes it's living with broken difficult people within our church family within our immediate family you know whatever it might be and I think among believers we're still very broken you sinful people and I think of the scripture we sharpen each other like an iron sharpens iron and that picture is not you know we sharpen each other like daisies and rainbows I mean it's iron on iron sometimes they're sparks there's you know a hot there's a hot flame underneath it there's sparks going off it's not always a pretty cushy picture yeah but that refining process we sharpen each other like steel on steel for that sanctification process to become more like Jesus yeah yeah yeah Nancy no mas welcome with is always reminding us that anything that causes us to need God is a good thing yeah Spurgeon said it this way anything is a blessing which causes us to pray and so if it is the difficult person in your life we often refer to that passage where Paul is praying for the thorn in his flesh to be removed yeah there's a reason why scripture doesn't tell us what that corn can be anything that's me too me too cuz the thorn could have been a physical ailment a physical handicap but the thorn could have been enable it could have been a relational situation that Paul was saying get me out of this get this table out of my life yep and he prayed and he prayed he prayed and the thorn remained yes and ultimately Paul could go thank you Jesus for this thing that reminds me how much I need you and so we can have God glory by say saying we need you I pray like that all the time I will say Lord I need you so much and I know it now yeah I had a moment of self sufficiency I had a moment of thinking I was in control but whatever this is I know it now and ultimately that's great so I think we can give God glory and as you think about the difficult people in your life one way to pray is God use this as an opportunity for me to give you glory yes [Music] [Music]

Channel: Revive Our Hearts

Views: 9,546

Rating: 4.8743458 out of 5

Keywords: Revive Our Hearts, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, women's ministry, ministry, Abigail

Id: _YQTtOlhmKI

Length: 31min 4sec (1864 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 03 2020