Have you ever done anything foolish? Everyone does. Sometimes disaster results, other times just humorous consequences. Instead of a hit or miss approach, God offers wisdom to help His children make the right decisions. David, the man after God’s own heart, trusted God when faced by a bear, lion and giant. He patiently awaited God’s timing to become king. However, he also did some unwise things. Marrying his first wife was one of those things. It was foolish, not wise, and sad consequences followed it.
MRS. OUTSIDE: The Queen whose love turned to scorn. Out story starts with David visiting his brothers and taking up the challenge to fight Goliath. Saul promised to give his oldest daughter to the one who killed Goliath, but failed to do so for he became jealous of David’s popularity. Still, he was pressured to keep his word so he gave David his youngest daughter, Michal, who was infatuated with David as the latest national hero. Michal was a spoiled, self-centered princess who got everything she wanted. Saul tried to use her to get rid of David, saying he’d have to have proof of killing 100 Philistines as his dowry for a princess. David came back with proof of 200 dead Philistines!
When Saul sent soldiers to murder David in his home, Michael helped him escape but then lied to her father to cover up her role (1 Samuel 19:11-17). She was a good, convincing liar, playing both sides against the middle to protect herself. She could have gone with David but didn’t want to leave the king’s court, so she married another man ‘on the way up’ since there didn’t seem to be much of a future for David (1 Samuel 25:44).
During the next 14 years David, unfortunately, married several other women, including Abigail. When Saul died and the people wanted David for king, he demanded having Michal back for a wife as his condition for taking the crown (2 Samuel 3:14). She readily agreed, for David was now much more prestigious than her current husband. It broke his heart to see her go, and he followed her down the street crying (2 Samuel 3:15-16). Wanting her and taking her was not a wise move on David’s part.
More time passed, and eventually David realized he had been foolish. Michal laughed and mocked him for his care-free worship and praise when he brought the ark back to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:12-23). She had no spiritual perception, no concern for David’s joy. She only had pride in her own position. She rejected God and He rejected her, as did David (2 Samuel 6:23). She lived only for herself, and for her pleasure in the present. That is foolishness. It’s like the man who tore down his barns to build more but died that night. Jesus called him a ‘fool.’ A fool puts today’s pleasure over future good.
Wisdom is doing what is best in the long run, even if it isn’t the easiest at the moment. We don’t naturally have wisdom, but God gives it (James 1:5-8) through His Word (II Tim 3:15). A deep commitment to God and His values is necessary to have God’s wisdom (Ps 111:10). Man’s wisdom apart from God is ultimate disaster (I Cor 3:18; 2:6-16)
Fools. Some people do foolish things because they are naive, ignorant, don’t know better (Hebrew ‘pethi,’ Prov 8:5; 14:15; 22:3; 27:12). Others are foolish because they don’t do what they can to gain wisdom (Hebrew ‘Kesil,’ Prov 8:5; 10:1, 23; 13:20; 14:7; 17:10, 12). Worse are those who have knowledge and awareness of God’s principles but reject them (Hebrew ‘ewil,’ Prov 1:7; 10:14; 12:16; 15:5; 17:28; 20:3). When this continues a person becomes proud, haughty and unteachable (Hebrew ‘lits,’ Prov 9:8, 13:1; 22:10). The final result is the one who even goes so far as to deny their being a God (Hebrew ‘nabal,’ Prov 17:21; Psalm 14:1). It’s interesting that David’s second wife, who was a very wise woman, was married to a man with the Hebrew name ‘Nabal,’ or ‘fool’ (who goes so far as t reject God).
MRS. INSIDE: The Queen who was both winsome and wise. During David’s 14 years in hiding his men helped Nabal, who was expected by rules of society to reward him (much as we are expected to leave a tip for a waitress today) (1 Samuel 25:1-44). David was foolish and let his flesh rule. He took his men to kill Nabal and his household for the insult. However, Nabal’s wife, Abigail, a woman of both intelligence and beauty (verse 3), acted quickly and intervened. She sought to make the wrong right. She confronted 400 angry men bent on murder with words of peace and wisdom. She humbled herself and spoke respectfully to David. She talked to David as if he already knew and agreed with what she was saying, taking a positive approach instead of a negative, condemning approach. She was persistent and kept talking so David couldn’t respond quickly in anger. God used her to protect innocent lives and to keep David from sin. David was wise enough to take her advice (Prov 4:1; 8:10, 33; 24:32; 25:12).
Later, when she told Nabal, he suffered a stroke and soon died. David had his revenge, but God got it instead. David then wisely married her. He had no other wife at the time. She should have been his one and only wife. All of his heartache, family problems and kingdom turmoil would have been avoided had he been wise enough to have her for his only wife. Just as David was a man after God’s own heart, so she was a woman after God’s own heart. They were both godly and wise, a fine pair indeed. They balanced each other nicely, David being more the extrovert and Abigail the introvert. They had a son together named Kileab which means ‘God is my judge.’ Obviously that was Abigail’s tribute to God for taking care of her in her awful, abusive situation with Nabal.
Wisdom or foolishness, the choice is still ours. Doing what is short-sighted and self-centered brings negative consequences in the long run. Doing what is best for the future, based on the principles and values shown forth in God’s Word, that is wisdom. Proverbs has much to say about wisdom. “Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice” (13:10). “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm” (13:20). “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (14:12). “A mocker resents correction; he will not consult the wise” (15:12). “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord” (21:30).
Are you open to and seeking for God’s wisdom? Or do you just want to do what is easiest this moment? Remember Michal and Abigail. Michal had everything but lost it because of her self-centered foolishness. Abagail had nothing but because she did what was right in God’s sight ended up with everything. You can’t have both, it’s either what the world offers or what God offers. The choice is yours. Make a wise one.
1 Peter 3:4 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
Do you ever make quick first impressions based on what a person looks like or the first thing they say?
Who do you know that is wise? Who do you know that is foolish?
Do people consider you a wise person? Why or why not?
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India, Africa & Spanish Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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