Psalm 144 verses 11 and 12. I want to speak to you. We're going to start here, but I want to speak to you in a few minutes about Abigail, a portrait of fearlessness. Here in Psalm 144, 12, we read this, verses 11 and 12, Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners whose mouth speaks lying words and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. And why is the psalmist wanting this?
For this reason, that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be as pillars sculptured in palace style. I don't know that we've ever lived in a time that the words like these from the Psalms are so real. Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners whose mouth speaks line words and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. The theme of the retreat is developing a spirit of fearlessness. And young ladies, I have a question for you.
If that's the theme, if that's our desire that you would develop such a sense of fearlessness, what does that presuppose? Why, in other words, would we think it necessary for you to be fearless? Well yes, part of the reason is that by nature we as creatures created by God are often a fearful people. But there's also the reason that there are things, many things, which can cause you to fear. And the psalmist is here praying to God for deliverance from the enemies of the church in order that the children of God's people may flourish under the godly influence of the common means of grace.
He closes this very psalm with this statement, Happy are the people who are in such a state, happy are the people whose God is the Lord." Well, here's the psalmist's vision for you daughters, the daughters of Israel, and it's my desire for you young ladies as well, that you, our daughters, may be as pillars sculptured in palace style. The Net Bible gives us the sense of what the original language is conveying, saying, then our daughters will be like corner, corner pillars carved like those in a palace. Yes, women are the weaker vessel, But God desires a strength as exhibited by the Proverbs 31 woman. In verse 17 of that well-known chapter, we find this virtuous woman girding herself with strength and strengthening her arms. And in verse 25, she is described as clothed with strength and honor.
And note that daughters are to be carved or sculptured. In other words, There are tools. There are tools in the hand of God and in the hand of God's Providence and in the hands of your parents that are to be the shapers of your usefulness. Daughters, pray to be such a pillar. Be willing to be sculptured, to be carved, to be shaped by those artisans that God has placed in your life and in so doing to be sculptured by God himself.
Turn to 1 Samuel 25. 1 Samuel 25 and for the sake of time I'm going to to lean on your understanding and remembrance of this life of Abigail And I just want to give you three things, or four things rather, as portraits of godly fearlessness. And the first thing we see is in verse 3 of 1 Samuel 25. We read this, The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his doings he was of the house of Caleb so the first thing we see here the first portrait is a heart of contentment she had a heart of contentment as far as Abigail was concerned we don't know the history of her becoming the wife of Nabal, but this much the Bible tells us because this is what God would have us to know.
She was the wife of a fool. She was the wife of a fool. And it was against this black, dark backdrop that God brought out the brilliant colors of His grace in the life of this godly woman. It was in spite of and not because of her husband that she flourished in character. And that was because of the Lord Jesus Christ who was in her.
You see, there will come times in your life where you find yourself in a fearful spot like Abigail, when things are outside of your control, when your life is subject to dark providence and difficulties. And in that season will you be able to say like Paul that you have learned, you have learned, it's not something natural, that you have learned the art of contentment in every circumstance of life. How could Paul say that he had learned contentment no matter the circumstance? Had Paul been through every circumstance? No.
But his contentment was not found in the changing circumstances but in his immutable God. And because his God was immutable, He had learned contentment that would be the right thing in every circumstance. Remember Abigail and draw strength from her name. Abigail in the Hebrew means my Father is joy. My Father is joy.
There may come a time in your life when you can't find joy in the circumstance. You won't be there. During such times, will you be able to draw joy from your heavenly Father? Are you drawing joy from the wells of salvation now? Isaiah 12 speaks to that in such beautiful language.
Are you drawing joy from those wells of salvation now? Right now in your Father's home, oh daughters, taste and see that the Lord is good. In His presence, His fullness of joy, at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. Learn the art of contentment. It will help you to become a fearless woman.
Secondly, a spirit of wisdom and resourcefulness. A spirit of wisdom and resourcefulness. Look at verses 14 to 19. So here's what's happened is David has has been among the sheep shearers of Nabal. He's brought them a level of protection.
He's not bothered them. He's kept enemies at bay from coming and raiding. And it's a feast day. And feast days were important in Israel. And he's sent some men to go and ask Nabal if he can partake of some of Nabal's flock, that his men can feast before the Lord, which is a requirement.
Nabal says, no. Who are you to me? Get lost is pretty much what he says. Well, verses 14 to 19. Now, one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master and he reviled them but but the men were very good to us and we were not hurt nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them when we were in the fields they were a wall to us both by night and day, all the time we were with them keeping the sheep.
Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household, for he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him then Abigail made haste and took 200 loaves of bread two skins of wine five sheep already dressed five sizzles of roasted grain 100 clusters of raisins and 200 cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys. And she said to her servants, go on before me. See, I am coming after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal. You see, Abigail's character is known throughout the household.
One of the servants comes to her with the story of what has taken place and he acknowledges that it would be a waste of time to tell Nabal but he knows that Abigail is approachable and and think about the news he has given her put yourself into her shoes She's receiving news that a band of 400 men are on their way to her house with the intentions of killing every male in the household. Everyone from the least to the greatest, young and old. But this servant has confidence that Abigail will do something. He has confidence that he can approach her and give her news and not watch her just fall apart, to fall into pieces. There's a strength and she devises a plan.
It's hard to fathom, even with the number of servants that she must have had, the amount of planning that went into this preparation, just running around the kitchen, just What am I going to do? Okay, I got to do this. Got to do this. But humanly speaking, what saved the day? It was the character of this woman.
Had she not been known for her wisdom, her approachableness, and resourcefulness, the servant would have said the same thing about her that he did as master. It's a waste of time, but it wasn't so. A spirit of wisdom and resourcefulness will go a long way in driving away fear from your heart. She had every reason to fear, but it didn't cripple her. She went and did something about it.
Trust in the God of providence and operate with the understanding that he most often uses means to accomplish that providence and be resourceful and then step back and see what God will do. Thirdly, a disposition of humility, a disposition of humility, verses 23 and 25. Now when Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said, On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be. And please let your maidservant speak in your ears and hear the words of your maidservant.
Please let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and Fali is with him. But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my Lord whom you sent." You see, she is humble in posture, in her address, and in her confession. And when Abigail approaches David, she bows to the ground and confesses the iniquity. Having addressed him as my Lord, she proclaims herself the maidservant of David.
She asks to bear the guilt of her husband in hopes that her endeavors to appease David's anger might be met with his mercy. The sin is not hers. She is married to a fool, but she humbles herself before David. And think about the extent of her own humiliation, first in burying the shame that her husband brought upon the entire family, second in having to be the one that is protecting the household. And after this display of humility, Abigail then comes home, no doubt exhausted from the journey.
And what does she find? Her husband's having a party. He's drunk. She has to wait until the next morning to even tell him what happened. The humility of this dear woman.
1 Peter 4, 3 and 4 says, do not let your adornment be merely outward as we heard a few last night, I guess, arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel. Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God. Seek this gentle and quiet spirit, this humility. The world around us looks down. It looks down on such a spirit.
But Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed." And then fourth, she had a grasp of doctrine. She had a grasp of doctrine. This we would find, I'm not going to have time to read it, but verses 26 through 31, And I'll just point out, you can look at it later, Abigail was a woman who knew her God. She knew her God. She knew His Word.
She understood God's providential dealings. And we see the grasp in those verses 26 through 31 in these three ways. First, Abigail acknowledges the providence of God in using her to keep David from sin. She realized that it was God's providence that led that servant to come to her, that allowed her to use the resources and she has come and she is keeping David from sin. Be women who know how to gently rebuke when righteousness, justice, and mercy call you to that duty.
But most of all, be women who trust in the providence of God, able to see the hand of God in the everyday tasks God calls you to. Second, Abigail acknowledges the sovereign hand of God in anointing David as the next King of Israel. This acknowledgement also indicates her understanding that it's to be an enduring house. She understands something of Jesus, the coming Messiah, in the dim light of that Old Testament teaching. She understood it.
She saw David as the lineage from which her Messiah was coming. Our families need Christ-centered daughters. We need Christ-centered daughters. And if it pleases God to give you a husband and children in due time, they will need a Christ-centered wife and mother. And then thirdly, Abigail acknowledges the promises of God in the surety of their coming to pass.
She acknowledges the promises of God and the surety of those promises coming to pass. Remember, she is speaking to a man who is currently on the run, hiding and fleeing throughout the wilderness of Judea. Yet, she has confidence that all that God has promised this man will come about. In her mind, it is a sure thing. It's all a matter of time.
Daughters, take refuge in the promises of God, rest in Him, rest in His Word. And I just close with these two results of her fearless actions. First, she spares others from both sin and consequences of sin. David and his men from sin and her family from the consequences of that sin. Daughters, don't underestimate the power of godliness in your life to be a catalyst of peace, of holiness, and of sanctification in the lives of the men whom God places in your life, be they brothers, your father, or one day your husband.
Do not ask yourself, but what impact can I have? What can I do in such a daunting situation? As Mordecai challenged Esther, who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Do not fear, simply be faithful. And then secondly, lastly, The result of her fearless actions, God rewards her.
God rewards her. Abigail submitted to him who deals righteously. She found joy in her heavenly Father and he delivered her. Oh daughters, trust in God. May nothing shake your confidence in him.
He is a rewarder of all those who diligently seek him. Abigail was a pillar sculptured in palace style and God saw to it that his grace in her life was on display as he and his Providence brought her, literally brought her into the palace of Jerusalem. Well, may God give you grace, daughters, to do that and you dads as artisans, as those who have been called by God to be a means in sculpturing and carving these wonderful pillars. May God give you strength to do the task that he's called you to. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your goodness and your mercy. We pray that you would help us as the artisans, as the men of the household, to do the things you've called us to do, to be helps to our daughters, that they may be corner pillars, pillars of strength. And Lord, I pray that you would give each of them hearts to trust in you and your providence, to be content in you, to be wise, to be resourceful, that you would give them a sense of humility, a meekness and a quietness of spirit which is precious in your sight that you might receive glory. In Christ's name we pray these things. Amen.