Lessons from Abigail's Story

By Natasha Miller (c) 2022

Day 4: Value Discernment

Positioning Prayer: Heavenly Father, I deeply desire to walk in alignment with You and to know You. Teach me Your ways. Bless me with Understanding. Allow Your wisdom to guide my every thought, word, and deed. Thank you for speaking to me as I study your Word. In Jesus Name, Amen. 

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 25:2-44; Proverbs 3: 21-27

   Dishonesty runs rampant. It always unnerves me that someone can look me in the eyes and lie to my face. But people do it often. That’s one of the reasons I love walking with the Lord. The Holy Spirit always leads me to know who to trust or what to trust in a moment. We need to know the best choice, the good choice, and the bad choice. The need for discernment is essential to detect liars and to make decisions. By valuing discernment, we will readily recognize and act on it. 

   Abigail needed discernment. One day, out of the blue, her servant tells her a treacherous story of blessing and betrayal and her husband is playing the villain. Her servant could have been lying to her. He could have misunderstood the exchange. There are several variables that could have qualified his side of the story as tainted. Quickly, Abigail had to assess the situation. History with her husband Nabal and history with this servant definitely helped her assessment. She had to take her servant’s first-hand account of David’s protection as truth.  She had to believe that her husband would scream/revile/rail at David. She had to believe that because of what her husband did, now “harm is determined against [Nabal] and all his household.” The stakes were high. 

   Truly only God knows the heart. The Lord had blessed Abigail with discernment, likely honed over many years. Accordingly, in an emergency, she was able to discern that everything the servant said was truth and, as a result, had to act fast. Praise God that she did! She intercepted David and around 400 men on their route to slaughter the men of her household. She not only discerned the trustworthiness of her servant, but she discerned what she needed to do: bring food, beg for forgiveness, and honor David and his relationship with the Lord. It was within her power to do this, so she did. 

   Without discerning all of this, a horrendous tragedy would have befallen them all. But because she had developed and valued discernment, she and her whole household were able to go to bed without fear that night because sudden disaster had been averted.

Activating Prayer: Lord, I repent for any time I have not valued discernment. I declare from this day forward I will value discernment. I want to know your perspective of every situation. I want to see it from your eternal viewpoint and respond with Godly discernment. In faith, I am going to start walking in this manner. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

To read all 6 weeks of devotionals, click here. 

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(Photo by Arthur Chauvin)