“When Avigayil saw David, she hurried to dismount from her donkey, fell on her face in front of David and bowed down to the ground. Having fallen at his feet, she said, ‘It’s all my fault, my lord, all my fault! Please let your servant speak in your ears, and listen to what your servant says.'”-1 Samuel 25:23-24
As soon as Avigayil saw David, she dismounted from her donkey and bowed down before him.
Keep in mind, Avigayil was a noblewoman.
As the refined and sophisticated wife of a rich and powerful man, she wasn’t used to bowing down to anyone.
However, at this moment, she could’ve cared less about her status in society.
All she knew was that if she didn’t stop David and his men, a massacre was about to occur.
She decided to take that risk to save her family and her clan…even if it meant humiliation and embarrassment in the eyes of others.
Avigayil began delivering her speech to David, and to his credit, he listened carefully.
He was probably surprised to see such an attractive aristocrat lying prostrate on the dusty road.
Here are the three reasons Avigayil gave David to calm him down.
The first one was that the Lord had orchestrated David’s meeting with Avigayil, preventing his attack on Naval.
Because of this, David was miraculously stopped from committing murder and incurring what the Torah calls “blood guilt.”
Second, Avigayil reminded David it was the Lord’s job to take vengeance on others, not his.
Why not let God punish his enemies for him instead of taking matters into his own hands?
Finally, Avigayil tells David if he forgives this wrong, God will bless David because God loves to reward kindness.
She then went into more detail about the nature of the blessing David would get (we’ll go into this tomorrow).
So what’s today’s takeaway?
What I’m getting here is the importance of wholeheartedly surrendering to God…
Which David was not doing at this moment.
If you examine Avigayil’s points, you can see this idea of surrender was at the heart of her argument.
She told David God was already in control as evidenced by their “coincidental” meeting.
She reminded him that vengeance was the Lord’s prerogative, not his.
Finally, she told him if he did the right thing and forgave Naval…
Then God would take care of everything moving forward.
This was all about surrender folks.
Let this be a lesson for us when our tempers get the better of us and we’re tempted to take matters into our own hands.
Surrender it ALL to God instead.
See ya all next time.
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