Lessons on Trust

When David hears of Nabal’s death, his comments reveal he has learned to trust. He says,

“Praise the Lord who championed my cause against Nabal’s insults and restrained His servant from doing evil. The Lord brought Nabal’s evil deeds back on his own head.” (v. 39)

Whenever someone lifts a finger to strike down Saul or his family from this point on, David reacts with terrible resolve: only God is his defender (see 1 Sam 26:10-11; 2 Sam 1:14-15; 4:12). He also marries Abigail, who is the instrument God used to teach David to trust the Lord alone.

What we must not miss in this account is David’s need for correction and his need to learn God’s ways. David may be able to stand as the paragon of nonviolent resistance in chapter 24, but by Chapter 25 he is a vigilante soldier, ready to mete out justice on his own terms, in his own time. The man who talks his men out of performing an unjust mob hit in chapter 24 needs someone else to give him the same speech in Chapter 25.

Everyone has lapses of faithfulness, which is why we need community. David is a famous figure, a household name, a known hero. In contrast Abigail is a relative nobody. This is her cameo in Scripture, and every mention of her from this point on simply mentions that she is Nabal’s widow and David’s (new) wife. Yet David needs Abigail. Without her he is no better than Saul or Nabal.

Too often when seeking the will of God in our lives, we ignore two majors gifts God has given us—the Word of God and the wise counsel of other believers. Countless sins and major episodes of foolishness have been preceded by Christian believers “praying about a situation” and then acting on their feelings. But God has given the church as the instrument God uses to answer prayers. We should pray for guidance—frequently and earnestly—but we must recognize our prayers find God’s response through the wise words and actions of Christian brothers and sisters.

Believers who make terrible decisions almost always do so in isolation from good counsel. Like David, even the strongest of us is liable to forget what we know to be true and lunge forward toward our own solutions. We come to a crossroads in our marriage, our job, or our finances, and instead of seeking the Lord in prayer, seeking the Lord in Scripture, and seeking counsel from those who know the Word of God, we plow ahead all by ourselves. It should come as no surprise that cutting ourselves off from the body of Christ only leads to ruin and destruction.

In much of our study of 1 Samuel, we have needed to remind ourselves that we are not David, because David displays a faithfulness that reminds us of Christ. But here we should see ourselves in David, a man forgetful of God’s grace and in need of a community to correct him. May God be merciful to us and give us all ears to hear the Abigails in our lives.

So, whom do we trust as our defender? Is it the Lord or is it us? Let us remind ourselves of the words of the following (Davidic!) psalm as we encounter other Sauls in our lives—adversaries, enemies, and those who wish to shame us:

For the choir director. Of the servant of the Lord, David, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

I love You, Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock,

my fortress, and my deliverer,

my God, my mountain where I seek refuge,

my shield and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,

and I was saved from my enemies. (Ps 18:1-3)