Episode 2.10: Abigail

This post may contain affiliate links. Shopping through these links is at no additional expense for you.

Sharing is caring!

Listen

Episode 210: Abigail

Welcome to another episode of our Season Two series on A Woman of Valor. Today, we delve into the story of Abigail, exploring how she exemplifies the characteristics of a woman of valor and the valuable lessons we can learn from her.

The central theme of this episode is the idea that a woman of valor is not defined by her relationship status but by how she handles herself in relationships. Abigail encounters King David during his challenging times while evading Saul. In 1st Samuel chapter 25, we learn about Abigail, a woman described by God as both intelligent and beautiful, a rare combination in Scripture.

The narrative unfolds with Nabal, Abigail’s harsh and evil husband, refusing to assist David and his men. David, angered, plans to retaliate with 400 men. Abigail, upon hearing this, takes swift action. She exemplifies wisdom, kindness, and responsibility, traits essential for a woman of valor.

Abigail intervenes, meeting David with humility and respect, redirecting his focus to God’s plan. Her speech showcases not only intelligence but a deep knowledge of God’s word and an unwavering trust in His promises. Abigail becomes the intermediary, preventing a disastrous confrontation and preserving David’s greater mission.

What sets Abigail apart is her ability to speak with wisdom and kindness, even in the face of adversity. She takes responsibility for the situation, acknowledging that if she had been present earlier, the conflict might have been avoided. This admission highlights another aspect of her valor: the willingness to accept responsibility and rectify mistakes.

Abigail’s wisdom and courage eventually lead to Nabal’s demise. David recognizes God’s hand in the situation and sends a proposal to Abigail, who becomes his wife. Through this, Abigail emerges as a mighty woman of valor, standing strong in her trust in God, respectful and submissive in her role as a wife, and always acting with wisdom and kindness.

As we reflect on Abigail’s story, let’s draw inspiration from her example. In moments of conflict or adversity, may we emulate the wisdom, kindness, and responsibility that characterize a woman of valor. Just like Abigail, we can find calm and respectful responses that sway the day in difficult situations.

Join us in the next episode as we continue our exploration of women of valor and uncover more insights from the pages of Scripture. Subscribe to the Diligent Woman podcast to stay updated on our latest episodes, and don’t forget to share this valuable content with your friends.

Until next time, enjoy the journey towards becoming a woman of valor!

Connect

Get the FREE A Woman of Valor is…Bible Study Guide by clicking here –https://thediligentwoman.com/womanofvalorstudyguide/

You can find other studies in The Diligent Woman Shop.

Study more women of the Bible here:

To Be a Handmaid of the Lord Bible Study Guide for women ages 11-99

31 Days of Women from Scripture Volume 1

31 Days of Women from Scripture Volume 2

Learn more about Abigail here:

Lessons from Abigail

Lessons from Hannah and Three Wives of David


You can follow The Diligent Woman here:

website – www.thediligentwoman.com

YouTube – The Diligent Woman Channel

Facebook – facebook.com/thediligentwoman

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thediligentwoman/

Gab – https://gab.com/DiligentWoman

Transcript

S2 Ep 10 Abigail
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Diligent Woman Podcast, where Christian women let
go of their guilt and step out in confidence by bringing God into every part of
the day, learning by examples in scripture, applying simple principles, and
trusting the Lord with it all. I am Angela Legg of TheDiligentWoman. com, and
I welcome you to growing grace and truth one step at a time.
[00:00:21] Let’s get started. Hello.
[00:00:24] Hello. And welcome back to the Diligent Woman podcast. I’m
Angela Diligent Woman from the Diligentwoman . com and I’m so glad to have
you here. Today’s episode of our season two series on A Woman of Valor is we
are looking at single and married women who Meet the definition of a woman
of valor, or show us what it doesn’t look like depending on the woman or maybe
their moments of failure, but the whole point is for us to learn that a woman of
valor is not defined by the relationship [00:01:00] she’s in, but rather by the way
in which she handles herself in those relationships.
[00:01:05] And today’s episode is all about Abigail. This is a woman who
encounters King David. In his early years as king, he’s technically been made
king. But Saul is still alive, and so David is on the run with Saul chasing after
him, and David is waiting to take the throne after Saul is completely removed.
[00:01:37] He’s waiting on God to handle that. And through the course of
events, while David is out, basically running around the country avoiding Saul
and trying to just keep he and his men safe and out of Saul’s clutches. We come
to 1st Samuel chapter 25 and Samuel dies. So we no longer have the judge,
,Samuel [00:02:00] here to guide everyone.
[00:02:02] Israel comes together and they mourn him and we’re told of a
particular man in Maon who had business in Carmel and. That had to do with
sheep and goats. He had 3, 000 sheep and 1, 000 goats. That’s a wealthy man.
Large herd. He’s very rich. And while he was shearing his sheep in Carmel, this
man’s name is Nabal, we are told.
[00:02:28] Which, if you look up his name, the name just, it means fool. There
are so many people in scripture who live up to their names, and sometimes it’s
not good. Oh, it’s interesting. So but Nabal is this man who’s very rich, and he
has a wife named Abigail. And God describes her as a woman who was
intelligent and beautiful in appearance.
[00:02:56] I don’t know any other women in scripture that get [00:03:00] both
of those. wE are told. Of how beautiful Rachel was and how beautiful Sarah
was and other women there that their physical beauty was there and God doesn’t
specify about their intelligence. It’s reflected in their choices and their
knowledge and all of those things.
[00:03:21] He shows us that they are intelligent women. He just doesn’t describe
them that way. Abigail is described as intelligent and beautiful, and I believe
there’s a reason why he tells us that as this precursor to the story, he also tells us
that Nabal is harsh and evil in his dealings. I find it fascinating that God bothers
to tell us that he’s a Calebite you would think that would be a wonderful lineage
to be a part of.
[00:03:48] Caleb was so exemplary in his time, but we are now many
generations. Past Caleb and Israel has fallen so far. And [00:04:00] it really
none of it has rubbed off on Nabal. So Nabal and his men are in Carmel and
they are having this, the she sheared and David heard of them in the wilderness
and he saw 10 young men.
[00:04:19] And David sent. young men and he invited his men to go offer
themselves to you know that we’ve protected you and he offered them as
protection to those men while they were sharing the sheep and then when David
learns of it that Nabal is there he sends these men as kind of ambassadors for
him to Nabal to ask for favor.
[00:04:49] And let them come for we have come on a festive day, so they can’t,
they probably can’t buy food because it’s all been bought up for the feast day,
and please give whatever you find at hand to [00:05:00] your servants and to
your son, David. So he comes in a very meek way, um, honoring Nabal and just
asking if, you know, if you can provide for us so that we can eat, because he’s
got his men and they’re out on the run.
[00:05:14] And they’ve protected the shepherds, your shepherds have been with
us, we’ve not insulted them, they haven’t missed anything, we haven’t taken
anything from them, we’ve protected your people, we’ve protected your income,
and we’re just asking that you would just this day help us with provisions. And
they came, they spoke those words to Nabal.
[00:05:36] And they waited, but Nabal’s answer in verse 10 is who is David and
who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking
away from his master. This is really insulting because if you’ll remember in the
story of Saul with Saul and David after David slays Goliath, Saul gets upset
[00:06:00] because all the people are singing this song about David and they’re
singing it throughout the land.
[00:06:07] David has slain so many. Saul has SL thousands and you know,
David has, has tens of thousand and so David is known . He’s hiding from Saul,
but not from people and. There are many people who would know that Saul’s
days as king are numbered. They know that there’s a shift coming, and they
know that David is a good man, and his men are good, and they’ve been going,
you know, they’ve had many, you know, interactions with people.
[00:06:40] So for Nabal to act as though he just has no idea who David is, the
sarcasm that is written here, we just have to think that David, that Nabal knew
who it was. He just didn’t want to give him anything. He said, you know,
anybody can come up and say anything, so why should I have to share my meat
with you?
[00:06:59] [00:07:00] Well, David’s men go back, and they tell him what
happened, and David’s mad. He has been insulted. And if you take this in the
context of the storytelling that God’s doing and just in the chapter before, David
went out of his way not to insult the anointed of God, and then for him to face
this man who does that very thing to him, who is the anointed of God.
[00:07:29] So to him, this is like the ultimate thing. And if you’ll remember
later. When Saul dies in battle, the one who helped him to finish his life, and
then comes and tells David about it, thinking David would rejoice in that,
David’s not at all happy about that, and he deals with that man for not honoring
Saul for who he was, even in those moments.
[00:07:56] He was looking to be pleasing to David, not to be pleasing to God,
[00:08:00] and David was more concerned with doing right by God’s chosen. So
in this moment, David gets angry. He says, each of you gird on his sword. So
each man took his sword, and David girded his sword, and about 400 men went
up behind David, while 200 stayed with the baggage.
[00:08:18] So he’s got 600 men with him, 400 go with him to face off with
Nabal. But, one of the young men, one of Nabal’s young men, went and told
Abigail. And he said, David sent messengers to greet him and our master
scorned him and that their men were good to us. He tells the story and he, he
tells how that all came down.
[00:08:47] And he just says, but you know that how, how our master is, and he
is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him. That’s how Nabal is
thought of by his servants in verse 17. [00:09:00] But he trusts Abigail. So he
brings this news to Abigail in this crazy situation and these, this army that’s
coming and she hurries and she takes all of this food.
[00:09:16] And she prepares it. She says, go before me and she goes, I’m
coming, but she didn’t, she’s not going to bother telling a ball. She’s not going to
get, we’re just going to go do this. Go take care of the problem. And so it came
about, we start in verse 20 as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by
the hidden part of the mountain that David and his men were coming down
toward her.
[00:09:38] So she met them. So she basically has a standoff. She is here, coming
around the mountain from one way, and she meets this army. And David’s
response, obviously when he realizes who she is, he says, Surely in vain I’ve
guarded all that this man has, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to
him.
[00:09:59] And he has [00:10:00] returned me evil for good. May God do so to
the enemies of David and more so, if by morning I leave as much as one male of
any who belong to him. So he’s going to go destroy all of them. He’s no longer
going to protect Nabal. But as we’re looking at a woman of valor, if, if there are,
there are lots of women of valor.
[00:10:21] But with JL in the book of Judges and Abigail are two women in
particular who are shown to be women. In a moment of battle, but it’s not a
traditional sense of battle, but these are women in this moment who are
warriors. And I find it so impressive and something that we can learn from
because the way she handles this battle is with wisdom and kindness.
[00:10:54] And remember, we’re talking about our characteristics, about a
woman of valor, as she’s described in Proverbs 31, [00:11:00] right off, we’re
going to see that this is a woman who speaks with wisdom and kindness. And a
woman who is responsible. We immediately have that from her. We know from
God that she is intelligent, so she has the wisdom.
[00:11:20] And she comes and she speaks to David. And I want to listen to her
speech. Let’s read her speech from what she chooses to say to David. Keep in
mind, she has a very angry, righteously angry king and 400 men with swords in
front of her. And this is what Abigail says in verse 23 of 1 Samuel 25. When
Abigail saw David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey and fell on her
face before David.
[00:11:58] And bowed herself to the ground. [00:12:00] She shows him honor.
In verse 24, she fell at his feet and said, On me alone, my lord, be the blame.
And please let your maidservant speak to you and listen to the words of your
maidservant. She says, Okay, this needs to be on me. This is a brave thing for
her to do. And she explains why it should be on her.
[00:12:27] She says, Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless
man, Nabal. For as his name is, so is he. She doesn’t make excuses for Nabal.
She knows what he is. Everybody knows what he is. She doesn’t lie about him
and try to go, Oh, he’s just having a bad day. He didn’t really mean it. They all
know he mean it.
[00:12:47] He meant it. They know it. She knows it. She knows what he is. She
doesn’t make excuses for him. She just tells it the way that it is, but she stays on
point. She says [00:13:00] Nabal is his name and Folly is with him, but I, your
maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent. Now
therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has
restrained you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself by your own
hand, Now then, let your enemies and those who seek evil against my Lord be
as nabal.
[00:13:29] She’s like, God, she’s making the point that this moment that is
pausing this for David, this is God putting a break. This is God putting a pause
to this and she says, you’ve, you have been restrained since the Lord has
restrained you. He didn’t destroy the men in the first place when he encountered
them, he protected them, and you’re being restrained from avenging with your
own hand, so listen, and let your [00:14:00] enemies and those who seek evil
against my lord be as Nabal.
[00:14:03] Let your enemies be dealt with by God the way God’s going to deal
with Nabal. And then she explains this. Now, let this gift which your
maidservant has brought to my Lord be given to the young men who accompany
my Lord. She says, please forgive the transgression of your maidservant for the
Lord will certainly make for my Lord an enduring house because my Lord is
fighting the battles of the Lord and evil will not be found in you all your days.
[00:14:33] You want to talk about a woman who fears the Lord, she’s not just
intelligent. She has knowledge of God and his plan. She knows who David is
and she knows what God’s plans are for him. She goes, because my Lord is
fighting the battles of the Lord. She knows what David has been sent to do. You
have a greater mission in front of you.
[00:14:58] And she takes the [00:15:00] responsibility on herself because she
wasn’t there to get the message and it went to Nabal instead. She was, if I’d been
there, this would have been different. She said in verse 29, Should anyone rise
up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my Lord shall be bound
in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God.
[00:15:20] But the lives of your enemies he will sling out as from the hollow of
a slain. I think she’s maybe referencing back to what he did with Goliath and
who accomplished the slain in that moment. And when the Lord does for my
Lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you and appoints
you ruler over Israel, this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my Lord,
both by having shed blood without cause and by my Lord having avenged
Himself.
[00:15:50] When the Lord deals well with my Lord, then remember your
maidservant. This woman focuses David’s [00:16:00] energy back on what God
wants. This is a woman who speaks with wisdom, her kindness is in the fact of
how she’s treating everyone. Right? She’s caring for her, for her people. She’s
showing kindness towards Nabal.
[00:16:16] She’s caring for others by caring for her servants and protecting
them. She is responsible. She is taking responsibility where it is hers. I don’t
know from the way she handles this. The implication is, is this is not something
that would have usually been taken to an ABAL. This would have been hers. If I
had been there to hear this, Then your request would have been granted, but she
wasn’t there, so it’s on her that there was a failure, because David should have
never had to deal with Nabal anyway, for this.
[00:16:51] Apparently to her, the food and these things were her responsibility.
So she asks David’s forgiveness, asks [00:17:00] him to calm himself, and to
remember what God is sending him to do. Technically, is it, is he right that
Nabal is being insulting towards him? Yes. Yes. Yes. But is it valuable as God’s
anointed for him to take this moment, for him to be the one to go in and fix this
little thing in the grand scheme of God’s battles that David is being sent to fight?
[00:17:30] This woman shows not only that she fears the Lord, she respects his
authority. She shows honor to David and respects his authority, but she’s not
afraid to contradict his position. She’s not afraid to remind him. That there’s a
different perspective to take. She trusts God and God’s plan that much. And I
think she trusts David’s intention to do what God wants.
[00:17:58] I think she trusts [00:18:00] that that’s going to be his response. But
she gives him facts. She doesn’t, I love the fact that she doesn’t cry. She doesn’t
moan and wail and beg for mercy and all these things. She does it with sensible
arguments that keeps the focus on what David would see is actually valuable
and important.
[00:18:17] What would get his attention? She doesn’t send, try to spend a whole
lot of time excusing Nabal. Nabal is Nabal. That’s not really the problem here.
The problem is, is what’s going to happen if you don’t pay attention to this
stopgap that God has inserted here. She has no question that she has been sent
because she came, she heard, and I have to take that that way because she says
that the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood.
[00:18:45] And the thing that’s between David doing that And hitting Nabal,
right? The thing that’s between them is Abigail. The Lord has provided an out,
the Lord has provided a door, another option [00:19:00] for David to go through
that could be better for him as he becomes king. This is a woman with a lot of
knowledge of God’s word.
[00:19:11] And if you keep in mind and remember where Israel has come, what
they came through through the judges and how far, generally speaking, the
nation has fallen, okay, they come back a little bit. with Samuel, but there’s
always issues to deal with. Idolatry is never completely gone. Saul brings in
things. Saul has these failings.
[00:19:36] Saul doesn’t show honor to God and is losing the kingship because of
it. Israel’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. None. But in the middle
of all of this, you have Abigail, who’s living with a man who is a hard man to be
married to, because I guarantee you if this is his reputation amongst all people,
he’s this way with his wife.[00:20:00]
[00:20:01] This is what he, this is what he is. And she doesn’t make any bones
about it. She’s like, this is what he is. It’s not worth your time. Don’t let him
bother you anymore. Do something bigger. And David acknowledges what she
says. In verse 32, Then David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
who sent you this day to meet me.
[00:20:24] Now he says, God sent her to meet him. So now he’s agreeing that
Abigail is the thing that’s staying his hand. That God sent her To slow him down
who sent you this day to meet me and blessed be your discernment and blessed
be you Who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself
by my own hand He acknowledges the truth of what she says.
[00:20:50] He understands that it is truly wisdom. She’s not being she’s not
flattering him She is not making excuses for Nabal. She is not just [00:21:00]
whining and trying just to win the day This is a woman with a thoughtful
presentation, has made a logical, spiritual, wise argument. Ladies, we need to
take note. This is how she’s a warrior.
[00:21:22] Last episode, we talked about Sarah and that inner quality of a meek
and quiet spirit or a gentle and quiet spirit and how that is not weakness, but it is
power under control. Being quiet within yourself where you’re not at war with
every other authority that comes across your way that you can sit in front of
others who have Different responsibilities than you and be okay with that.
[00:21:50] You don’t see it as an insult to you because they have a responsibility
you don’t have. You’re quiet inside and you have self-control. [00:22:00] This is
wearing the armor that God describes in Ephesians chapter six. This is the
armor that Jesus put on when he faced the devil in the wilderness and it
scripture that.
[00:22:16] Ladies, if you want to be a woman of valor, if you want to be known
as a woman who is a Proverbs 31 woman, you’re going to be a woman whose
hands are busy doing work that reflects someone who understands God’s word
and how that is a part of your everyday life and that when the lions come
roaring at you or the Goliaths or the David who is just straightforward heading
to go destroy, he’s the army that is coming to destroy.
[00:22:52] You are ready to stand because your trust is in God and in his
promises. She’s trusting in what God has promised [00:23:00] David, which in
turn is a promise to all of the world and to Israel, because it’s through David,
this lineage, that there will be a Messiah who comes. She is trusting in the
promises of the nations to be blessed through these people, and she understands
this.
[00:23:17] She understands that David is sent to fight the battles for the Lord.
That’s a little elevated than just the battles for Israel. He’s coming to fight the
battles for the Lord, and Abigail knows it. And she can encourage him to do the
right thing because she is certain of what the right thing is. But she’s not
desperate.
[00:23:39] Not at least in her presentation. I’m sure inside she’s, she’s a little
worried. You’d have to be to be motivated to come and do this. She wants this to
stop, but she goes and she accomplishes that. And then I want to show too, in
other areas, she shows a lot of wisdom while [00:24:00] still respecting the
sorority.
[00:24:02] When she goes back home, you know, David says it never in verse
34 and nevertheless is the Lord God of Israel lives who has restrained me from
harming you unless you had come quickly to meet me. Surely there would not
have been left Nabal until the morning light as much as one male. If it weren’t
for her, he was going to destroy all those men.
[00:24:25] So David received from her hand what she had brought and said to
her, go up to your house in peace. I’ve listened to you and granted your request.
So as far as that goes, things are done with David. So Ab now Abigail has to go
home. And remember, she didn’t tell Nabal where she was going. That she was
going and dealing with this, but also remember that it’s a feast day.
[00:24:51] So verse 36, Abigail comes to Nabal and he’s holding a feast in his
house like the feast of a king. Remember all the, the morsels that he [00:25:00]
was not wanting to give to David. He said why, you know, why should I even
give him a morsel? Take my bread and my water and my meat as though it’s,
you know, he’s got meager, meager servings for he and his men.
[00:25:16] Why should I give him any of that? He’s feasting. He is like a feast
of a king. There’s lots of food. He had room to share, I believe is the point. And
Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So, she did not tell
him anything at all until the morning light. Abigail shows wisdom again, and I
believe it’s also respect for him.
[00:25:43] It’s respect for his position, because what good is it gonna, she’s
gonna just dishonor him to call him out in front of all of these people that he’s
feasting with. And she’s showing wisdom because why would you call
somebody out when they are so deep in their cups? [00:26:00] He’s drunk. Is he
gonna have a answer that’s in his right mind and actually process what she says?
[00:26:08] Is he gonna, is he gonna reply in a, you know, in a reasonable way at
all? This man who is already known for not being reasonable? So she waits until
the morning. But in the morning, when the wine Nabal, his wife told him these
things. And his heart died within him so that he became as a stone. I can only
imagine that maybe this is kind of like having a stroke maybe kind of going into
a coma.
[00:26:35] I don’t know. It just, all of a sudden, he is struck with something, and
he’s not dead yet, but he is described as being as a stone. And about ten days
later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. The knowledge of what had happened.
The mental awareness of what had [00:27:00] happened because of him and the
magnitude of that affected him physically.
[00:27:06] And this man who had been feasting the day before and had held on
to his little bit of food and couldn’t dare to give it to David and his men dies,
you know, take it with you. So he dies. And Nabal learns of that, and he is
thankful for Abigail, and he sends her a proposal for her to come be his wife,
and she accepts that, and she goes, and she becomes the wife of David.
[00:27:37] Because of her wisdom again, he says in verse 39, blessed be the
Lord. The cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal and has kept back his
servant from evil. The Lord has also returned the evil doing of Nabal on his own
head. So David acknowledges what’s happened. [00:28:00] All of it is God. God
stopped me and God dealt with Nabal, so the vengeance was dealt to Nabal, but
David didn’t do it with his own hands, and it was because Abigail trusted the
Lord to do and she went and did the right thing.
[00:28:19] This is a warrior woman who is a woman of valor. There is a woman
of valor who stands strong because of her trust in what God has said. She’s not a
woman of valor because she’s married. It’s while she’s married that she shows
what a woman of valor looks like. Because, obviously, she has these scruples of
her own volition.
[00:28:45] She doesn’t share them with her husband. But she has been a
respectful and submissive wife, even to this hard man. Even through the trouble
that he’s caused. [00:29:00] Can you imagine being married to so, so hard a man
and Not who maybe there’s somebody out there who would want to just stand
by and let him be destroyed.
[00:29:09] She could have taken the servants and run and left him to no
protection and just let David do what he’s going to do if she didn’t care about
anybody else. It would have gotten her out of a mess, right? Get rid of this man
who’s causing trouble for her. She doesn’t do that. She does what’s good for
everyone and then lets God take care of the rest.
[00:29:34] That’s a mighty woman of valor and you can be that woman. The
knowledge and the wisdom that this woman shows, we can grow to have that.
We can have the confidence whenever we are having to stand up to someone
who is belligerent or going overboard with their reactions, to find the calm and
respectful but truthful answer [00:30:00] that will sway the day.
[00:30:02] It doesn’t always mean that other people are going to react the way
David did, but we can learn to respond like Abigail. We can be that kind of a
woman of valor. And again, It’s not the marriage part that made her this, it was
the fear of the Lord part that did. If she’d not had the knowledge and the
confidence of what God had said, to repeat to David what he knew to be truth,
what slowed him down was he saw God’s hand in the middle of this, saw the
wisdom, and he gave God the glory for it.
[00:30:35] And Abigail did that. And my friend, you and I can be like Abigail.
It’s going to be a daily grind, daily work, being in the Word. Reading it so that
we can learn how to be good Christian women. I’m reminded of the admonition
that, you know, God gave to the future [00:31:00] king and he wasn’t there when
the king yet, but in Deuteronomy, he gives instructions for the king that the
people are going to ask for one day, he says, one thing he wants him to do is he
wants him to write out the law in his own hand, write it out in his own hand and
then carry it with him everywhere.
[00:31:18] And read it every day so that he will be a leader who will lead the
people in a way that is right with the Lord. You’ll make him a kind and a wise
leader if he will follow the law and know the law himself. Not just trust advisors
to tell him what the law says, but he will know the law himself because he wrote
it out in his own hand and he reads it every day to know what God’s instructions
were.
[00:31:42] We can imitate that too. So I want to encourage you ladies, not every
woman in scripture is shown as a warrior woman in this way. Not every woman
is shown as a Jael. Who has the presence [00:32:00] of mind to welcome a man
into her tent, make him comfortable, give him dinner, cover him with a blanket,
and then kill him while he sleeps.
[00:32:09] Lord willing, we all won’t be in that situation to have to do that, but
to have the presence of mind to do it is amazing. Oh, to be like Jael. But to have
the presence of mind to move this quickly, and to say the right things like
Abigail does, that’s the kind of woman of valor I want to be. And I know I can
be because God has shown her to me and he has created me to be able to take in
the information so I can imitate that.
[00:32:45] I can be what God has made me to be. And so can you. So I want to
leave you with that. We’re getting close to the end of our season. We’re getting
close. If you haven’t yet grabbed your copy of A Woman of Valor is the
[00:33:00] Bible study, there’s still a link dropped below the video. That will
allow you to dive into these characteristics that we’ve gone through.
[00:33:09] You go back and listen to the episodes of the, and learn some of the
single women and look at these married women, and then let that open the door
for you to go look at other women in scripture and line them up next to the, the
woman in Proverbs 31 and see which ones add up and which ones have failings.
[00:33:30] Which ones have some of her characteristics, but not others. And
those things that are lacking are what makes all the difference. So, go study and
dive in so God can show you what it looks like for you to be this woman. She’s
not an impossible ideal for you to achieve. Because it’s a woman who does what
needs to be done in the circumstances that she’s in.
[00:33:53] Then look the same for you as it does for me. But it’s the one who
gets done what needs doing, and she is a [00:34:00] force for good for those
around her. So I hope that this has encouraged you today. I hope that you will
join me in our next episode where we will look at our final married woman in
this series and some lessons from her before we finish off the series in the last
episode with kind of a roundup of scriptures for encouragement.
[00:34:21] oNe other thing, there will also be a link down below for the Bible
study guide that I’ve mentioned a few times to be a handmade of the lord. com.
That’s and it’s all spelled out to be a handmade of the lord. com and handmade is
H A N D M A I D tobeahandmaidofthelord.Com. And this is a Bible study
guide that was originally written for my preteen girls, but it has grown to be a
book that has blessed many, many older women and many girls of all ages,
really.
[00:34:58] I don’t [00:35:00] remember. Lots of teenage girls, you know,
grabbing Bible study books and getting their friends in their dorms or, you
know, contacting their other friends from school and organizing Bible studies to
go through different books. I know I, most of the Bible study books I had going
through most of my growing up that I at least got from our congregation were,
one, they, all my friends got them, but they weren’t, They weren’t ones that were
really easy to share.
[00:35:29] But this book has had, it’s not the book, it’s the scriptures in it that
has given young women and older women alike. The confidence to see
themselves in God’s word and how he has made it personal for them and that
they can be a blessing in whatever season they’re in and they want to share it.
And it’s given them tools to explore it and to talk about it and to understand the
scriptures and allowed them to have conversations that were [00:36:00] harder
for them to have.
[00:36:01] And the blessings that have come from it are, have just very, very
touching to see and to hear because it’s God’s word. God has given us so much.
So I want to encourage you to find that if you’re needing some encouragement
or you know a young, a young girl who’s struggling to see her identity and her
value, I’d encourage you to pick it up.
[00:36:22] Even if you take just a lesson here or there or pull those scriptures
and read them, make a scripture writing plan out of the scriptures and the
lessons. And just pick from it and choose from the things that are needed at the
time. You’ll equip her with knowledge that she needs that someone bigger than
all things cares about who she is.
[00:36:44] And my friend, that’s a lesson that you need. It’s a lesson I needed
because I learned it. Oh, I learned it when I was creating the material. And it is
just, it’s profound and it’s impactful and it’s just a convenient gathering of that
information. And again, that’s [00:37:00] tobeahandmaidofthelord. com and I
will drop the link down below the video or the audio today.
[00:37:07] So thank you for being here. And Lord willing, we’ll see you in the
next episode.
[00:37:12] Thanks for joining me today on the Diligent Woman podcast. Please
subscribe to be notified of new episodes and share those with your friends. Until
next time, enjoy!
[00:37:22]

Sharing is caring!