In yesterday’s blog we considered the place of the anonymous servant who warned Abigail about how David’s men had been insulted by her husband, Nabal (meaning fool or folly). These events may also speak to something much more significant in the Word of God.
The unknown servant directed Abigail to David the one chosen to be King. The Holy Spirit will always direct us and give Glory to Jesus our coming king. That’s a good test for determining if something is truly of God, does it glorify Jesus, or something else? Might be the Flesh or perhaps a different spirit, or even a mixture. The Holy Spirit will always glorify Jesus, that’s His role. He is the anonymous third member of the Godhead.
Abigail met David and his men in the ravine, a place where there was no chance to bypass one another. God is always looking for us before we look for Him. The Holy Spirit arranges the situation in our individual lives where and when we meet Him. Abigail came face to face with David and his forces in a place where there were no other options for her. David was coming to execute Judgement.
Abigail fell on her face before David and pleaded with him not to shed blood nor to avenge himself on Nabal. Abigail interceded with Him to show Mercy and not Judgement. She gave him the supplies she’d brought to him and honoured him as the King in waiting. She acknowledged that ‘Lord would make for him a lasting dynasty’ 1 Samuel 25:28
‘And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.’ 1 Samuel 25:31
Abigail finished her impassioned speech with a personal plea that David would remember her when he became king.
Abigail is surely a ‘Type of the Church’, pleading with God to withhold Judgement and extend Mercy to people who don’t acknowledge nor honour Him.
David granted her request, accepted the gifts she offered him and blessed her for stopping the shedding of blood. ‘He told her to go home in peace’. David exercised compassion, accepted her offerings and extended Mercy because of her plea to those who didn’t deserve it. David is a Type of the Lord.
Nabal is the other person named in this chapter. He had worldly wealth and influence but was surly and mean. The servant (Holy Spirit) who spoke to Abigail said;
‘He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.’ 1 Samuel 25:17
Nabal can be a Type of the Old Nature (mean and ugly) and also the wicked rulers of the present age. Abigail told Nabal what had happened and he turned to stone. God struck him about 10 days later and he died. It was God Himself who slew Nabal, not man. Nabal had to die for Abigail to become David’s wife and live a new life with him. The old had gone and the new had come. Jesus will come for His bride on the chosen day and all the meanness and madness of this life will be ended.
God bless and keep you today and until He comes.