7/18/2010
7:49:03 AM
SPIRITUAL
DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Abigail’s humble apology
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 1Samuel 25:20-35
Message
of the verses: “20 It came about as she was riding on her donkey
and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his
men were coming down toward her; so she met them. 21 Now David had said, "Surely in vain I
have guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was
missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good.
22 "May God do so to the enemies of
David, and more also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of any who
belong to him." 23 When Abigail saw
David, she hurried and dismounted from her donkey, and fell on her face before
David and bowed herself to the ground. 24
She fell at his feet and said, "On me alone, my lord, be the blame.
And please let your maidservant speak to you, and listen to the words of your
maidservant. 25 "Please do not let
my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is
he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him; but I your maidservant did not see
the young men of my lord whom you sent. 26
"Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives,
since the LORD has restrained you from shedding blood, and from avenging
yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek evil
against my lord, be as Nabal. 27 "Now
let this gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the
young men who accompany my lord. 28
"Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the LORD
will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting
the battles of the LORD, and evil will not be found in you all your days.
29 "Should anyone rise up to pursue
you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the
bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies He
will sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 "And when the LORD does for my lord
according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you
ruler over Israel, 31 this will not
cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without
cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the LORD deals well with my
lord, then remember your maidservant."
“32 ¶
Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who
sent you this day to meet me, 33 and
blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from
avenging myself by my own hand. 34
"Nevertheless, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has restrained
me from harming you, unless you had come quickly to meet me, surely there would
not have been left to Nabal until the morning light as much as one male."
35 So David received from her hand what
she had brought him and said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I
have listened to you and granted your request.’”
I think that it is safe to say that
this was a test in the life of David, a test to, it he passed it, continue to
grow up in the Lord as He was preparing David to be king in Israel.
It is good to think about this in
the culture that was prevalent during this time in Israel, and one of the
things that was true is that the women did not have a high role in this
society, and here is David being rebuked by a women, even though the rebuke was
done in a wonderful and meaningful way, it was still a rebuke and if this
rebuke was given to Saul in the same way I am sure the outcome would have been
different.
Abigail, as mentioned before is my
favorite woman of the OT, for the Scripture says that she was not only a
beautiful woman, but she was also intelligent and that combination is hard to
come by.
I want to speak of the vow that
David made, and as Warren Wiersbe writes Abigail must have known something
about it, but it is not clear how she knew this, perhaps because of her great
wisdom she just figured this out, but one thing for sure she got this from the
Lord who was going to use her to stop David from committing a great sin in
killing innocent people, something that would not have been right for him to do
and would have made it possible for Saul to come after him with good reason.
All of this was done through the
wonderful and mysterious providence of God as I can see his fingerprints all
over this event in this section.
Abigail was apologizing for herself
and pointing out the foolishness of her husband, and then she asks David to be
kind to her, to remember when he was king in Israel, for she had faith that
this was what the Lord was going to do for him.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: The first
thing I want to say is that my wife is similar to Abigail, in that she is very
fair to look at and also very intelligent too.
Warren Wiersbe writes these words
that I want to use for my spiritual meaning today: “How we receive reproof and counsel is a test
of our relationship to the Lord and our willingness to live by His Word. David admitted that he was wrong, the Lord
forgave him, and the Lord worked out the problem for him.” WONDERFUL ADVICE!
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
I want to put
on the Spiritual armor that is described in Eph. 6:10-18.
2.
I want to continue to learn contentment.
3.
I give myself to the Lord today for worship and
service.
4.
I trust the Lord to guide my steps, to direct my
path today.
7/18/2010 8:25:15 AM
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