Mary Rose was fascinated by this Abigail. Such a great woman of God. The class learned that with the kind of husband Abigail had she did not have a perfect life, 1 Samuel 25:3, 25, and yet she did not allow herself to become unkind or ugly because of his bad behavior. She was a good wife and it appeared Abigail ruled her household well for she was able to have her servants gather so much food that was needed as a gift for David and his hungry men so she would have a chance to help or ease the tension of the situation.

Romans 12:16b-21 was read aloud by one of the boys in the class.
“Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
NASU

The teacher also spoke of choices. Good choices that may be difficult but pleasing to God. He has given us good minds to be able to understand things and make good choices,  He helps us be wise, humble, good workers, faithful, brave, responsible, appreciative, and to have strong faith in Him.

“But such hard words to do,” said one of the girls.

“We have to remember that God is with us and will help us!” Mary Rose commented. Matthew 28:16-20

“It’s all about our choices!”

Just then Mary Rose’ eyes were drawn over to Satan’s Web of Temptation hanging in the classroom and thought, “Overcome evil with good.”

“You’re right, she said. It can be such a hard thing, especially when we are tempted not to be at peace with others.”

The class talked about words that described Abigail – one of good understanding, humble, protective, helpful, faithful, rich but unspoiled, appreciative, responsible, thinking ahead, quick to act, not rude, not a nag, generous, brave, bold in right ways, wise, willing to take blame, courteous, strong faith in God, zealous, forgiving, rewarded.

Yes, rewarded. As we read about how everything turned out for Abigail she actually married David, who was a man after God’s own heart. Acts 13:21-22

Mary Rose thought about all her fairy tale books at home. And even some of the fairy tale movies she enjoyed.

“Her story is almost like a fairy tale,” commented Mary Rose.

The teacher replied, “Yes!” “And who doesn’t like a good fairy tale? The fairest of them all?”

“But in scripture, the author penned a TRUE “story” About a woman whom we have the opportunity to meet one day!”

The teacher asked, “Even though the Bible describes Abigail as a woman who had a beautiful appearance, do you think any of her good behaviors had anything to do with being beautiful? God tells us not to let our beauty come only from what we wear, or how we fix our hair, but it should be the hidden person of the heart, 1 Peter 3. Abigail was not only beautiful on the outside but also on the inside! She had beauty in her heart that shined forth in what she did. It was more about her behavior”. She even took the blame upon herself for things she did not do, 1 Samuel 25:23-35. A person with a beautiful heart shows sincere good works and kindness that would draw others to praise God, Matthew 5:16. We should think how we can help others see God. How do you think Abigail’s servants felt when she needed help getting all the things ready to take to David and his men? Hopefully, they were good helpers with sincere hearts to do the job well. They had to have been hard workers at some point for there was a lot of bread and cakes on hand and ready grain to give to David. She went on to tell them about making the bread for the class and how happily she thought of them. She told about pulling all the ingredients out and how much time it took to make just one loaf of bread for them and the time it took to bake and such. That was just one loaf. Think how much work it was to make 200 loaves of bread!!

The teacher reminded them of how many many men there were in David’s army, how hungry they must have been, and how happy they must have been to have gotten all that food. But without Abigail’s kind heart, they would not only have gone hungry but so many other things would have gone wrong as well.

After wrapping up the lesson the teacher pulled out a review game poster and asked the students if they would like to help fill Abigail’s basket, and all the students were excited to get started. She passed out pictures of food that Abigail had taken to David and his men. The basket on the poster opened and each time the students answered a question from the lesson correctly they got to add the pictures of food to Abigail’s basket.

They had learned a lot that morning about beautiful Abigail, her kind heart, and overcoming evil with good.

Before leaving, the students thanked their teacher for making the tastey bread and she smiled and said your welcome.

Greetings!  To my sister Bible class teachers,

There is so much to learn about from Abigail and those around her. I am so glad we have examples such as these.

It was Saturday. The teacher in the lesson was able to use part of this day for baking bread for her class not only to feed them but to make a point in the lesson. Preparedness.

There is so much to take in from a lesson like this.  As teachers, we work to make those critical points in the lesson known to our students. If we begin by reading our text on Monday, we then have time to think of those little things that can help that Bible lesson come to life for our students. The students in the story could relate with those who got food to eat. How satisfying. Then too, the teacher would have not only have told the account of Nabal and Abigail but made sure she had time in the hour to drive home the application of beautiful godly behavior.

So let’s begin on Monday and sharpen our lessons to make those points needed.

Click on the gold star to find this month’s Gold Star visual aids just for you!

My prayers and encouragement go with you,

Gwendolyn Schnell

*Intelligent:

*Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc. – (PC Study Bible)