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Beauty, Brains, and a Blessing - The Word About Women

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Getting Started...

The Ministry of Motherhood

  • Feb 25, 2021

The Ministry of Motherhood

Women’s Work

  • Feb 23, 2021

Women’s Work

The Truth About Mary Magdalene

  • Feb 18, 2021

The Truth About Mary Magdalene

The Good News Girls

  • Feb 16, 2021

The Good News Girls

Compassion for Women

  • Feb 11, 2021

Compassion for Women

Distracted with Much Serving

  • Feb 9, 2021

Distracted with Much Serving

No Throwing Stones

  • Feb 4, 2021

No Throwing Stones

She Was a Sinner

  • Feb 2, 2021

She Was a Sinner

The Eternal Thirst Quencher

  • Jan 28, 2021

The Eternal Thirst Quencher

The Laws of Love

  • Jan 26, 2021

The Laws of Love

Follow Him

  • Jan 21, 2021

Follow Him

Daughter, Your Faith Has Healed You

  • Jan 19, 2021

Daughter, Your Faith Has Healed You

In His Service

  • Jan 14, 2021

In His Service

Share in Their Joy

  • Jan 12, 2021

Share in Their Joy

Highly Favored One

  • Jan 7, 2021

Highly Favored One

The Value of a Woman

  • Jan 5, 2021

The Value of a Woman

See You in 2021

  • Nov 20, 2020

See You in 2021

In God’s Hands

  • Nov 19, 2020

In God’s Hands

A Disposable Woman?

  • Nov 17, 2020

A Disposable Woman?

A Bearer of Bad News

  • Nov 12, 2020

A Bearer of Bad News

A Wicked Queen Mother vs A Godly Princess

  • Nov 10, 2020

A Wicked Queen Mother vs A Godly Princess

A Heart for Hospitality

  • Nov 6, 2020

A Heart for Hospitality

The Willing Widow

  • Nov 4, 2020

The Willing Widow

A Wretched Woman

  • Nov 2, 2020

A Wretched Woman

Wicked Women

  • Oct 30, 2020

Wicked Women

Missed Opportunity

  • Oct 28, 2020

Missed Opportunity

How To Spot A Mother

  • Oct 26, 2020

How To Spot A Mother

A Wicked Thing

  • Oct 23, 2020

A Wicked Thing

Grace in the Genealogy

  • Oct 21, 2020

Grace in the Genealogy

Victim or Adulteress?

  • Oct 19, 2020

Victim or Adulteress?

A Relationship Ruined By Resentment

  • Oct 16, 2020

A Relationship Ruined By Resentment

Beauty, Brains, and a Blessing

  • Oct 14, 2020

Beauty, Brains, and a Blessing

Giving Back To God

  • Oct 12, 2020

Giving Back To God

Crimes Against Women

  • Oct 9, 2020

Crimes Against Women

When Women Are His Weakness

  • Oct 7, 2020

When Women Are His Weakness

Raising A Leader

  • Oct 5, 2020

Raising A Leader

A Redeemer

  • Oct 2, 2020

A Redeemer

A Dedicated Daughter-in-Law

  • Sep 30, 2020

A Dedicated Daughter-in-Law

A Woman With a Weapon

  • Sep 28, 2020

A Woman With a Weapon

The Leader of a Nation

  • Sep 25, 2020

The Leader of a Nation

The Faith of an Outsider

  • Sep 23, 2020

The Faith of an Outsider

The Daughters of Zelophehad

  • Sep 21, 2020

The Daughters of Zelophehad

The Prophetess

  • Sep 18, 2020

The Prophetess

A River Rescue

  • Sep 16, 2020

A River Rescue

The Temptress

  • Sep 14, 2020

The Temptress

The Double Standard

  • Sep 11, 2020

The Double Standard

A Daughter Defiled

  • Sep 9, 2020

A Daughter Defiled

Stolen Statues

  • Sep 7, 2020

Stolen Statues

The Unloved Wife

  • Sep 4, 2020

The Unloved Wife

A Meddling Matriarch

  • Sep 2, 2020

A Meddling Matriarch

Beyond Redemption?

  • Aug 31, 2020

Beyond Redemption?

A Salty Warning

  • Aug 28, 2020

A Salty Warning

Oppressed Yet Blessed

  • Aug 26, 2020

Oppressed Yet Blessed

The Mother of a Nation

  • Aug 24, 2020

The Mother of a Nation

The God Who Sees

  • Aug 21, 2020

The God Who Sees

Beautiful but Barren

  • Aug 19, 2020

Beautiful but Barren

Past Messages
BTBAplatform+ShannonLenz
ShannonOct 14, 2020 1:00 pm GMT

Beauty, Brains, and a Blessing

David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgement for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”

1 Samuel 25:32-34

For context, read 1 Samuel 25

There once was an intelligent and beautiful woman who was married to a fool. In fact, her husband’s name actually meant “fool”. Meet Abigail and Nabal.

Now, David had 600 men in the wilderness who had helped guard and protect Nabal’s flocks and shepherds. Nabal was rich. 1 Samuel 25:2 says that he had 1,000 goats and 3,000 sheep. But he was not generous and he was certainly not kind. When David understandably asked Nabal to show him and his men hospitality in return for the security David had provided for him, Nabal insulted them and refused to provide anything for David and his men despite his abundant wealth. Nabal was selfish and rude.

It made David angry. So angry that he rallied his troops and set out to slaughter all of Nabal’s men. Now, a servant had told Abigail what had happened and thankfully, she was much wiser than her husband. She thought on her feet and quickly gathered generous provisions for David and his men. She rode out to meet David herself and issued a sincere apology for her husband’s insolent behavior.

A few things stand out in Abigail’s apology. First, she made no excuses for his behavior. She called him what he was-a fool. Second, she gave the LORD credit, instead of herself, for keeping David from avenging himself. If David had acted impulsively out of revenge, he would have been guilty of shedding innocent blood. Nabal’s actions were foolish, selfish, and rude but they weren’t criminal. Abigail wisely intervenes in order to prevent her household from being slaughtered but also points out to David that God had rescued him from his own potential folly. Third, Abigail must have been a woman of great faith. She reminded David of the promises that God had made to him. She reminded him that he would be a lasting dynasty and that God would bring him success and would protect him. Finally, Abigail makes one request for herself. She asked him that when, not if, the LORD grants David success, that he would remember her.

David wisely listened to her. He even praised God for her intervention and “good judgement” or else he would have murdered Nabal’s men in his hasty anger.

When Abigail returned home, she noticed that Nabal was drunk. Further exercising good judgement, she refrains from telling Nabal about her encounter with David until he is sober. When she does tell him, he suffers from a stroke and dies 10 days later. When David heard that Nabal died, he remembered her one request. He didn’t just remember her and offer to take care of her. He asked her to be his wife!

The WORD about women in the story of Abigail shows how God can use godly women to offer wise counsel to the men in their lives. It is obvious that Abigail was walking closely with the LORD and that it was He who granted her the wisdom to successfully negotiate peace, protect her household, offer encouragement to the future king, and secure herself future provision. Abigail wasn’t just beautiful, she was smart because she sought the LORD’s wisdom. And when she put her intelligence into action, she was a blessing to those around her.

Reflect
How can you be an “Abigail” to the men in your life? How can you be prepared to be a woman capable of offering wise counsel and a cool head in tense situations?

Pray
Lord, I want to be a woman of wisdom like Abigail. Give me the wisdom I need to be a peacemaker and a blessing. Amen.

We look forward to your comments and questions below!

If you want to share this Bible reading plan with friends and family, here is the link:
https://bttb.org/word-about-women
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S
Sue
a year ago
This passage gives you hope.
Not only was David lashing out in anger, you see the human side of man in general. i.e. people behaving baldly or rashly....as we can do...the interlude got under David's skin.

If Abigail didn't do anything, she would be effected also....

It's encouraging to see a woman who applied Godly wisdom and thus brought peace to the "whole" situation....she was courageous.
She also spoke up to interject to resolve a conflict her husband had made.
How often as women do we do that on behalf of our husbands who fly off the handle?

This encourages me to not excuse their behaviour, but as a Godly wife to interject Gods wisdom into the situation to bring PEACE.
It just puts a different perspective on it all.👍
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J
Judith
2 years ago
I loved reading this today. I need to be a peacemaker.
1
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Stacyantonio7
Stacy-An
3 years ago
Lord help me to be a peacemaker.
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