Stick 'em Up God

# 347 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 25:18-22, “Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 And she said to her servants, "Go on before me; see, I am coming after you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 So it was, as she rode on the donkey, that she went down under cover of the hill; and there were David and his men, coming down toward her, and she met them. Abigail, sensing the gravity of the situation, quickly throws together a generous offering for David and his men. This offering would serve well at any kind of a party. 200 loaves of bread! Two huge goat skins of wine, five sheep fully cooked and ready to serve, a little over a bushel of roasted grain, (corn chips?) a hundred boxes of raisins, and if that's not enough for the sweet tooth, she throws in 200 fig cakes, (Little Debbie snacks?) All this to say, “I really appreciate what you have done for us Abigail gets it! Nabal (the dolt) doesn't. Please note that she had to do this secretly. Nabal would've never approved. She even delivered the goods “under the cover of the hill.” I am reminded of my own days as an ungrateful unbeliever. My wife would have to sneak money into the church offering plate because I likely would've railed on her for being so foolish with our meager resources. (Never mind the fact that I could spend it on myself like a drunken sailor.) Of course that all changed when God's grace re-awakened my heart, and I surrendered to Jesus. It wasn't long after reading the Bible that I came upon the Book of Malachi and read these words: Mal 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. It was like a huge light bulb went off in my heart. Rob God? After all He has done for me? Oh the foolishness! And from that day forward, by His grace, our household became that of the cheerful giver. Father God, keep my heart cheerful, thankful, and generous for all You have done for me.