David studied the small, lovely woman who was practically lying on the ground. She sounded sincere.
He was leading his men against the house of Nabal on a path down a mountain. As they were riding, he realized someone else was coming their way. Calling a halt, they waited, ready to ambush any forward assault Nabal might have sent.
A donkey with a rider came around the bend, right up to them. The rider, a young man who looked scared out of his mind, practically fell from his donkey and bowed. Before he could question the man, another donkey and rider came, then another, and then another, until finally the donkey with her arrived.
She had come right up to them, and fell on the ground, too. She begged him to spare her and her household. She took full responsibility for Nabal and his actions. In response, she had personally seen to it that all those donkeys were loaded up with supplies for them.
Almost immediately, he felt the anger whoosh out of him, like the wind blowing out a candle. In that instant, it dawned on him what he was about to do.
Lord, I was about to murder a whole household! All because of one man's crude response. Oh, Lord, thank you for saving me from such bloodshed!
He slid off of his horse, and took the two steps to where the woman was still laying. Her dark tresses fell around her head and spilled onto the ground. David knelt down, and took her hand. She looked up at him surprised. He tugged gently on her hand, and slowly she stood up.
David let go of her hand, but his own hand tingled from where her soft hand had gripped his. Looking into the dark pools of light that were her eyes, he said, "Blessed be the Lord, who sent you to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you! You have kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself. If you hadn't come, there would not have been even one survivor left to the house of Nabal."
She smiled a smile, so pure, so genuine, that David wanted to crush her into his chest in his embrace. Instead, she moved away from him, and animatedly started describing the foods she had sent for them. Truly, she had provided their needs and more. Bread, wine, sheep meat, grain, raisins, and fig cakes. The Lord had provided through Nabal after all.
All too soon, it was time to say goodbye. David studied those dark eyes once more, fully knowing he would never forget their depth and inner light. "Go to your house in peace. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition."
She, Abigail as he had come to find out, smiled shyly at him and nodded. Then she got on her donkey, and rode away.
1 Samuel 25:32-35
The most obvious thing to look at here, would be that we should never try to take revenge for ourselves. That's the obvious lesson to learn here, and an important one at that.
The new angle that God showed me is that sometimes a friend needs to intervene for the sake of another friend. Sometimes God will have us go to a friend, family member, or even a complete stranger and say, "Thus says the Lord, you are being a total idiot." Or something like that.
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person has great power as it is working." James 5:16
Sometimes, we need God to send someone to us to tell us, "Thus says the Lord, cut it out with the junk."
In Acts 9, Ananias received a most unusual message from the Lord. God wanted him to go to this evil man and pray for him so that the scales would fall off of his eyes. God sent Ananias so that Saul/Paul would get his act together. God intervened for him by using Ananias, and Ananias was faithful to go to a supposed enemy in the name of the Lord.
After Abigail had finished her speech, the first words out of David's mouth were, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from avenging myself with my own hand! For as surely as the Lord , the god if Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male." If Abigail had not been faithful to go and do what she knew was right, then David would have sought his own revenge. She was faithful to the Lord's leading. God was faithful to put someone in David's path who would help him see the light.
"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." Hebrews 10:24-25
God calls us to help each other. God calls us to be a roadblock for someone who's about to do something stupid. God calls us to be the voice of reason after someone's made a mistake. And God calls us to be the light. Are we faithful to be all those things when He calls us to them?
V. Joy Palmer
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