Last week, we stated

Waiting on the Lord means trusting God to do what He alone said He would do, staying out of what He told us to stay out of, and only doing what He permitted or commanded us to do.

 Simple enough, right?  Well, the truth is that if you think it’s simple to accomplish, you’ve likely never actually tried it!  Waiting on the Lord is incredibly hard because it directly opposes the “me monster” we were all born as; the “me monster” that always wants what we want now, including the things of God!

It’s crazy how we will devour the opportunity to experience the peace and power of God as we wait on His promises.  Instead of joyfully embracing what He commanded us to do with Him while we wait on whatever it is He has promised, instead of prospering where He planted us by faithfully doing what He called us to do now and trusting Him with whatever future He intends to create for us; we find ourselves insatiably tempted to devour the life-giving experience of waiting on the Lord with bitterness, resentment, depression, or anxiety.  We find ourselves paralyzed and unable to prosper where we are planted because we long for a circumstance or possession more than we love and enjoy God and those He has put in our lives to love and be loved by.  So, it turns out that the heart of the battle to successfully wait on the Lord is to joyfully do what He has called us to do with Him right now.

However, before we go any further with that thought, let’s get into 1 Samuel 25 and look at two people doing that very thing—waiting on the Lord by doing what He had already called them to do.

1 Samuel 25 contains three inspirational testimonies that help clarify and encourage us on how we should wait on the Lord.

The first inspirational testimony is about David.

David didn’t wait for the Israelites to treat him as a King to protect them as one. 

 The chapter begins with information that could have easily tempted David to no longer wait on the Lord to become King and take matters into his own hands.The Bible says,

 1 Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah. Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

Samuel had been the prophet of God to Israel for generations, as in, the one everybody agreed not only declared the truth about God to Israel but also His will for Israel! He spent his entire life faithfully serving the Lord, even when those around him didn’t!  Therefore, it was for good reason that he was likely by far the most respected man in all of Israel, and thus, why every household in Israel was represented at his memorial service!

However, for David, the death of Samuel brought an additional burden to his labor of waiting. Samuel was the “Kingmaker,” but not how you would typically think of it.  Samuel was the one God used to tell Saul he was the one God chose to be Israel’s first king, and sadly, he also had to later tell Saul that because of his sinful, rebellious heart, God was done with him being king.

However, as the “Kingmaker” of Israel, Samuel also understood that establishing or removing a King wasn’t his job. That was God’s job.  For instance, even though Samuel knew God had called Saul to be King, Samuel still brought the tribes of Israel together to go through a process of casting lots for them to see who God had chosen to be king (1 Samuel 10:20-14).  In other words, as the prophet of God, Samuel had no problem boldly declaring what God was doing, but He never attempted to do it for God!

Similarly, when God told Samuel He wasn’t going to move forward with the house of Saul over Israel, He used Samuel to anoint David as the next king but not to remove Saul as king to make David king. Nonetheless, because Samuel was so highly respected as the one who spoke for God, David knew that when Saul finally died, all Samuel would have to do would be to stand up and announce that David was supposed to be the next king, and that would end it.  As David waited to become the next king of Israel, he had the confidence of knowing Samuel would set everything straight as soon as Saul died.  However, Saul was still alive when Samuel died, but nobody in all of Israel was set up to fill Samuel’s shoes!

This circumstance would have made it REALLY easy for David to feel like he needed to take matters into his own hands and kill Saul to become king! But he didn’t.  Instead, David kept prospering where God had planted him, and as such, he not only made sure the people God gave him were provided for but also did the kingly duty of defending the people of Israel the best he could.

We don’t know if the second sentence in verse one means David left from wherever the stronghold was that he and his men were based out of in 1 Samuel 24:22 or if David had come down and attended Samuels's memorial service. Given Saul’s history of trying to kill David and the fact Saul had convinced most of the nation to turn against David, it’s highly unlikely David came to the memorial service.  Either way, the Bible tells us what happened next, wherever David was, he “went down to the wilderness of Paran.”

“Translators differ as to whether the burial was “in his house” or “at his home.” Bar-Efrat even takes “in his house” to mean “in his city.” Gordon (182) refers to 1 Kgs 2:34 and remarks: “Manasseh was buried in the garden of his house, according to 2 Kgs 21:18, and Stoebe¹ (446) interprets the present reference in the same kind of way.” Baldwin (146) thinks rather that Samuel was buried under the floor of his house at Ramah, which would discourage any tendency to venerate his tomb. Most likely Samuel was buried beneath his house. Excavations of houses in ancient Ugarit revealed pipes leading from ancient ground level to below the house, which are believed to have been intended to provide drink to the thirsty souls of the family’s deceased members. The mourning ceremony involved “all Israel,” which likely describes an assembly of a few delegates from each tribe. Samuel’s body was buried in Ramah, but his spirit “returned to God, who gave it” (Eccl 12:7), from where it would return to give the bad news to Saul of his imminent death (1 Sam 28).”¹¹offner, H. A., Jr. (2015). 1 & 2 Samuel (1 Sa 25:1a). Lexham Press.

 “Was David present for Samuel’s burial? The answer seems to be “No.” Saul’s relentless pursuit had driven David into the southern desert regions, and it is doubtful that David would have come back north to Israel’s heartland for Samuel’s burial, especially since our text places him still farther south, deep into the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, “down to the wilderness of Paran” (25:1). Did David feel even more vulnerable with Samuel’s departure, so that he put distance between himself and Saul? Sensing a final and decisive period in his life, did David retreat into the desert to be closer to God, prefiguring Jesus’ sojourn into the wilderness after his baptism? Given David’s conduct in this chapter, it seems likely that his retreat was based more on fear than on faith. Still, David must have realized that a time of testing was before him that would determine his worthiness to rule as Israel’s king.”¹²Phillips, R. D. (2012). 1 Samuel (P. G. Ryken & R. D. Phillips, Duguid Iain M., Eds.; 1st ed., pp. 422–423). P&R Publishing.

“Did Saul join the mourners? The lack of any reference to him in this context leaves us wondering how the fallen king reacted to the death of the prophet who had brought him down. But wondering is all we can do. Was David among the mourners? Probably not. The settlement between Saul and David at the Engedi cave had not resulted in an invitation to David to return to public life. Saul had gone home to Gibeah, and David and his men had returned to “the stronghold,” presumably in the Engedi hills (1 Samuel 24:22; cf. 23:29). David evidently did not yet consider Saul safe. After the notice about Samuel’s death, David’s next recorded movement was: “Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran” (v. 1b). This makes the most sense as David’s reaction to Samuel’s death. Samuel’s death must have been hugely significant for David. Paran was to the south, well away from Saul’s influence, indeed beyond the land of Israel. The wilderness of Paran belonged to the period of Israel’s wanderings in the days of Moses (see Numbers 10:12; 12:16; 13:3, 26; Deuteronomy 1:1). ... What went on for David in the wilderness of Paran we are simply not told.”¹³Woodhouse, J. (2008). 1 Samuel: Looking for a leader (pp. 471–473). Crossway Books.

2 And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite.

“David is back in the region of Maon and Carmel, both located midway between Hebron on the north and Arad on the south. … Carmel was politically important due to its being a key part of the defense system of the Wilderness of Judah. It was economically important due to its suitability for animal breeding.”¹⁴Hoffner, H. A., Jr. (2015). 1 & 2 Samuel (1 Sa 25:1b–3). Lexham Press.

“Two things should worry us about this man. The first is his name. In Hebrew it means “fool.” … The second worry is the description of his conduct, which fits his name (as well as Psalm 14:1 and Isaiah 32:6) too well: “the man was harsh and badly behaved.” We will see his abominable behavior very soon.” ^{15Woodhouse, J. (2008). 1 Samuel: Looking for a leader (pp. 473–475). Crossway Books.}

“The last point made in his introduction is, “he was a Calebite.” I suspect there is a note of bitter irony here. Caleb was no fool. Caleb was a model faithful Israelite at the time of the wilderness wanderings and the conquest of Canaan (see Numbers 13:30–33; 14:1–12, 24, 30, 38; Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:6–15; 15:13–19; Judges 1:11–15, 20). This man may have been a Calebite in name, but his character and conduct betrayed that noble heritage. In reality Nabal was no Calebite!” ^{16Woodhouse, J. (2008). 1 Samuel: Looking for a leader (pp. 473–475). Crossway Books.}

 4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. 6 And thus you shall greet him: 'Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.'" 9 When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited.

 “Sheep-shearing time—usually in May—was a festive occasion, as reflected in David’s reference to it as a “festive time” (יוֹם טוֹב, yom tov, v. 8). The flock owners were realizing the profits from their year of breeding. The menfolk engaged in the shearing celebrated the season with drinking and celebration and meat slaughtered for the shearers (v. 11). Such high spirits, combined with the men being away from their wives, sometimes gave rise to sexual affairs if women happened to be available (see Judah and Tamar in Gen 38). Another description of this occasion is as follows: Since the economic base for most of the population, even during the monarchic period, was primarily a mixture of pastoral and agricultural activity, planting, harvesting, and sheep-shearing would have been occasions for mass get-togethers and religious celebrations. Thus the maidens of Shiloh danced each year beside their vineyards (Judg 21:19–21), and the sons of David made merry at a feast following the shearing of Absalom’s sheep (2 Sam 14:28).” ^{17Hoffner, H. A., Jr. (2015). 1 & 2 Samuel (1 Sa 25:1b–3). Lexham Press.}

D. Phillips notes, “Nabal hailed from the noble clan of Caleb, noted in Israel’s history for godliness and faith. Given his treatment of Nabal’s shepherds, the respectfulness of his manner, and the timing of his appeal, David had every expectation of a kind and generous response, a properly neighborly return for the good that David had performed for rich Nabal.”¹⁸Phillips, R. D. (2012). 1 Samuel (P. G. Ryken & R. D. Phillips, Duguid Iain M., Eds.; 1st ed., p. 425). P&R Publishing.

 The point is that this is not at all an unreasonable request from David, given Nabal's massive prosperity and the fact that David significantly increased Nabal’s wealth by not only protecting his livestock from wild predators but also his shepherds and livestock from human predators like the Philistines, who would have quickly seized any opportunity to kill Nabal’s shepherds and steal his livestock. Sadly, however, Nabal responds in a manner consistent with his reputation.

 10 And Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. 11 Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?" 12 So David's young men turned away and came back and told him all this.

 “Following his victory over the Amalekites, Saul had erected a monument to himself at Carmel. The area’s inhabitants’ gratitude toward Saul for expelling the Amalekites from their land may have contributed to Nabal’s dislike for David. In order for David to rise to kingship over Judah at Hebron, he would need the support not only of his own tribe (Judah), but also of other influential groups that had merged with Judah.”¹⁹Hoffner, H. A., Jr. (2015). 1 & 2 Samuel (1 Sa 25:1b–3). Lexham Press.

In an area with a monument dedicated to Saul, it shouldn’t be a tremendous surprise that Nabal viewed David as nothing more than a petty servant who betrayed Saul. Furthermore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that right after this arrogant man actually acknowledged that he knew who David was, he then dismissed David’s men ultimately as “nobodies” who had no right to even be recognized by him, much less invited to their feast!

The fact that Nabal so quickly dismissed David’s men and did so in this manner, the very men who had provided a tremendously important service to Nabal, clearly demonstrates his selfish foolishness! David’s men, not Saul’s, were the reason Nabal still had shepherds and livestock, and all David was asking for was permission for him and his army to come to the feast and eat food that Nabal otherwise wouldn’t even have!

Nabal’s response went over like a lead balloon with David. David was infuriated by Nabal’s total lack of character and arrogance.  The Bible says,

 13 And David said to his men, "Every man strap on his sword!" And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

Now, to fully understand what’s happening here, you need to remember that Samuel told Israel you don’t want a king because a king has the right to everything, including you, your family, and everything you own.Samuel made this point in a last-ditch appeal to help Israel understand the consequences if they got their wish and God gave them a human king.  They needed to understand that, by definition, that’s what it means to be a king, and thus, why they should never want a human king when they had God, who had proven over and over again His sincere and holy love and trustworthiness as their king!  Samuel told them if they got a human being as their king, they would be seceding all that they were to one who, as good of a person as they may be, is still fundamentally flawed by sin; to one who as powerfully talented as they may be as a warrior and leader, will still be no comparison to the power and talent of the omnipotent God!

Therefore, when David became king, he would have the right to respond to such a rejection with all the wrath he chooses, but David wasn’t KING YET!Saul was!  One could argue that as one anointed by God to be king, David was now responsible for caring for and protecting the Israelites, but because he wasn’t king yet, he had no right whatsoever to punish those who refused to honor him.

David had been faithfully waiting on the Lord to be the next king of Israel by faithfully serving Israel the way a righteous king should serve his people.David was putting his life on the line, protecting them and empowering their prosperity even though he was receiving none of the resources or honor of being king.  But David is also human, and possibly, in a moment of understandable emotional, spiritual, and mental exhaustion, he snapped!  David had enough of being treated like a piece of garbage.  He was done waiting on the Lord to change his circumstances with the Israelites, and he was ready to be treated as the king of Israel!

This leads us straightway into the second inspirational story.

 The second inspirational testimony is about a woman named Abigail.

 Abigail didn’t wait for her husband to act godly for her to be godly. 

 14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, "Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. 15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. 16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him."

 Note:  One of Nabal’s workers overheard the exchange with David’s men or heard about it; either way, the fact that none of his men felt they could discuss the matter with Nabal but instead felt they could discuss the matter with Abigail not only confirms how foolishly arrogant Nabal was but also how trustworthy Abigail was.  They not only believed she would listen to them but that she also possessed the wisdom, leadership, and strength to know what to do and get it done!

 18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her young men, "Go on before me; behold, I come after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

Note:  Clearly, Abigail is fully aware of how arrogantly foolish her husband is!

 20 And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. 21 Now David had said, "Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good. 22 God do so to the enemies of David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him."

 Note:The text is clear about what David is intending to do!  The servant who went to Abigail was correct in his assessment of the situation.

 23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said, "On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. 25 Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.

 “The Hebrew word nabal, often translated as “fool,” designates not a harmless simpleton, but rather a vicious, materialistic, and egocentric misfit.”²⁰Hoffner, H. A., Jr. (2015). 1 & 2 Samuel (1 Sa 25:25–31). Lexham Press.

Abigail comes to David in total humility and transparency. In saying, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt,” she is saying if you are offended by this intrusion, blame me. She isn’t taking the blame for what her worthless husband did, but she also isn’t throwing anybody else under the bus for interrupting David’s march of vengeance.

 Furthermore, Abigail doesn’t hold back any truth about what happened and why. She has no problem exposing her husband for who he is!  However, in doing so, she is putting herself at risk from David, whom she doesn’t really know, as well as her husband, who, if David told what Abigail did and said, might enact vengeance on her himself.

 26 Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, because the LORD has restrained you from bloodguilt and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. 27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. 29 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. 30 And when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel, 31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord taking vengeance himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant."

 Note:  This is huge!  Abigail ensured that she wasn’t just saving the lives of her servants but also saving the integrity of David and his throne!  Abigail was clearly saying my husband is a total dirtbag, but you, David, are God’s anointed, and you have been upright in all your ways.  You’ve been faithfully serving the people God anointed you to shepherd with a humble and sincere heart, but you are going to totally ruin that reputation if you kill Nabal and his men.  As much as Nabal should have wanted to bless David for helping him, he was under no legal obligation to do so, and therefore, David was completely unethical in his response!  David was not yet King, so nobody was legally obligated to serve or provide for him!  Abigail, a woman, was confronting David and calling him to repent!  This is huge!

 32 And David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! 34 For as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male." 35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, "Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition."

 In a society that gave no authority to women, David, the one anointed to be the next King of Israel, says, “I have obeyed your voice.”He makes it very clear that his intention to kill Nabal and his men was an act of rebellion against God and a total lack of faith in God to do what He alone said He would do—enact vengeance for the injustice brought to him.  Abigail confronted David with the truth of the Law of Moses, the evil in his heart, and the need to repent, and David embraced it! Abigail is clearly not only a woman of great wisdom but also of spiritual depth, substance, strength, and courage.

 She came to David not with arrogance but humility, not with panic and frenzy but confidence and steadiness. In short, she came to David not as one who viewed herself and her circumstances through the values and traditions of her culture or even her husband but rather as one who defined and viewed herself and her circumstances through God’s eyes!  She saw herself truly for who she was because she saw herself as a woman made in the image of her creator, chosen and loved by God, and therefore totally allegiant to God and His ways!

 But her wisdom, humility, and courage didn’t stop with how she interacted with David. She didn’t run to David because she was scared to speak to her arrogant, foolish husband; she ran to David because she knew her husband was about to get himself and all the other men killed! The proof is in what Abigail did next.

 36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king.

 Note: This shows how rich he was.  Nabal had more than enough to let David and his men partake in the festival!

 And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light.

 Note: Again, note the wisdom of Abigail.  She risked him finding out from somebody else, but she would rather risk that than knowingly try to have a reasonable conversation with a drunk man who was a narcissistic fool when he was sober, and thus much worse when he was drunk!

 37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.

 Note:  It appears that Nabal, in all of his foolish arrogance, was so angered and embarrassed by the fact his wife had to secretly lead a group of his own servants to keep them from being killed by David that he had a severe stroke and ended up dying ten days later!  Instead of responding as David responded to Abigail’s rebuke, Nabal responded in utter horror that people would now see him as the leader who had to be rescued by his wife.  It literally killed Nabal to be seen as somebody who had any weaknesses, and thus, why he was known as a total arrogant fool!  Instead of celebrating the fact God had blessed him with an incredible wife who had just saved his life and his entire business, he instead felt like his entire life was over!

 The third inspirational testimony is how God changed their circumstance.

 God blessed David and Abigail by giving them to each other. 

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The LORD has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head." Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife. 40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife." 41 And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, "Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." 42 And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife. 43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. 44 Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim. (25:39-44)

Don’t let the part about David having other wives toss you for a loop.This was how Kingdoms were built.  Marriages formed alliances with other influential families and nations who would help support your Kingdom.  In addition, because the most trusted people to make sure your government stayed with your descendants were your own flesh and blood, if you wanted to create a dynasty that got handed down from one generation to the next, then you not only needed a son to inherit your throne but you also needed to provide him a bunch of brothers and sisters who would be loyal to him both in running important aspects of his government as well as expanding the alliances of their family through marriage and businesses.  As a king acquired lands, he would assign governance of those lands to those who would ensure the profits earned on them benefited the nation and the success of the family ruling the nation—his family!

 However, the thing we need to see here is that when we wait on the Lord, He provides for us and blesses us in ways we could have never imagined or seen coming in our circumstances.Neither David nor Abigail likely ever imagined what God had in store for them in this story.  David’s first wife proved to be a weak woman with no character, but now God provided him with a wife of strength and great character.  Abigail displayed tremendous admiration for David when she not only went out to save the lives of her husband’s servants but also genuinely wanted to save David’s reputation as well.  His previous wife, Michal, had destroyed his reputation by lying to her father when she claimed David was going to kill her if she didn’t help him escape (1 Samuel 19:17).  However, Abigail put her own life on the line to protect David’s reputation.  David was getting a wife of tremendous character and wisdom, a wife he could truly love and respect as a woman of God!

Likewise, Abigail’s first husband proved arrogant and selfish, not caring about anybody but himself.Nabal had no value in others beyond what they did for him and certainly no value in the wisdom or perspectives of anybody else, including his wife.  But God was now giving her a husband who had not only proven himself to be one who would give himself for the care and protection of those who could never repay him (a shepherd) but also as a wise and humble enough man to willingly hear and rightly respond to the righteous rebuke of a woman he had never even met!  God gave Abigail a man she could truly love and respect as a man of God!

Application

 Waiting on the Lord means trusting God to do what He alone said He would do, staying out of what He told us to stay out of, and only doing what He permitted or commanded us to do.  However, to successfully do that requires the following: 

WEEK ONE

Intentional effort because waiting is never passive.

Belief that waiting on the Lord is worth it.

Wisdom to be more concerned with the room an open door lets you in than you are with the opportunity of an open door.

WEEK TWO

View life’s circumstances in the correct context. Life is eternal; your circumstance isn’t!  (Matthew 25:46, John 3:36; 10:27-28)

Nothing about this life is forever, but everything in Christ is!

Jesus said,

 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46)

 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)

 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

 There are two obvious truths in each of the verses. If you give your life to Christ, then your eternal circumstance, no matter how good or bad it is now, will be far more amazing than anything that can be described in this life!  However, if you don’t repent and follow Christ, no matter how good or bad your circumstances are now, your eternal future is the judgment and damnation of God!

So, if you want to succeed at waiting on the Lord, you first need to ensure you are in the Lord! If you haven’t given your life to Christ, then it doesn’t matter what your context is right now because you should be utterly terrified by your future.

However, if we are in Christ, no matter how good or bad our circumstances are, even if we only understand a small fragment of how glorious the eternal life we have in Him is going to be, then we will have enough perspective to fuel the faith we need to have to successfully trust the Lord to do what He alone said He would do, stay out of what He told us to stay out of, and only do what He permitted or commanded us to do!

 A genuine commitment to prosper where you are planted in Christ. (Matthew 13:8, 18 & 23, John 15:5)

Both David and Abigail practiced prospering where they were planted. Certainly, both were human and made mistakes along the way and in this narrative, we see that obvious truth come out when Nabal’s mean-spirited selfishness and arrogance led David to gather his men to kill Nabal!

Now, if I hadn’t added that “planted in Christ” part to this point, I simply could have said the key to prospering where you are planted is to understand that emotions follow our thoughts, and our thoughts often follow our actions. Therefore, when our actions are committed to prospering where we are planted, our thoughts and feelings will generally follow. We see David and Abigail consistently doing what they should do to prosper where they are planted instead of being paralyzed with dread over their circumstances.

But the key to waiting on the Lord isn’t just being committed to prospering where you are planted but being sure that no matter the environment of your life, your circumstance is always defined by the fact that you are planted in Christ!

Jesus said,

“8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. … 18 Hear then the parable of the sower: … 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." (Matthew 13:8, 18 & 23)

“5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

My point is that prosperity in life, that is, that you indisputably abound at living, is necessarily dependent on abounding in a relationship with Christ. Therefore, if you don’t learn to prosper in your relationship with Christ, you won’t be healthy enough to survive the environmental changes of life.

What do I mean? Well, let me work this illustration a little more and see if I can help you understand.  Generally speaking, it’s been my experience that the success rate of transplanting a healthy plant, and thus one that can produce fruit, is far greater than transplanting an unhealthy one that can’t.  Similarly, if you aren’t in a healthy relationship with Christ, which then necessarily produces fruit, changing your environment isn’t going to make any difference and could actually make things worse.  The point is that a healthy plant in good soil can endure all kinds of circumstantial changes, and there is no soil like an abiding relationship with Jesus!

If you’re planted in Christ, the soil you’re planted in is the bread of life, and it has all the nutrients you’ll ever need (John 6:35)!

If you’re planted in Christ, the soil you’re planted in is full of living water (John 4:10, 7:37-39), and you’ll never thirst again.

If you’re planted in Christ, the soil you’re planted in even provides the light you need because He is the Light of the world (John 8:12)! No matter how dark the world around you becomes, no matter how dark your circumstances seem, your life will still prosper because you have all the light you’ll ever need if you’re planted in Christ!

If you are committed to prospering where you are planted in Christ, then it won’t matter what your circumstances are in life. That plant can be put on a porch, a window, out back in the woods, the front yard, or slap in the middle of your driveway. If you’re focused on prospering in Christ, then your life is going to abound no matter what. You won’t have to learn to wait on the Lord because you’ll already be abiding in the Lord!

Therefore, if you want to be successful at trusting the Lord to do what He alone said He would do, staying out of what He told you to stay out of, and only doing what he permitted or commanded you to do, then be committed to prospering where you are planted in Christ and you will!

Discussion Guide

The second part of our topic about how to wait on God revolves around the admirable character of Abigail. She demonstrates how a wise woman is actively waiting on God while remained obedient and faithful in the process. Read 1 Samuel 25 in your group and discuss the following questions:

• Was David justified in his anger toward Nabal?
• How did David’s anger lead him to potentially undermine the good things that God had for him to do in life?
• How did Abigail demonstrate wisdom?
• How was Abigail a good friend to David in protecting him from his own rashness?
• Why should wisdom and friendship be the foundation for a godly marriage?
• How did David and Abigail demonstrate an active and obedient waiting on God with their marriage?
• Why is waiting such an unpopular concept in today’s culture?
• How can we teach our children to wait on God?