Lenten Journey: Be Submissive

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand!" 1 Samuel 32-33

David was anointed by Samuel as king of Israel. He was supposed to replace King Saul who had turned out to be a rebellious king. Saul didn't want to give up his kingdom. He was very jealous of David. Samuel was acting as mediator between David and King Saul. But when Samuel died, David feared for his life. So he took his men with him and he hid in the wilderness.

This is where Abigail finds him. A man filled with anger and ready for revenge. The only problem is that he was directing his anger to the wrong person. Abigail's soft words bring him to his knees and make him recapacitate. 

David was impressed by Abigail's devotion to her husband and his household. Even though Nabal probably mistreated Abigail, she respected him because he was her husband. David gives her a blessing: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! Blessed be your good sense, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from avenging myself by my own hand! For as surely as the Lord the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, truly by morning there would not have been left to Nabal so much as one male.” Then David received from her hand what she had brought him; he said to her, “Go up to your house in peace; see, I have heeded your voice, and I have granted your petition" (1 Samuel 32-35).

When Abigail arrives to her house she finds that Nabal had thrown a great feast. He was totally drunk so she wisely waits until morning to share with him what she had done. In the morning she tells him that David was going to kill him and destroy their entire household. But she intercepted him and in doing so had saved his life and his household. Apparently Nabal was greatly affected by her words because his heart died within him and he became like a stone. Ten days later he was dead. 

When David found out that Nabal had died, he sent for Abigail and asked her to become his wife. David had recognized Abigail's humility and he had been impressed by her loving and faithful heart. These were the qualities that made him desire her as a wife. Abigail promptly accepts his offer and becomes the mother of David's second son. 

Abigail is one of the humble women of the Bible, of whom not much is known, but because of her courage and submission, in spite of the danger she was facing, she became a hero for many women. There is much that we can learn from her. We need to stay up to date with current events and what is happening around us. We cannot afford to be ignorant. We need to be aware of what goes on in our home, in our city, in our country and in our Church. There is so much happening in our world today that we cannot afford to be caught off guard. Listening to the news sometimes scares me. I prefer to turn it off. I don't want to hear what is happening in the Middle East with all those radical groups. But I know that I must have courage and I cannot put on a blindfold. What is happening on the other side of the world may not affect us directly and may not affect us today, but it could affect us tomorrow and it will definitely have an impact on future generations. 

Abigail can teach us to be resourceful. In today's world we have many resources at our disposal. We need to learn to use them. But we cannot limit ourselves to our social networks. We may have lots of friends on Facebook but this cannot replace personal interactions. We need to build a community of friends, a community of faith, a network of people that we can lend a helping hand when they are in need and who in turn will lend a helping hand to us when we are in need. Abigail has this network in her servants. They turn to her when they find out that their household is in danger. 

The last big lesson that we can learn from Abigail is submission. To be submissive does not mean to be weak. If a woman or man today is in an abusive relationship, being submissive does not mean staying and putting up with abuse. True submission is not passive. God does not want us to be doormats. And Abigail is certainly not a doormat. It takes character to go and confront a future king. But she knows her place and when she meets him, she bows before him. She demonstrates both confidence and humility. It is this combination of traits that earned her a place in David's heart and that could help us a lot to deal with the arrogant and foolish people that we are sure to encounter on our daily walk through life.