Friday, 5/24/2013 – Today’s Devotional
“Blessed Is Your Advice”
“The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings.” – 1 Samuel 25:3
Recommended Reading: 1 Samuel 25:23-33; 23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24 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. 25 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.
26 “Now since the LORD has kept you, my master, from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, may your enemies and all who intend to harm my master be like Nabal. 27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my master, be given to the men who follow you. 28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my master, because he fights the LORD’s battles. Let no wrongdoing be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the LORD has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel, 31 my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the LORD has brought my master success, remember your servant.”
32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.” (NIV)
Question: What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Answer: A woman has to intervene.
In 1 Samuel 25, David, running for his life accompanied by a group of malcontents, sought help from a surly and stingy man named Nabal. Conflict and bloodshed seemed inevitable until Nabal’s wife, Abigail, saddled her donkey and sought out David to appeal for peace. Her measured and reasonable words prompted David to reply, “Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice” (verses 32-33).
One day Jesus will bring peace to the world, but until then we can take His message of peace to others and be peacemakers at home, work, and school. We can give such wise counsel that others will say, “Blessed is your advice.” Do you know an angry soul? Can you say a word to bring calmness to his or her heart and pour oil on troubled waters? “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).
“Lord, help me be a person who speaks words that build up and not tear down.” – Stormie Omartian in A Book of Prayer
© 2013 Turning Point
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