King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Wednesday, April
Chapters: I Samuel 25, Psalms 140-141
Message: Be Slow To Wrath
Hello My Friend,
I was driving down the middle lane of a highway yesterday when a guy driving a semi-truck comes flying off the turnpike, I stopped in the middle of the road, just in time before he hit me so he could go all the way across the entire intersection into the turning lane. I was so angry that I wanted to chase that man and punch him for nearly plowing into me. Almost immediately, I thanked God for him not plowing into me, and then felt a deep sense of remorse because I wanted to harm the person. Praise God I did not act on my anger, but there have been times that I have, and it does not matter how strong your relationship with Jesus, or how grounded you are in God’s Word, you are going to make decisions out of haste at times. When God sees that we are about to do something, I would say, stupid, but will say, unwise, He will often place a barrier in front of us to keep us from acting on it. Call it intervention at its best, God will do whatever He can to keep us from acting on those bad decisions made in haste. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” – James 1:19-20.
“slow to wrath:” It is best that we make decisions one, after we have prayed to God, and two, after we have calmed down in our anger. While we are not always going to have time to think before we act, we can ask God to keep us from acting irrationally. “A Psalm of David. LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.” – Psalm 141:1-5.
“Let the righteous smite me;” Believe it or not, we do need someone godly to tell us if we have done or are about to do something evil in haste. Remember, righteous judgment, meaning we approach them as Christ would, and not with harsh criticism. David, faced many challenges before becoming king, and never failed to acknowledge that he needed God’s direction, but even he did not always think rational. A man named Nabal, had problems with the Philistines and asked David to help him drive them away, he did, and as a result became a very rich. When David heard that Nabal was out shearing sheep in the area he sent ten of his men to Nabal in hopes that he would send them some food and water, but Nabal refused and acted like he did not even know him.
“And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. And when David’s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.” – I Samuel 25:5,8-11,13.
“And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, Who is David?” You know, Jesus came here to save souls who receive Him as their Saviour, He never requires anything other than our faith for Him to save us. Those who reject Christ need to be very mindful, if you say you do not know Him, He will deny you ever existed as well, and by the time you discover who He is it will be too late. “Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” – Luke 13:26-28.
“and you yourselves thrust out.” Nabal did not realize when he denied he knew David would be the worse decision he would ever make. Do not think that people did not know what hell was before Jesus came here in the flesh, when Nabal’s wife Abigail, got word of the way her husband treated David, she gathered provisions, and bravely approached him. Interestingly with the same message that Jesus had spoken centuries later.
“And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.” – I Samuel 25:13,23-24,28-31.
“and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out,” There are so many fools, which is the meaning of Nabal’s name, who think they are righteous, and do not need Jesus to be saved, but fail to realize without Him they are nothing. We must understand that when we are faithful to God, He is faithful to us, and will always take care of us, anyone who denies us, is actually denying God. You know, it is okay for us to pray for God to handle our enemies for us, and to even give us the wisdom and strength to fight them if we need to. Always remember that vengeance belongs to God, we do not take a life, it is God who decides when a life is over. David prays for God to handle the wicked. “Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah. As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.” – Psalm 140:8-13.
“I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted,” For the longest time, and it is only because I got this from a preacher, I thought that it was wrong for us to pray for God to afflict those who wrong us. As I think on this, and how Jesus prayed, He never prayed that God would not afflict those who hurt Him, only that He forgive them. And let me tell you, that is exactly the kind of rational praying that brings burning coals of fire upon our enemy. You see, once we come to our senses, and realize that God is in control, we can ask Him to handle it, and wait patiently for the outcome. Now, that David had time to calm down as Abigail spoke to him he was able to make a more rational decision, and did not act on his anger.
“And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife. And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.” – I Samuel 25:32-33,36-39,42.
“that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal,” You see, David saw God take action Himself and handle Nabal in his own way. And why did all this have to happen to begin with? Pride. There are a lot of Nabal’s in life, they only want you around when they want something, expect people to constantly help them prosper, yet shun you when you need help. We all have times of famine, Jesus tells us to give to the poor, not expecting anything back, and in return God will reward us, but do you realize that anyone who denies us in our time of need has Him to answer to. “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” – Luke 6:24-26,35.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.” – I Samuel 25:23-24.
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for my salvation through grace by my faith and acceptance of Your Son alone as my Saviour. I do not have to do anything the merit salvation or keep it, I just had to believe in His sinless death, burial, and resurrection, and accept Him as the payment for my sin debt. Lord, I know I do not always make the best decisions, and often have made them out of anger, but You never fail to stop me from acting on them. LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. I ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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