Winner, winner chicken dinner!
Victory is sweet, isn't it? As Wide World of Sports told us every Saturday there is "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." I doubt that any of us revel in a loss. We always want our team to be on the winning side. But, sometimes winning can be defeating.
This year in the NCAA basketball tournament the Kentucky Wildcats came into the tourney undefeated. Many prognosticators and predictors picked them as the eventual winners. Many of those filling out brackets picked them to win. I mean, how could they lose! They were undefeated. But, yesterday's victory is no guarantee of today's victory. Each game is played individually. And, each day is lived separately.
Spiritually we can become complacent in our battle against sin. We win a victory today and are tempted to believe that we will always gain victory over that sin. We implement biblical principles and find the joy in beating down the urge to go against God's will. Yet, we often find in real life that we fall just as hard later for the same sin we beat. Why is that?
David was learning many good and lasting lessons in his young life as he was being pursued by murderous King Saul. He fled from place to place to escape these murderous attempts. One day, hiding in a cave, with King Saul totally vulnerable, David chose to let him live. He wouldn't be controlled by bitterness, anger of vengeance. What a great victory was found that day in David's life. What a testimony to his men, and to us, that we too do not need to be controlled by our feelings. He found his victory in trusting God's will and timing.
However, as we move on in David's life we find that his victory in the cave didn't guarantee his victory in the plain! David will be disrespected by a man named Nabal and he will not handle it well. Nabal, whose name means "fool," lives up to his name. But, as David seeks to act out on his own foolish plan, God intervenes by bringing Nabal's wise wife into the picture. Abigail is the most wise person in this account. Without her counsel and confrontation of David, he would have done something he would have lived to regret.
Be reading 1 Samuel 25 to get your heart prepared for our study in the life of David. We will look at the ways we can respond to what life brings. Join us either live or via our live stream.
#heart4God
Tags: #heart4God, Abigail, choices, David, fool, foolish, Nabal, vengeance, Wisdom, wise
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