Highlights from Women of the Bible: Abigail

Dannah Gresh: Scripture tells us that our words are the overflow of our hearts. Erin Davis knows this all too well.

Erin Davis: I might say something I didn’t mean somebody to hear, but if it comes out of my mouth, it came from somewhere. It existed first in my heart. I think I’ve wasted a lot of energy asking the Lord to fix my mouth when I need the Lord to fix my heart.

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Lies Women Believe, for January 28, 2020. I’m Dannah Gresh.

As long as we live on this earth, we’re going to have to deal with difficult people. For the last week or so, Nancy’s been leading us through a study of Abigail. She’s a character in the Bible who is in a very difficult marriage, and Nancy’s teaching has been showing us how we can deal with the fools in our lives.

Today we’re going to follow up that series with a practical discussion on living with difficult people.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Erin Davis is going to head up that discussion. Erin is the content manager for Revive Our Hearts, and she’s overseeing a series of studies called Women of the Bible.

Each of these Bible studies helps you get to know a biblical character. You can learn about Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.

Dannah: And there’s another Women of the Bible study on the life of Esther.

Nancy: Both of those studies have an accompanying podcast and videocast. You can study this material in your personal quiet time, then you can watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear a discussion on the practical application on what you’ve studied.

In fact, just yesterday a woman told me she’s going through one of these studies with a group of women in her church. First they do their own individual study. They listen to the podcast. Then they come together to discuss what they’ve been learning.

Dannah: And this month, Nancy, Erin and the team have released a brand new podcast season discussing Abigail. And today we’re going to hear a sample of this podcast, which I enjoy so much. To see the video version of this discussion, you can find that at ReviveOurHearts.com.

Nancy: Erin is joined by Kesha Griffin, a pastor’s wife in Los Angeles, and by Joy McClain, the author of Waiting for His Heart. It’s a book that talks about Joy’s years loving an alcoholic husband and how the Lord changed his heart. Let’s listen.

Erin: Welcome to the Women of the Bible podcast! I’m Erin Davis. We’re so glad that you’re joining us! This season is all about a woman of the Bible you may not have studied before. Her name is Abigail.

I’m going to be talking with some great friends. We’re going to be walking through Abigail’s story together over the next few episodes. Let me just read us the first verse, and then we’re going to stop there. 1 Samuel 25, verse 1, “Now Samuel died (that’s the first sentence—how’s that for an opener?) and all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his home at Ramah.”

Now, this is a Bible study about Abigail, so we might be tempted to go, “Well, that’s a little detail about Samuel, but why does it matter?” But I think it’s worth drilling down there a little bit. What do you know about Samuel from Scripture? Who is Samuel? What do you know?

Joy McClain: He was set apart. As Hannah prayed and hoped and believed and trusted that God was going to give her this child, he was set apart.

Erin: Yes. Hannah is Samuel’s momma, and we see her in Scripture praying so intensely that the prophet thinks she’s drunk. And she just wanted to be a momma so badly. She makes this vow to the Lord, “If You will allow me to conceive, I will dedicate my boy to the temple.”

Whoa! That was a bold prayer, and she does it. And, Joy, would you read us 1 Samuel 3:19?

Joy: I will. “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.”

Erin: He didn’t have empty words. They kind of went out like darts, and Samuel had this impact on the nation of Israel that is so important for us to set the stage for, before we look at David and Abigail and Nabal. God’s hand rested on Samuel from before conception until, here, we see him die.

Verse 20 tells us that he had a reputation of faith, in 1 Samuel 3. Then in 1 Samuel 25, he died, and the nation is in mourning. And we need that backdrop because we’re going to see David here in a minute, and we need to know that David was grieving.

Who do you think Samuel was to David? How would you describe his impact on David’s life?

Joy: He’s like a mentor, a spiritual leader, and just almost like a covering, an authority figure, like someone to emulate, someone to respect and honor.

Erin: Yes. He had served as a buffer between David and Saul. (We’re going to talk here in a minute . . . There’s this really dysfunctional tension between Saul and David). Samuel had been a spiritual intermediary between those.

Samuel was the one who anointed David as king. Remember that story? He goes to David’s house and tries to go through all the brothers, and finally he says, “You got anybody else?” 

And his dad says, “Well, yes, there’s David. He’s out there with the sheep.” 

And Samuel, we see as a man of conviction. He says, “Go get him, and I’m not sitting down until he comes here!” 

And the Lord says to Samuel, “Arise, he’s the one!”

And so it’s Samuel that puts purpose on David’s life, that anoints him, that gives him a calling. He’s a mentor, he’s a pastor, and he’s a leader . . . and he has died.

I wonder if either of you have experienced something like that: a person of influence in your life—a spiritual influence in your life—who has died? And what has been the heart impact?

Joy: Personally, I had a great aunt who loved the Lord and had such a life of tragedy. Her husband, her son both committed suicide, and she had a third loss, her son died during college. He was only there, like, a month, and he was killed. Although she had this great heartache and heart-wrenching sorrow upon her life, she always loved the Lord, and she always persevered in her faith and never let those things stop her.

Her life was very simple. She was a farm wife, but she just led this life of such diligence in her faith. She had such tenacity and incredible sorrow that she dealt with every single day. But when she died, when she passed away . . . She loved music and she taught piano. So her grandkids sang all these great little songs like “Jesus Loves Me” and all this.

But it was remarkable that everybody there, talking after the service, they were saying really the same thing.The essence of what they said was that she was the most faithful woman they had ever known.

Kesha Griffin: Now, that’s a legacy!

Erin: Absolutely!

Joy: It is a legacy! And so, the woman never traveled probably ten miles from her home, but the impact she had on the community is profound. I have her picture—black-and-white. She’s out there collecting eggs. It’s up there on my fridge. This is a reminder of what a godly, faithful woman looks like, no matter the circumstance.

Erin: I love that! 

Kesha: Yeah! 

Erin: I think when those people leave our lives, for whatever reason, there’s a vacuum. There’s a little bit of a loss of equilibrium. And that’s where David is: his mentor, his pastor, his spiritual guide, the man who has put a calling on his life, has died. And there are some other circumstances going on. And I just want us to keep that in mind, because we’re going to talk about dealing with difficult people, and we’re going to reflect on if we’re difficult people.

I want us to meet the people we’ll spend the next six sessions walking through this study with.

First we have David. We’ve talked a lot about David. He had been anointed king at this point. He had defeated Goliath at this point. He’s not yet king—Saul is still king—but God had taken his anointing away from Saul because of Saul’s disobedience. Saul’s jealousy has grown. He’s already tried to kill David a couple of times.

And when we find David here in 1 Samuel 25, David is on the run from the anger of Saul. He’s got a whole bunch of friends with him. He’s not exactly camping alone in the wilderness, but he’s on the run from the anger and the wrath of Saul.

Then we meet the guy we’re going to learn to love to hate, Nabal. And I just have to say, we’re not going to like him.

Joy: No, we’re not!

Erin: We’re looking for redemption in everybody. Nabal is made in the image of God, but we’re not going to like Nabal. He is easy to not like! Who’s got verses 2 through 3? Can you read it for us?

Kesha: I will. 

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; and the man was very rich, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came about while he was shearing the sheep in Carmel (now the man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings, and he was a Calebite).

Erin: Okay, so we get a lot of information right there. I mean, if this was Nabal’s Twitter bio, we would have what we need to know about the man. So what do we see? What do we know about Nabal just from these two verses?

Kesha: He’s harsh. He’s evil. 

Joy: He’s also very wealthy.

Erin: He’s rich!

Joy: He has great responsibility.

Erin: He has a lot of sheep; he has a lot of goats.

Joy and I both have livestock. How many goats do you have? 

Joy: Well, not a thousand! (laughter)

Erin: No, me neither!

Joy: I wouldn’t want to feed a thousand! Oh my goodness!

Erin: But this is a man who is rich; he’s wealthy. It reminds me of that verse that the Lord sends rain upon the righteous and the unrighteous. It’s not necessarily a sign of your faithfulness if you have a lot of wealth . . . or not. That’s not a good litmus test. But he is wealthy. And your passage . . . how does your passage describe him? Can you read it to us again?

Kesha: “. . . harsh and evil in his dealings.” That’s in the NASB.

Erin: “And evil in his dealings.” Mine says, “. . . harsh and badly behaved.” Joy, what does yours say?

Joy: “Badly behaved.”

Erin: “Badly behaved.” He’s hard to like. It also says he’s a Calebite.

And this is where you have to do some digging again. And I would say, as you’re reading the Bible on your own, if there’s questions, if you don’t know what that is, pay attention. It’s not a race. Take some time and dig.

So Caleb was one of the two spies who trusted the Lord to go into the Promised Land. You probably sang that children’s song, “Ten were bad and two were good.” Right? (laughter.) So Caleb and Joshua were the two that went into the land, and they saw the grapes that they could carry on poles, and they saw a land flowing with milk and honey. And they said, “The Lord has promised us this land, let’s take it.” And the ten other spies said, “No, we can’t do it.”

So we see in Caleb a faithful man who trusted God.

Numbers 13:6 tells us he’s from the tribe of Judah. Who else is of the tribe of Judah?

Kesha: Jesus.

Erin: Jesus, that’s right. So they’re of the same tribe. So, Nabal, though he’s evil in his dealings, though he’s harsh, though he’s badly behaved, his lineage is people of God. So, I don’t know what happened there with him.

Kesha: He lost his way! 

Erin: But then we get to Abigail, and as much as Nabal will annoy us, Abigail will intrigue us.

Let me read us about Abigail in verse 3:

Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful.

What a combination! As we read about her, we’ll see she’s a woman of grace, even though she lives with a difficult man. And there are women listening who live with a difficult man or a difficult child or a difficult neighbor or a difficult parent. And yet, we see in her a woman who is discerning and beautiful.

And then there’s David. We know some things about David’s character already. When we think of David we might think about his sin with Bathsheba (that hasn’t happened yet), but we see a man of faith; we see a man of courage. He’s the one that slayed the giant. He has fought lions. He obeys the Lord.

These are the people that we’re going to spend some time with, in trying to learn how to deal with difficult people. And what they teach is that we don’t have to let harsh and badly behaved people turn us into harsh and badly behaved people, because they respond differently to this man that Scripture is clear isn’t very much fun to be around.

And the circle goes back to David. This is a man who’s grieving. This is a man who’s on the run. This is a man who’s probably under a lot of stress—the king wants to kill him. And yet, we’ll see in him a choice. He doesn’t have to respond in harsh ways.

And so, there are some questions in the study that I thought we’d just walk women through. I don’t know how you’re listening to this. I don’t know if you’re in your car; I don’t know how you’re listening, but I would encourage you when you can to get yourself to page 15 in the study. 

There are some tough questions here. We’re not going to walk through all of them here in the podcast, but I thought we’d tackle a couple of them. So here it is:

“Am I sometimes impossible to deal with?” I’ll let you all go first! (laughter)

Joy: I would hope not, but I’m sure there are moments when I am impossible to deal with . . . at least, my husband probably would say that.

Erin: Yes, and that’s who we should ask this question of.

Kesha: Yes, really we should ask our husbands these questions. But, yes, I’m sure there are times when I’m impossible to deal with.

Joy: Absolutely! Especially with my husband. And that may look at temperament, just attitude, just being short with him, my expectations. That can go a mile down the road, just with my husband alone.

Erin: Yes, my husband is actually in the other room listening to us record this podcast. I don’t want to answer this question. (laughter). I can think of some of the things that trigger that in me: When I’m tired I should just go to bed, because I can get so out-of-sorts and little things can become big things. Everything becomes a mountain, when it’s all just molehills, right?

Or when I’m overextended. I know myself. I know that I can basically handle two evenings a week where we’re running. But we have four little boys, so that’s a hard boundary to keep. And if we’re running three or four nights a week, I get impossible to deal with.

Kesha: Yes, stress does that for me, too.

Erin: I get so stressed! And I don’t usually recognize it until I’m ugly. 

Kesha: Yes, that’s what I was going to say.

Erin: I don’t like that! But I think it’s good for us to pause here and ask, “Okay, what are the things that make me hard to deal with?” 

Dannah: Wow! We’ve been hearing a challenging question from the Bible study, Abigail: Living with the Difficult People in Your Life. The study itself has even more of those challenging, yet helpful, questions.

Erin Davis and some friends have gone through this Bible study, and they discuss it on a podcast called, Women of the Bible.

Nancy: Yes, Dannah, and I think our listeners will be excited to know that there’s a brand new season of Women of the Bible. Six episodes exploring the life of Abigail.

We’ve been listening to some excerpts from that podcast. The host is Erin Davis, and she was joined by Joy McClain and Kesha Griffin.

Dannah: You know, Nancy, in relation to that, I want to ask you how you would answer this question: “Am I sometimes impossible to deal with?”

Nancy: Are you asking about you? Or about me? (laughter) Because I’m sure I’m never . . . oh, yes. I can be difficult to deal with. How would you answer that?

Dannah: Well, you should ask my husband. (laughter)

Nancy: We could ask both our husbands. Right?

Dannah: He would probably say, “Yes. Sometimes, Sweetheart, you are difficult to deal with.”

Nancy: Well, you’re going to find more questions like that when you get a copy of the study, Abigail: Living with the Difficult People in your Life. It may lead us to acknowledge that, yes, sometimes we’re not only dealing with a difficult person, but in some instances, we are the difficult person.

Dannah: Yes. I know that this study confronted my heart in that way.

You can only get this study from Revive Our Hearts, and we’d love to send you a copy when you support the ministry with a gift of any size.

Nancy: And one of the things that I’m particularly excited about with this Women of the Bible podcast is that it’s a way for us as a ministry to give platform to some next-gen speakers and podcasters—women like Erin and Kesha and Joy who love the Word and want to share the truth with women of the next generation.

But we can’t provide that kind of outreach without your help. When you give to Revive Our Hearts, you’re supporting initiatives like the Women of the Bible podcast and helping us develop other podcasts as well.

Dannah: And be sure to ask for the Abigail study when you support Revive Our Hearts with a gift of any size at ReviveOurHearts.com, or call 1–800–569–5959.

Nancy: Now, let’s get back to some excerpts from the Women of the Bible podcast. Erin Davis and Kesha Griffin are back to talk about Abigail, and this time they’re joined by Meg Honnold. She’s reading from 1 Samuel, chapter 25, beginning in verse 4.

Meg Honnold: 

While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

“‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”

Erin: Okay. So that’s kind of old-fashioned language we hear them talking in. But what is David ultimately asking of Nabal?

Meg: Give us some snacks.

Kesha: We were nice to your guys.

Erin: Yes. It’s sheep shearing time. There’s abundance. There’s some festivities that go around all that. David and his men are on the run, and he’s saying, “Feed us!”

Meg: Can I invite myself over?

Erin: Can I invite myself over? And how would you describe David’s approach? What tone would you say he takes with Nabal at this time? Kesha?

Kesha: I think he took a very humble route. It seemed to be gentle, not overbearing, not demanding, but very humble. He was reminding Nabal of what he’s going to have, how much abundance there’s going to be, and can we just get a little something from it?

Erin: And David reminds him, “Hey, your shepherds have been among us, and we didn’t do them any harm.” David is traveling with an army. They could have taken the sheep by force. They could have forced the shepherds into their own army.

It’s a little of, “I scratched your back; you scratch my back.” And he gives this blessing from the beginning. So, to me, it all sounds pretty reasonable. But Nabal responds in a way that isn’t exactly reasonable. Kesha can you read us verses 10 through 11?

Kesha: Sure. 

But Nabal answered David's servants, and said, “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men whose origin I do not know?” 

Erin: Okay, what’s the tone here?

Kesha: Very, very sarcastic. That’s what comes across at least to me. “Who’s David?”

Erin: “Who are you? I’ve never heard this name David.”

Kesha: Which, come on . . . everybody had heard of David—after he killed Goliath.

Erin: You’re right. He’s being sarcastic.

Then what’s this deal? Why doesn’t he want to give the meat and the sheep and the service? What’s his hang up?

Kesha: Well, I think verse 3 tells us; he’s just harsh and evil.

Erin: That’s right. And that’s who he is.

Meg: This probably wasn’t out of character.

Kesha: Right. That’s his character.

Erin: Yes. And there’s a scarcity mindset. You know, we can operate out of scarcity, or we can operate out of abundance. And we see scarcity in him, like, “Why would I give you my things? Get some for your own.”

“And there are lots of servants breaking away from their masters . . .” That’s a little tacky.

Meg: A little passive-aggressive.

Erin: Yes! So, David makes a reasonable request of Nabal, and Nabal responds with sarcasm. He is patronizing. He is seeking to humiliate a little bit. We see this harshness in him.

Nabal’s response reminds me of Proverbs 15:1. I’m going to read it to us:

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

And that is just a little nugget for us to file away in our hearts as we’re looking for truth from this story that we can apply to our lives. “A soft word turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger.” And that’s exactly what happens here.

Harsh words are the behavior. It’s easy for us to think of times when people were harsh to us, but I always want to flip that and think about our own harsh words. And when we do, that’s the behavior, but we need to dig deeper.

What does Jesus tell us about our words, Meg, in Matthew 12:34?

Meg: Let me turn there.

Erin: If you’re reading along with us, go ahead and turn yourselves to Matthew 12:34.

Meg: “You brood of vipers, how are you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

Erin: “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” That is a really convicting principle. Our mouth is just the plant above the surface, and it reveals what is in the root of our heart.

So the way I think of that is, it’s impossible for me to say what I don’t mean. I might say something I didn’t mean for someone to hear. I might say something that I didn’t mean for that reaction, but if it comes out of my mouth, it existed first in my heart.

And so, I think I’ve wasted a lot of energy asking the Lord to fix my mouth, when I need the Lord to fix my heart.

So, Kesha, can you take us back to verse 11? We’re going to read Nabal’s words again. But I want us to think through that grid that: yes, these are the words, but they’re revealing something about the heart. Can you read us verse 11?

Kesha: Sure. 

“Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?”

Erin: Yes. That was the right emphasis. What do we hear? “My . . . my . . . my . . . my.” In just a brief sentence, Nabal is talking a lot about himself. So we’d have to make some assumptions. Scripture doesn’t tell us the heart of Nabal. Have you noticed the Lord doesn’t tell you the hearts of others? 

Meg: Yeah, what’s that about?

Kesha: What is that about? Just tell us already!

Erin: I don’t think we have any right to assume the heart of another human being. That’s the Lord’s territory. It’s not our territory. 

Kesha: And only He knows, truly.

Erin: Only He knows. So he doesn’t tell us what’s going on in Nabal’s heart. But by the “my . . . my . . . my . . . my . . . my,” we hear in Nabal. What sort of things can we assume are in the heart of Nabal? What did you hear there, Kesha?

Kesha: I heard selfishness.

Erin: I did, too.

Meg: Self-preservation.

Erin: Self-preservation. Anything else?

Kesha: Stinginess.

Erin: I hear pride. 

Kesha: Pride, definitely pride. 

Erin: Which is an inflated sense of self: thinking about me versus thinking about others.

And so, just in those few words, we can peel back the soil a little bit and go, “Oh, we don’t like the root of that.”

But Nabal’s gone. He’s long gone. He’s in the ground, and so his heart attitudes are moot. But our heart attitudes are not. So I wonder if the Lord has shown you in your own life what your harsh words reveal? What heart attitudes do your harsh words reveal. Meg? 

Meg: Okay, so for me it’s in the embarrassing moments. It’s in the little stuff that shouldn’t get my dander up. I was processing this going through this study, and when I feel vulnerable, or I’m at a place where I’m may be insecure about something, or whatever it may be that’s throwing me off my groove, that’s when I feel like I need to prove that I have the upper hand, that I have it put together.

Erin: One-upmanship?

Meg: Yes. And that’s when I respond to people with, “Don’t you know my time is valuable? Don’t you know that I’m too busy? How could I bend for you? I’m important! I’m valuable!”

And it’s coming out of feeling vulnerable or insecure. I’m trying to speak that to myself. I’m feeling vulnerable or insecure, and I’m trying to trump myself up out of that, so I’m responding to you in that way.

Erin: And don’t you think, if we dig a little deeper, don’t you think that insecurity is always a faith issue?

Meg: Oh yes. Absolutely!

Erin: It’s a, “God’s not going to take care of me here. He’s not going to protect me. He’s not going to make sure I’m well-esteemed. He doesn’t have my back.” I mean, we don’t think that in the moment that the harsh word comes out, but I think insecurity is a faith issue.

Meg: One hundred percent.

Kesha: And it’s also self-preservation. You have to protect your own reputation.

Erin: I’m gonna take care of me. 

Meg: I’m gonna keep this guarded and keep you at bay.

Kesha: So it’s self-preservation as well. 

Erin: What do you think, Kesha? When you think of the circumstances in which you are harsh, what heart issues do you think are underlying?

Kesha: I think underlying it is pride. The reason why I say that is because if you feel that you have to defend yourself, you’re kind of thinking yourself a little bit more important than you ought to. If you have to defend yourself when someone offends you . . . you know, all the time you have to defend yourself. So I think underlying it is pride. It’s a pride issue.

It’s not being able to humble yourself and allow someone to have the one-up on you. (You mentioned the one-up.) So just allowing that person to be the one that is above you in that situation. So I think it’s pride and impatience.

Erin: Don’t you think pride exists in every human heart? I’m so sick of my battle with pride. I look forward to the day when I will know the Lord fully as I’ve been fully known and my pride is a former thing. But until then, I have to battle it.

And humility is such a slippery thing. I mean, the second you think you’re humble . . . nope!

Kesha: Something comes to show you that you’re not!

Erin: You’re not . . . and that never feels good, but it’s ultimately grace. Becauseif the Lord is revealing a pocket of pride in you, that’s an opportunity to surrender. So your words can be, really, a flag, a flare that shoots up that goes, “Wait a minute. We’ve still got a pocket of pride.” 

My harsh words reveal anger. I did not think I was an angry person . . . and then I had four children in ten years—all boys. That’s where my harsh words come out the most, and I hate that. I mean, those are the people that I would throw myself in front of a bus for. And yet, those are the people most impacted by my sin. I hate that! I’m so glad the Lord will redeem it. 

But those harsh words are not because they’re disobeying me. Those harsh words are not because I’m tired and the baby kept me up all night. Those harsh words are not for any reason other than: I have anger in my heart. The Lord has used my children to expose it. I wouldn’t have known it was there; I would have never repented for it. I would have never needed the Lord as much as I do. I mean, I would have needed Him, but I wouldn’t have known how much I needed Him.

So those harsh words, when we speak them, there’s an opportunity there to pause and ask the Lord, “What’s going on here?” They reveal our need for Him. Think of those words, whether they come out as harsh or insensitive or rude, think of them like the tip of the iceberg, and the sin is the iceberg underneath. 

I want us to just practically walk a woman through what it looks like to repent. As you’re listening to this, and you’re going, “Uh oh. There’s some heart attitudes here that I need the Lord to help me with.” Practically, what does it look like to repent of those heart attitudes?

Kesha: I would say that first you have to confess it. You have to acknowledge and agree—agree, right?—with God that this is a sin issue here. Don’t try to sugar-coat it, justify it, blame it on the person. Take ownership of that sin and confess it to the Lord. I think that’s the very first step. 

Meg: For me it’s definitely been mentor relationships. Our relationship has been really important for me in that way. Maybe it’s my age group, maybe it’s all ages, but I think we tend to gang up with our best buddies that are going to affirm, agree with us, that are going to sugar-coat it. And I need somebody that is going to shoot it to me straight and say, “Hey, that’s not okay.” And repenting in honesty and, like you said, acknowledging it for what it is. 

Erin: I’ve called Meg out on a few things.

Meg: You have, yes.

Nancy: That’s Meg Honnold, talking with her mentor, Erin Davis. They were also joined by Kesha Griffin.

That conversation is part of the Women of the Bible podcast, and this new season is all about the biblical character of Abigail.

And, Dannah, listening to the way that Erin Davis is investing in Meg, it’s really a picture of what we read in Titus chapter 2. We’ve talked about that a lot here on Revive Our Hearts, that older women are to teach younger women.

And Erin is able to invest in younger women, in part, because you invested in Erin. So remind us when you first met Erin.

Dannah: Erin was a bright-eyed fifteen-year-old freshman in high school when my husband and I were volunteering as youth leaders in our church. And what a friendship has developed over these decades as I’ve watched her—first as a mentor, now as a friend—grow in understanding and loving the Word of God.

Nancy: And now Erin is hosting the Women of the Bible podcast. I just love watching how God is watching her ministry and blessing the seeds that you’ve sowed in her life all those years ago.

And, Dannah, you and I are both busy serving, teaching, writing, but one thing that God has put on both of our hearts in this season of our lives is investing in the next generation.

Dannah: That’s right. I feel like, at my age—and I’m not that old—but there’s a desire burning in my heart to pass the baton—the baton of truth—to the next generation.

Nancy: And as a ministry, we’re trying to be intentional about looking for younger women that God is raising up to teach His Word, and we want to invest in them. This Women of the Bible podcast is part of our effort to do just that.

We’d like to launch a whole family of podcasts in the years ahead. These would provide an opportunity for women in different seasons of life and different demographics to find solid, biblical teachings and discussions designed for them.

In order to do that, Revive Our Hearts needs help from listeners like you. When you support the ministry with a gift of any size, we’d like to send you this latest Bible study on Abigail.

Dannah: And, again, that’s the study we heard the group discussing on today’s program.

Nancy: Your gift will help us continue bringing you Revive Our Hearts each weekday. And it will also help us develop new resources like the Women of the Bible podcast.

Dannah: To make your donation . . .

Nancy: . . . visit us at ReviveOurHearts.com, or give us a call at 1–800–569–5959. And when you call, be sure to ask for the Bible study on Abigail.

Dannah: Now, understanding God’s promises for your life will help you feel secure no matter what’s going on around you, and the same is true for our children. Tomorrow, we’ll find out how to teach the promises of God to our kids. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is excited to reach generations of women with the truth. It’s an outreach of Life Action Ministries.