God Help the Fools!

God came in Jesus Christ to save fools who didn’t grasp their own folly!

Today’s text: “When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground. 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. 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.’” (1 Samuel 25:23–25, ESV)

Our daughter is named for this remarkable heroine, Abigail. She was a lovely and wise woman whose humility and savvy saved her fool of a husband and the whole estate.

It seems that David and his men had been guarding Nabal’s lands, but when David sent a messenger asking for some food for David’s exhausted and famished men, Nabal responded insolently: “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. 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? (1 Samuel 25:10–11, ESV).

David was tired and hungry and in a fighting mood. Like the famed, spinach-eating Popeye, he had all he could stands and he couldn’t stands no more.

“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.” (1 Samuel 25:13, ESV)

David was going to slaughter the whole estate.

But, after hearing of her husband’s insolence and folly, Abigail rushed to meet David on her husband’s behalf. She rode to David on a donkey, took bread and lamb and wine, and bowed before the future king of Israel. It’s beautiful, almost comical, and profoundly powerful when she admits that her husband is a fool. She had come on his behalf even though Nabal had not sent her and didn’t even know that his life was being saved.

David’s anger subsided; he spared Nabal and the estate because of Abigail, the noble, wise, humble mediator.

That’s who Christ is to us—our Mediator who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He, Himself, was the bread. He was the lamb. He was the wine of the New Covenant. And as He was crucified, He prayed to the Father that all the Nabals would be forgiven. Jesus was rescuing you when you didn’t know it. And that’s the Gospel!