Leave that Fool Alone

I Samuel 25:17

Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household for he is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him.

There is one person you shouldn’t waste any time speaking to or trying to get revenge on and that is a fool. We’ve all run into him or her in our lifetime. It’s the person that doesn’t listen to wise council. They like hearing their own voice. You can’t get a word in edge wise because he/she is a fool. Leave that fool alone!

Fools come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. There are rich fools and poor fools, but the advice is the same leave those fools alone. David had been watching over the property of a very rich fool named Nabal, whose name means son of Belial or fool. Nabal was an insolent, rude, and contentious man. During the time of feasting when Nabal was celebrating his flocks going to market, David decided to send his men to get a return on his favor. David and his men had been doing makeshift security for Nabal’s shepherds while they were watching their 3,000 sheep in the desert. His men even said, “They were like a wall by day and night for us.” But when David’s men came to ask for some food this fool gets rude and sends them away empty handed, talking about “who is David and who is the son of Jesse that I should give him some bread and water?” He picked the wrong somebody to mess with. This is David and six hundred of the most feared warriors. They have been living in caves, fighting Philistines and running from Saul.

David is fed up. He tells everybody to strap up and roll out. His plan is to kill every male in Nabal’s family. Nabal was blessed to be married to Abigail who was a woman of good understanding and beautiful. One of the servants ran to tell her to do something because David was on his way. He said to Abigail, “you know that nobody can talk to your husband, he’s a scoundrel.”

Abigail goes out to save her family to meet David with a peace offering of food and wine. She saves her family by:

1. Recognizing God’s anointed. When she meets David, she immediately gets off her Donkey and bows down before David. Mind you he’s not even king yet. He doesn’t look like a king, but she is a woman of understanding and recognizes the anointing on his life.

2. She apologizes for her husband’s ignorance. She recognizes she’s married to a fool but tells David don’t you be a fool just because he is.

3. She offers gifts to David for the good he’s done for her family. She knows that there would be no feast or profit had it not been for David and his men protecting her husband’s herds. When people do us good we ought to do good back to them.

4. She speaks into the life of David. She somewhat prophesies into David’s life and tells him that when he become’s King he doesn’t want this to tarnish his reputation.

5. She speaks truth in love to her husband after he sobers up. She told him what could have happened had she not intervened. Even though she was married to a fool, she still stood up and covered him by doing what was right. She didn’t withhold the truth. She just shared it at a time when the fool could receive it.

In doing so, Abigail saves her family and David’s reputation. David would have tainted his anointing by messing with a fool. Nabal died of a heart attack some time later and David sent for Abigail to be his wife because he recognized a woman of God when he saw one. Both of them left that fool alone.

Dear God, don’t let me waste my time fighting fools. You are rewarded of them that do good. My gifts will make room for me and bring me in the presence of great men and keep me from the presence of fools. A fool and his money will soon depart and wise men will get what belongs to him one way or the other. Thank you for dealing with the fools so I can focus on what you have anointed me to do. Today, I’m leaving every fool that tries my patience alone.

In Jesus Name.

Amen.