I’d Have Done More With That Situation
INNOCENT AND IN PRISON
Many of you will remember in Genesis 39–41 that Joseph ends up in prison after his brothers, who hated his guts, sold him into slavery. He was hauled off by the Ishmaelites, who then sold him to a rich Egyptian official named Potiphar. Joseph worked his tail off, and before long, Potiphar trusted him with the whole operation.
But then Potiphar’s wife decided she wanted her husband’s trusted servant to serve her, if you get my drift.
Joseph shut her down.
So she falsely accused him of trying to have sex with her.
Potipher threw him into prison. For doing the right thing!
While Joseph was in prison, he didn’t curl up in a corner and sit around feeling sorry for himself. He kept being Joseph, diligent, hard-working, and righteous. Before long, he earned the trust of the prison warden and got put in charge of things there, too.
While in prison, Joseph interpreted some dreams, was forgotten for two more years, then was dragged in front of Pharaoh, interpreted his disturbing dreams too, and Pharaoh made him the COO of all of Egypt!
The man who had been thrown into a pit by his brothers, sold as a slave, falsely accused, and imprisoned, became the man God used to preserve countless lives.
Now hold Joseph’s story in your mind while I zoom in on another story . Watch for what Abigail’s situation has in common with Joseph’s.
ABIGAIL AND NABAL
In 1 Samuel 25, before he became king, David and his men had been out in the wilderness of Maon (Paran). They weren’t too far from a wealthy guy who lived near the edge of that wilderness. One day, David heard that the rich guy named Nabal was having his sheep sheared. So David sent messengers with a respectful request:
“Peace and prosperity to you, your family, and everything you own! I am told that it is sheep-shearing time. While your shepherds stayed among us near Carmel, we never harmed them, and nothing was ever stolen from them. Ask your own men, and they will tell you this is true. So would you be kind to us, since we have come at a time of celebration? Please share any provisions you might have on hand with us and with your friend David.” - 1 Samuel 25:6-8
This was not a shakedown.
It was a reasonable ask in that situation and culture.
Then Nabal opens his mouth, and we immediately understand what kind of man he is.
In verses 10 and 11, Nabal says, “Who is this fellow David?” Nabal sneered to the young men. “Who does this son of Jesse think he is? There are lots of servants these days who run away from their masters. Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I’ve slaughtered for my shearers and give it to a band of outlaws who come from who knows where?”
That sums up Nabal in 2 verses. A man so committed to being a selfish jerk that he can turn a normal act of generosity into a personal insult.
“My bread.”
“My water.”
“My meat.”
He sounds like a toddler.
David hears this and says, in effect, “Fine. Everybody grab a sword.”
Four hundred men go with him.
So now Nabal’s stupidity is quickly becoming everybody else’s problem.
One of Nabal’s servants runs to his wife, Abigail, and tells her what happened. He explains that David’s men had been very good to them, like a wall of protection around them. Then he says one of the most revealing lines in the chapter: “Nabal is such a wicked man that no one can ever talk to him.”
So this hard-headed, selfish man’s wife, Abigail, had to step in to make the most of a terrible situation her jerk husband had flung the whole family into.
And the contrast is seen immediately in verse 3.
Abigail was intelligent, sensible, and beautiful.
Her husband was crude and mean.
Abigail is not dealing with one bad afternoon; this was her life.
This is her husband.
This is her house and her future at risk.
This is the kind of husband she has to live with.
So Abigail moves fast. She gathers bread, wine, sheep, grain, raisins, and figs, loads donkeys, and heads out to intercept David before he reaches the house. And she didn’t tell her jerk husband what she was doing!
When she meets David, she bows low and starts talking him down. And then she says one of the great lines in the story: “I accept all blame in this matter… Please listen to what I have to say. I know Nabal is a wicked and ill-tempered man; please don’t pay any attention to him. He is a fool…”
This is not Abigail throwing her husband under the bus.
This is her giving an accurate description of him!
She takes responsibility, brings the gift and appeals to David’s conscience. And David listens. He blesses her for her judgment and admits that she has kept him from taking vengeance.
36 When Abigail arrived home, she found that Nabal was throwing a big party and was celebrating like a king. He was very drunk, so she didn’t tell him anything about her meeting with David until dawn the next day. 37 In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him what had happened. As a result he had a stroke, and he lay paralyzed on his bed like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck him, and he died.
That is the story: one rich jerk insults the wrong man, almost gets everyone in his family and household killed, and is only spared because Abigail has more wisdom, courage, and steadiness than the supposed head of the household.
SIMILARITIES
Did you catch the similarities?
Let me show you the ones I caught.
Both were stuck in situations they did not choose.
Both were paying for somebody else’s sin and foolishness.
Both were innocent.
Both were stuck under the authority of difficult people.
Are you in a situation you did not choose, did not ask for, and cannot just walk away from?
Let’s stop the regret of, “I wish I had done more with that situation.” Let’s do so by learning from what Joseph and Abigail did.
YOU DIDN’T PICK THE SITUATION, BUT YOU CHOOSE WHO YOU WILL BE IN IT
Joseph could not control being sold, lied about, and thrown into prison. Abigail could not control her jerky husband, who put the whole household at risk. But both of them were still able to choose their response.
Joseph did not rot in prison. Abigail did not freeze in panic.
Joseph stayed useful. Abigail stepped in.
He did not waste his time in a prison cell. She did not hide from her crisis.
So what about you? Where do you need to quit waiting on the situation to change and start deciding who you are going to be in it? Maybe the win for you this week is not getting out. Maybe the win is staying steady, staying faithful, and doing the next right thing without all the drama. You do not need a better situation to become a better Christian. You want the hard situation to reveal who you want to be in Christ.
FAITHFULNESS IN UNWANTED SITUATIONS IS NEVER WASTED
Joseph did not want the pit, the slavery, or the prison cell. But he didn't waste any of those years. God was shaping Joseph there, and Joseph kept being faithful there. He kept being the kind of man God could trust with more when the time came.
Where have you started to believe this hard season is a waste? It may be slow. It may be unfair. But if you keep walking with God in this, it is not wasted time. God knows how to do deep work in situations you never wanted to be in and can't get out of.
WHAT FEELS LIKE AN INTERRUPTION MAY ACTUALLY BECOME AN ASSIGNMENT
Joseph did not plan for prison to become the place where God positioned him for what came next. Abigail did not plan for one more mess created by her husband to become the moment she had to step in and save the household. But in both stories, the interruption was not meaningless. It was the place where they had the choice to do something better.
Joseph served, interpreted, and stayed ready.
Abigail moved, spoke, and stepped between a fool and disaster.
What if the thing wrecking your plans is not just a nuisance to survive, but an assignment to step into? Some of the most important things you do this year may not come from the calendar you planned. They may come from the interruption you did not want.
YOU DO NOT NEED IDEAL CONDITIONS TO DO MEANINGFUL GOOD
Joseph's conditions: sold, slavery, imprisoned.
Abigail's: a miserably difficult husband.
Neither one was in some neat, buttoned-up little situation. But both of them still did real good right where they were. Joseph served people in prison. Abigail protected people in her household. They did not wait for life to get easier before they chose to be useful.
So what about you? Have you been telling yourself you will do something meaningful later, when things calm down, straighten out, or finally get easier? Don’t let that become a regret. Meaningful good is often done in the middle of unwanted situations we can’t get out of. So do not wait for ideal conditions. Start being useful where your feet are.
CLOSING CHALLENGE
Just because you did not choose it does not mean God cannot use it.
God knows how to take the mess, the pain, the waiting, the injustice, the frustration, the thing that makes you clench your jaw and say, “I would have never picked this,” and He knows how to thread purpose right through the middle of it.
So do not sit down in this situation and regret it later.
Stand up in this difficulty.
Pray and serve in this hard place.
Trust God in this hard place.
God is not confused by the mess someone else has made of your situation.
If He is God over Joseph’s prison sentence,
If He is God over Abigail’s crisis,
He is God in the middle of what you never would have chosen, but are still facing this year.
So this is not the year to fold.
This is not the year to rot.
This is the year to believe that God can use what you did not choose. This is the year to believe that grace still works in ugly situations.
And when He gets finished, you will be able to say,
I never chose it.
But look what God did with it.
©2026 Greg McNichols, All rights reserved.
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