Where Do You Turn When The Bottom Falls Out?

Where do you turn when the bottom falls out?

1 Samuel 25:1-25

Illustration JUST CAN’T QUIT

Wilma didn’t get much of a head start in life. A bout with polio left her left leg crooked and her foot twisted inward so she had to wear leg braces. After seven years of painful therapy, she could walk without her braces. At age 12 Wilma tried out for a girls basketball team, but didn’t make it. Determined, she practiced with a girlfriend and two boys every day. The next year she made the team. When a college track coach saw her during a game, he talked her into letting him train her as a runner. By age 14 she had outrun the fastest sprinters in the U.S. In 1956 Wilma made the U.S. Olympic team, but showed poorly. That bitter disappointment motivated her to work harder for the 1960 Olympics in Rome--and there Wilma Rudolph won three gold medals, the most a woman had ever won. Today in the Word, Moody Bible Institute, Jan, 1992, p.10.

How many times have you felt like quitting? Quitting your family, your job, your church, how about the Lord? I know, we don’t like to admit it do we? But when we look at Jeremiah we find a man that wanted to quit and couldn’t. Let’s learn from him today.

I. Let’s take a look at some background information

to properly set the stage for Abigail’s story.

A. The prophet Samuel has anointed David King of Israel,

but the crown is still sitting on the head of his jealousy

adversary Saul.

1. David’s face is appearing in all the post offices in the nation as he tops Saul’s most wanted list.

2. David and his army of misfits numbering around 600 are on the run moving from hideout to hideout.

3. David and his mighty men move to the wilderness of Paran.

B. David and his men begin policing the area

protecting the farmers and their flock in hopes

of being able to scratch out a living.

1. No contracts are signed but they work hard to protect the

farms in the area.

2. At shearing time the farmers would gather the sheep to

shave off their profits.

3. The farmers would also share food and profits with

volunteer police to pay them for their services.

4. The villain in our story is a tight fisted miser by the name

of Nabal who refused to pay.

David

+Was hurting enough that he couldn’t hide his needs

+Was honest enough to cry out for help

+Was humble enough to learn from God

+Was pointing others to God

Ps. 34:19; 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous;

but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

Be Psalm 57:1-3 1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to

me, for in thee my takes in the

shadow of thy wings I will take refuge,

till the storms of destruction pass by.

I cry to God Most High, to God who fulfils his

purpose for me.

3. He will send from heaven and save me, he will put to shame those who trample upon me.

Psalm s 14211-7 I cry with my voice to the LORD,

with my voice I make supplication to the LORD,

2 I pour out my complaint before him, I tell my trouble before him. 3 When my spirit is faint, thou knowest my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.

4 I look to the right and watch, but there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me, no man cares for me. 5 I cry to thee, O LORD; I say, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

6 Give heed to my cry; for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are too strong for me!

7 Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to thy name! The righteous will surround me; for thou wilt deal bountifully with me.

C. Then we have David, a person who really

needs little introduction.

1. David and his men are forced to live in the wilderness in

tents.

2. Definitely not the kingly life he imagined when Samuel

anointed him king over Israel.

3. David is hungry, dirty and tired; he literally feels like a

hunted animal.

4. Now consider Nabal’s blatant selfishness hitting David’s

short fuse of frustration head on.

Nabal

+A man “heavy” with money (25:2) 2And there was a man in Maon, whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel

A. Nabal’s reputation like his vast herd,

spread throughout the countryside.