There is a reference in today's reading of a place called Carmel. This can be confusing. There were two places named Carmel. One was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in northern Israel and the other was in the mountains on the western side of the Dead Sea in the southern part of Israel. It was here in the south that the following takes place.

Abigail's husband, Nabal, was an ill-tempered, drunken man. When David was hiding from the jealous King Saul, he asked Nabal for food for himself and his men. Nabal blatantly refused. Angered, David threatened to plunder Nabal's possessions and kill Nabal himself. Abigail, in her wisdom, gathered enough food for David's men, rode out to meet David, and bowed before him to show her respect. By agreeing with David that Nabal had acted with great disrespect, she stemmed David's anger. To Abigail's credit, she did not leave her godless husband. When Nabal died, apparently from shock at discovering his near brush with death, David married Abigail.  Just because David had multiple wives doesn’t mean that God condones it.

David is given yet another opportunity to kill Saul. All the men in Saul’s camp were sleeping “because the Lord had put them into a deep sleep.” Was this a test for David?

David knew he would be king at the death of Saul. He still did the Lord’s will and still insists that the Lord’s anointed is not to be killed. David's kingship was in God's hands and in God's time.

Our lives are in God's hands and He operates according to His time. Not so easy for us to accept at times, is it?

Many times we read about David inquiring of the Lord before he made any decisions. But in today's reading, right before David becomes part of the Philistine army, he did not inquire of the Lord. Scripture says, "But David thought to himself."

Great lesson for us to learn from David here, always inquire of the Lord!

Later on, after the Amalekites had taken David's people captive, David asked for the ephod from the priest, in order to inquire of the Lord. Guess he learned his lesson.