1st May 2026

1st May 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (1 Samuel 25 focus v32-44)


Message (Alan Burke)


I had a boss who spoke of God-incidence often. Now you might be wondering what that means, but where people saw coincidence, he saw the LORD and work, and you know the longer I’m about and doing what I do, the more and more I see things that might be described by people as nothing more than coincidences being the LORD at work directing and guiding. This is God’s providence. I probably sound like a broken record as we come to this passage in 1 Samuel, speaking about providence, but we see it time and time again, the LORD at work, directing all that unfolds in David’s life. Let’s think where we are: Samuel has died, David is still on the run and has moved to the Sinai Peninsula, placing him further away from Saul’s reach. There he runs a protection racket, well, not really, but he looks out for those who send their animals for pasture and makes sure they don’t face any trouble. He doesn’t expect payment, but when it is time for the sheep shearing, a time for celebration where the profits of the year would have been shared out, Nabal refuses David’s request for provision, and David flies off the handle. He’s filled with rage and goes to kill all the men of Nabal’s household. Yet before he does, there is this wonderful woman, Abigail, who hears of her husband’s folly and acts. She goes and meets David to try and de-escalate the situation, not that she knew that David was in a murderous rage and the LORD had worked restraining David from doing what he set out to do.


Now just in case you doubt that it was the LORD at work, that this was not a coincidence but a God-incidence, David, after Abigail has spoken to him, is able to see the LORD’s restraining grace, how the providential hand of the LORD was at work in all that was unfolding. Look how he responds to Abigail and her words, v32; David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me” (1 Sa 25:32). The world would see such an event as nothing more than a coincidence, but David knew it was a Godincidence, that God was at work. He had been brought back to his senses; the LORD had worked through Abigail. He understood that he was putting himself in the place of God. There are times that the LORD works by his unseen hand, and we are none the wiser; other times, we look back and we can see how he has intervened to save us from ourselves, and David knew that this was all the LORD’s work. 


In the end, or what David likely thought was the end of this encounter, he sends Abigail off, telling her to go in peace. But then the account takes another twist. As Abigail goes home, we learn of Nabal’s banquet, oblivious to the danger that he was in, drinking too much, being a foolish man. Sadly, it is the state that many people are in, oblivious to the danger that they are in. But we are told of how in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him, and he became like a stone. What happened according to my mate who is a GP is that Nabal experienced a Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. It is also known as broken-heart syndrome; it is a heart condition that occurs due to severe emotional or physical stress, leading to a sudden weakening of the heart muscle. Then, ten days later, so that we are in no doubt what happened, we are told, “the LORD struck Nabal, and he died (38).” The LORD was at work, he still is. Coincidences may appear to be nothing more than that, but they are often God’s providential work, and in the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, that succinctly summarises the teaching of scripture, it explains; “God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least” (5.1). We can take great comfort in this in the midst of life and death.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q56 What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?
A. The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment.
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