Abigail Submission - Part 2

Hi Family,

I hope those of you who don't know Abigail's story were enticed to read ahead and find out what happened. If you didn't, its ok. We are going to cover it now.

So just to review, David sent his men to see Nabal in Maon to ask for an offering for the goodness and protection that David's men served over the season. But Nabal with his ungrateful high and mighty self rejected the request saying Who is this son of..... Jesse. Now, ya'll know how you react when anyone says "son of" and they are talking about you. So you can imagine David has now strapped up with all his available men and he is about to roll out to Maon to tear down Nabal and anyone connected to him! One of Nabals servants heard what David's men asked of Nabal and Nabal's response. He knew what was about to happen so he ran to Abigail and told her what happened and pleaded for her to do something. What I love there is that the servants knew they had someone in the home who would take care of them. They knew there was someone that they could confide in. Someone who would be there. Sounds like a family to me.

So lets see what Abigail did in order to attempt to rectify the situation. Now keep in mind, in the beginning of the story it said they basically are nicely well off. They didn't want for nothing:

18-19 Abigail flew into action. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep dressed out and ready for cooking, a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she had it all loaded on some donkeys. Then she said to her young servants, “Go ahead and pave the way for me. I’m right behind you.” But she said nothing to her husband Nabal.

This showed not only Abigail's reverence for authority by submitting to King David's request. But also a knowledge of what was to come if this problem was not handled. She definitely flew into action and gathered all she could to help this issue. Notice that it said she didn't say anything about what she was doing to her husband. She knew her husband, but knowing him and knowing the king, she had to find out how to fix the issue and confronting her husband was not going to do it. 

Some of you have difficult husbands and you have had to take charge on many things if not all things. Never mind if they make a bad decision that truly affects the entire family negatively. Sometimes you have to jump into an Abigail role. And you may need to spring into action in order to fix something for the sake of your family. And at sometimes you may not be able to tell your husband... for the moment. Lets look at what happens next with Abigail:

23-25 As soon as Abigail saw David, she got off her donkey and fell on her knees at his feet, her face to the ground in homage, saying, “My master, let me take the blame! Let me speak to you. Listen to what I have to say. Don’t dwell on what that brute Nabal did. He acts out the meaning of his name: Nabal, Fool. Foolishness oozes from him.

25-27“I wasn’t there when the young men my master sent arrived. I didn’t see them. And now, my master, as God lives and as you live, God has kept you from this avenging murder—and may your enemies, all who seek my master’s harm, end up like Nabal! 

Such reverence for the King. The man that is above her own husband. But in order to save her family, she had to go over her husband's name. She had to plead for her family's lives, she had to recognize who King David was and how powerful she knew he was. At the end of her pleadings, she requested for him not to harm her family. Did it work? Lets see...

32-34And David said, “Blessed be God, the God of Israel. He sent you to meet me! And blessed be your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murder and taking charge of looking out for me. A close call! As God lives, the God of Israel who kept me from hurting you, if you had not come as quickly as you did, stopping me in my tracks, by morning there would have been nothing left of Nabal but dead meat.”

35Then David accepted the gift she brought him and said, “Return home in peace. I’ve heard what you’ve said and I’ll do what you’ve asked.”

Well Praise God!!!! But now that the problem was solved. You would think it's back to miserable life with a brut of a husband. But the good thing is that Abigail worked in submission. And she was in order and gave honor not only to King David but to God. Lets see how God worked things out for her after she had to handle that:

36-38 When Abigail got home she found Nabal presiding over a huge banquet. He was in high spirits—and very, very drunk. So she didn’t tell him anything of what she’d done until morning. But in the morning, after Nabal had sobered up, she told him the whole story. Right then and there he had a heart attack and fell into a coma. About ten days later God finished him off and he died.

What a way for God to reward her true submission and her devotion to God. But to rescue her from a difficult marriage. Not only did God handle that for her, but He also did the following:

39-40When David heard that Nabal was dead he said, “Blessed be God who has stood up for me against Nabal’s insults, kept me from an evil act, and let Nabal’s evil boomerang back on him.”

Then David sent for Abigail to tell her that he wanted her for his wife. David’s servants went to Abigail at Carmel with the message, “David sent us to bring you to marry him.”

What a way for God to truly show Himself as a keeper of promises in Abigail's life. Not only did God rescue her from a hard marriage, but He gave her a new husband. One she already had so much respect and reverence for. One who was already God fearing and although he has his issues (as I said before) he was still honorable, respected, God-fearing, and a King anointed by God.

Now i'm not saying that God is about to go bust up some of your marriages in order to rescue you if it's a little hard. Some of you might be calling it hard when it's just a heart change that you can do that will start to make things better. Others are truly in a position where hard decisions need to be made, and you need God to show up and show out for you in your marriage. 

Keep praying, God is going to give you direction. Keep praying, God is going to move some mountains. Keep praying, God is going to give you a new heart. Keep praying, God is going to work things out for you. Just remember, maybe not always in the package you expect. But HE is Faithful to work things out for you. 

I love you! Be Blessed!

If you find yourself needing a little hope, really really listen to this song, and read the words as they play. To God, YOU are worth fighting for. For You, Your Family, even if it's just your children, are worth fighting for. So while you are fighting for your family, GOD IS fighting for you.