Lysa Terkeurst - guest speaker at Fresh Life
The Rejection Infection
We all have a story.
We all have a story we tell ourselves.
Unnecessary roughness : rejection
Healed people, heal people.
God's words need to be THE words of our story.
Rejection steals the best of who I am by reinforcing the worst that's been said to me.
We have an opportunity to flip that!
1 Samuel 25
Nabal (Hebrew pronunciation : nay-val)
Nabal is mean & rude outside the home (so most likely he is the same or worse at home)
Abigail is his wife. Abigail is described as beautiful and intelligent.
David being picked to be the new king :
Jesse (David's father) didn't even give David a chance at first.
Jesse left David out in the field to tend to the sheep.
Overlooked by everyone else, but hand-picked by God!
God might not be setting you aside, but setting you apart.
Being set apart always requires preparation.
Unnecessary roughness happens to me by me most of the time.
1 Samuel 22:2
The people surrounding David were disgruntled, in debt...what a fun bunch to be around.
David and his men would sleep around Nabal's flocks as a wall of protection.
David felt he had done Nabal a favor so he asked for special food for festival time.
David's men returned and said Nabal had said, "Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse?"
At the name of his father it probably would have stirred up strong emotions.
David probably pulled the pain of his past rejection to his current circumstance.
Compound reaction, not from the situation at hand but from the hurt from the past.
A servant told Abigail that trouble was coming.
Abigail gathered more food than was originally requested.
Abigail didn't tell her husband.
vs 24 Abigail is also brave.
David threatened to kill Naval's whole family.
Abigail still went down on her knees and probably whispered to David so as not to humiliate him.
Abigail knew David was anointed to be king.
Abigail was trying to tell David, "do not let today's reaction be tomorrow's regret!"
Abigail was trying to tell David revenge would do him no good.
Humility opens up the door of opportunity for other's to listen to us.
Pride & disgrace hold hands.
Proverbs tells us humility holds hands with wisdom.
Humility is not a position of weakness, it is a position of great strength.
vs 28 you are on assignment by God. Do not derail this assignment from God because of a distraction.
The enemy wants to steal, kill & destroy.
The devil is vicious but NOT victorious!
God was good then (when you defeated Goliath), and God is good now!
He did it then, He will do it again.
Trace God's hand of faithfulness in our life!
Abigail fought to save the life of her greatest burden (her husband).
God is GREAT at being God!
There is a big difference of thinking a lot about something and praying a lot about something.
1 Samuel 25:42
Abigail becomes David's wife.
In the end it doesn't end in a fairytale, David gets caught up with concubines & has an affair.
But who's story ties up in a neat, nice bow?
Not everyone's story is "happily ever after."
The root of rejection produces rotten fruit.
Rejection hurts. Rejection is painful.
God's love changes everything.
Remind yourself : circumstances & people may not be good to me, but GOD IS GOOD to me.
Our neediness easily turns into greediness.
God's love isn't based on me, God's love is placed on me!
It's impossible to hold up the banner of victim and victory at the same time.
The source of your courage is not your own strength.
You're more courageous than you even know, because God's courage is in you.
Your deepest desperation will be God's biggest declaration.
Relief from your unbelief.
Rejection is not your final destination.
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