“Someone is pursuing you and intends to take your life. My lord’s life is tucked safely in the place where the LORD your God protects the living, but he is flinging away your enemies’ lives like stones from a sling.
1 SAMUEL 25:29 (CSB)

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Howdy! We are on the Left Coast for a few days enjoying our 21-month-old granddaughter. The time change and travel will alter the delivery of these almost daily devotionals. Thank you for your flexibility.

Know this: Your God-honored life is tightly bound
in the bundle of God-protected life;
But the lives of your enemies will be hurled aside
as a stone is thrown from a sling.
The Message

Words of blessing are powerful gifts. They give courage. They provide strength. They lean us forward into adventures of God’s preparation and our wonder. Words fitly spoken make successful engagement possible where the only alternative is to shrink back and settle for less, for loss. 

Abigail is as beautiful a name and as gracious a woman as Nabal is harsh and hateful. She lived up to her name. He lived down to his. Her name means a father’s joy, the daughter he delights in. Nabal means fool. 

A beautiful woman, a delight to all who knew her, spoke words of a special future built upon the successes of the past. Verses 23-31 are stunningly full of meaning and feeling. Even at this distance in time and space, they stir our hearts. 

Who will you bless today? Who will you help win and succeed and live a life of blessing? Who will you empower with words of truth and life and hope?

Take this text and Ephesians 4:29 bundled together and make every word from your mouth a gift to those who hear. 

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I will bless others with words of encouragement and affirmation.

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Our Father, place your thoughts in my mind, your words in my mouth. Make my words a blessing to all who hear them. May they find encouragement, strength, and hope for all they face. Amen.