Promoting Peace
When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said: "My lord, let the blame be on me alone. Please let your servant speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. May my lord pay no attention to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name is Fool, and folly goes with him. But as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my master sent. (1 Samuel 25)
From the moment of her introduction, Abigail is someone to be admired. The first words used in describing her are "intelligent" and "beautiful". If the writer had gone on, he would have added the subhead, "peacemaker". Abigail knew she was married to an idiot (the name, Nabal, means “fool”), a man who was surly and mean and selfish. Wealthy as Nabal was, he was too selfish to share his wealth with anyone, including the men who had protected him and, thereby, added to his wealth. On the other side, David was so blinded by his anger at Nabal's actions to see how stupidly he was behaving at the moment. The clash that was coming would destroy Nabal and cause some serious setbacks for David's army. All in the name of selfish interest. But then Abigail stepped in. She took over where her husband fell short, gathering the food needed for David's men and going out to meet him. And, through some slick negotiating, she managed to stop David before the fight began.
It would have been very natural for Abigail to go along with her husband, even though he was wrong. He was, after all, her husband – the person (especially in those days) who was her direct superior. But Abigail kept the big picture in mind. She intelligently stepped back and looked at the entire situation, examining what the end result would be. Even though it meant going against her husband's orders, she fed David's men, knowing that nothing could be accomplished by a fight between Nabal and David. Abigail's whole mindset was on promoting peace. In the end, it lost her a lousy husband and gained her a good one. But that wasn't what she was looking for. What she was looking for was peace.
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It's so easy, when we're caught in the middle of a conflict between individuals, to get caught up in that conflict, to take sides and get into the battle. There's something about human nature that makes many of us spoil for a good fight. But have you ever seen a conflict produce anything but anger or hurt feelings or the destruction of relationships?
When you see the people around you going at each other over petty differences, what do you do? Take sides? Or do you step back and look at the big picture, and then do what you can to promote peace, like Abigail did? Think about it.
From Bonnie Ricks, Dogwood Ministries, Inc.
J-R-and-Bonnie@dogwoodministries.org
Used with Permission
