Just Something to Think About

Each Monday morning, I send out a newsletter to our Sunday School members with a note from my husband the teacher, prayer requests, praises, announcements and usually at the end my "Food for Thought."

To close out this week of blogging, I thought I would share what I wrote on Monday.

Food for Thought

Yesterday, in our lesson from 1 Samuel 24, Dick talked about revenge and how subtle that can be in our lives.  There is a great lesson for us in Chapter 25.  David is planning a terrible act of revenge against a man, Nabal, who disrespected him.  The man's wife, Abigail hears of her husband's terrible behavior and King David's plan, and goes to David.

She reminds him that his plan for revenge against the "foolish" acts of Nabal was not God's plan but his own, and asks that he spare her husband and his men.

One of the things we as Christians have to guard against is that it is so easy to confuse our own agenda with God's.

In helping David evaluate the consequences of what he had planned to do to Nabal, her husband, Abigail used a beautiful analogy of God's care and protection.

This past week, I received a package from my daughter.  It was my zoom camera lens that I had mistakenly left with her.  When I opened the box, I realized that the person who packed it took extreme pains to make sure the lens was protected from any possible damage in shipping.  It was wrapped in layers of plastic and then encased in thick packing paper.  It arrived unscathed, which was the goal of my daughter and the packer.

In verse 29 of chapter 25, Abigail used a similar story - the placing of valuable jewels and pieces of silver and gold in a cloth, rolling it, and tying it so that the possessions might be stored or transported without danger.

"If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling."

Her words had the power to cause David to reflect on his intended actions, but also to remind him of God's great care and plan for his life.  Since the day of his anointing, David had been in God's hands.

This passage is also a beautiful picture of God's love and protection in our own lives.   It is a reminder that our lives are in God's hands and we can trust Him ultimately to make things right.  We all need to ask God to give us the ability to recognize wisdom that is of Him. "Be not wise in your own eyes"