Do you ever feel stuck in your situation? Maybe you are praying for God to meet a financial need, and He just isn’t coming through. Or maybe a loved one is sick. You keep praying for God to heal them, but He just doesn’t seem to be listening. For me, right now, it is finances and church growth. Our payroll company messed up our taxes last year, so we owed a chunk of money this year. It seems that finances are always something we need God’s help with. The other thing we always need God’s intervention in is for our church. We started a church in 2011, but it has been slow to take off. Sometimes I feel so desperate for God to intervene in a situation in my life, and it seems He never will. I read this morning about a woman who must have felt the same way.
The story I read this morning in my Bible is the story of Abigail and Nabal. Abigail was the wife of Nabal, an evil man. The Bible describes Nabal as churlish and evil in his doings. Churlish means cruel, hard-hearted, obstinate. Abigail had to feel so stuck in this relationship to such a mean, ungodly man. Yet, amazingly, it did not affect her spirit. The Bible says that Abigail was a women of good understanding. She had a good comprehending of life and the events in her life.
When David was hiding from Saul, he sent messengers to Nabal and asked if he would provide food and drink for David and his men. David and his men had protected Nabal’s shepherds. Nabal proceeds to mock David to his messengers and sends them back to David with no food. Obviously, this really made David mad. So David decides to take revenge on Nabal and kill him and his family and servants. He gathers four hundred of his men to head to Nabal’s property to destroy him.
While this is happening, one of Nabal’s shepherds goes in and tells Nabal’s wife, Abigail, all that has transpired and that David and his men are on their way to destroy Nabal and all his property. Here is Abigail’s immediate response.
Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
She rides out to meet David and his men with all the food loaded onto donkeys. She climbs off the donkey and bows on the ground before David and says, “Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be…” She then proceeds to tell David that her husband is a wicked man. She asks his forgiveness and shows him the food she has prepared for him and his men. David graciously accepts and tells her that if it were not for her coming to greet him, Nabal and all of his household would be dead by morning time. About ten days later, God kills Nabal and David sends for Abigail to become his wife.
It’s a crazy story but one that always makes me stop and consider. There are a few things that stand out to me when I read the story of Abigail.
- She was married to an incredibly evil man, yet she didn’t allow that to stop her from being kind and gracious.
- She was wise and had good understanding. She was able to look at a situation and know immediately the right thing to do.
- She took responsibility for a situation that was not her fault.
I believe those are the reasons that David took interest in her and took her as his wife once her husband died. For a time, Abigail’s life was miserable, but God intervened and changed everything. She became apart of the royal family. She had riches, power, a position, a good man for a husband, and more. She chose to be wise and kind in her season of life and God promoted her and gave her a wonderful future.
Abigail’s story encourages and challenges me. It’s a reminder to stay faithful and not let my circumstances dictate my feelings. Who knows when God will break through and intervene on my behalf? 
