A Mismatched Pair

In the character of Abigail, the wife of Nabal, we have an illustration of womanhood after the order of Christ; while her husband illustrates what a man may become who yields himself to the control of Satan.

When David was a fugitive from the face of Saul, he had camped near the possessions of Nabal, and had protected the flocks and the shepherds of this man…. In a time of need, David sent messengers to Nabal with a courteous message, asking for food for himself and his men, and Nabal answered with insolence, returning evil for good, and refusing to share his abundance with his neighbors. No message could have been more respectful than that which David sent to this man, but Nabal accused David and his men falsely in order to justify himself in his selfishness, and represented David and his followers as runaway slaves. When the messenger returned with this insolent taunt, David’s indignation was aroused, and he determined to have speedy revenge. One of the young men in the employ of Nabal, fearing that evil results would follow Nabal’s insolence, came and stated the case to Nabal’s wife, knowing that she had a different spirit from her husband, and was a woman of great discretion….

Abigail saw that something must be done to avert the result of Nabal’s fault, and that she must take the responsibility of acting immediately without the counsel of her husband. She knew that it would be useless to speak to him, for he would only receive her proposition with abuse and contempt. He would remind her that he was the lord of his household, that she was his wife, and therefore in subjection to him, and must do as he should dictate….

Without his consent, she gathered together such stores as she thought best to conciliate the wrath of David; for she knew he was determined to avenge himself for the insult he had received …. Abigail’s course in this matter was one that God approved, and the circumstance revealed in her a noble spirit and character.
Conflict and Courage p.168
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Prayer Requests
—–We need your prayers and this was the fastest way we could think of to get the word out. At her well child appointment Friday Addy’s doctor was concerned when he saw her because of her recent unsteadiness. He immediately started making phone calls and got us into _____ children’s hospital in _____ Friday night. She had an MRI Saturday morning and the neurologist has come to see us a few times now. There’s no way to say this or to lessen the impact so I’ll just get it out. There is a mass near her brain stem. We don’t know if it’s actually in the stem or not, but there aren’t any more masses in the spine which is good. The neurology team here will be meeting tomorrow to make a game plan for getting a biopsy. Once we get the biopsy (possibly on Tuesday) we will hopefully be able to make a plan for treatment. Please keep us all in your prayers, but especially Addy. Matt
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Dear Friends,

One year when the children were little, we spent the summer camping in a small, private campground. We had done this because we had hoped to save enough money to have a large down payment for buying a mobile home. Unfortunately, even though we did save the money, we could not find a good place to put a trailer, so gave up on the idea. We had a happy summer none-the-less and many memories were made through that experience.

The owner of the campground where we stayed babysat her grandson while his parents worked. Lindon was about Ronnie Jay’s age , and as soon as we arrived, the two boys became instant friends. The campground had woods surrounding it. A path through the woods took us down the hill to the river. Ronnie Jay always wanted to go to the river, but I would not allow him to unless I was along. The river flowed fast and there were poisonous snakes. He was forbidden to leave the campground or to go into those woods.

One day, the boys found part of a map that had been dropped by some utility workers a few days before. Ron, playing with them a little, told them it was a pirate’s treasure map. He went to work and thought no more about it. Those little boys’ minds, however, thought a lot about it. Ronnie Jay and Lindon talked about their find for hours. “Pirates! Wow! Their treasure must be down by the river!” I knew nothing of the topic of their conversation. I only knew that the two boys were playing quietly. This was a rare occasion as normally what one boy didn’t think of the other one did.

As I was doing the little duties that must be done around the campsite, I suddenly realized that I had not heard or seen the boys in quite awhile. I walked toward the owner’s house to see if they were there and met her on the path. She was looking for Lindon. We were really worried when we realized that neither of us had heard from our boys for a very long time. We called and called, but there was no answer. Finally, a very tall man, who was camping there overnight, noticed our frantic searching and asked if we happened to be looking for two little boys. In unison, we said, “Yes!” Pointing, he said, “I see two heads bobbing along through the tall grass in that field over there.”

We were relieved and with that relief came anger for their having disobeyed our instructions. We were waiting for them at the end of the path that led to Lindon’s house, which was about 1/4 mile away. Lindon was forbidden to go there while his parents were at work. There were too many things a little boy could get into while unsupervised. The parents had two huge dogs that had no sense of loyalty toward them or their son. The two boys had disobeyed and they were in big trouble with us.

When they saw us standing there, their happy laughter turned to solemn looks. They knew that they had disobeyed. Upon questioning them, we discovered the reason for their disobedience. Lindon’s father had a large sword hanging over the fireplace. He had it there for decoration, but it was real and it was sharp. He had cautioned his son never to touch it. Lindon had decided that they would need that sword to fight the pirates who would be guarding their treasure! Thankfully they were too short, even when standing upon a chair, to reach it.

How careful we must be when we tell children anything. They have perfect trust, perfect confidence in us. They are not filled with doubts. They believe everything that we tell them. Jesus used a little child to illustrate what our belief and trust in Him must be. “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” ” Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Matt18:2-4, Mark 10:15

May we come to our loving Heavenly Father with all of the faith, all of the trust, all of the confidence of an unspoiled child. May we believe His Holy Word. May we place our hand in His strong and mighty Hand and allow Him to lead us wherever He deems best is my prayer.

Rose