Daily Prayer: A Weekly Devotional for Prayer-Filled Living. (Photo: Jesus Club kids acting out a Bible story.)

Daily Prayer ©2006
A Devotional Guide to Prayer and Prayerful Living

Published weekly by the Partners of
Lutheran Ministries of SW Oklahoma

Vol. 13, No. 6
Week of 
February 5, 2006
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Beauty and the Beast
by BJ Armstrong

Help often comes from unexpected people. The story of David is filled with accounts of David overcoming great odds in order to survive. When we think of David being exiled from King Saul and Israel, we may think of his greatest ally being Saul's son, Jonathan. That is true. Jonathan was a key player in God's plan of David becoming the greatest king of Israel. But there are other minor players throughout David's exile who were also key components to God's master plan.

The account of Nabal and Abigail is one that is often overlooked as we search the scriptures of the Old Testament; but God used Abigail, at the expense of Nabal, to help David at a key moment in his life.

As David and his men were running out of supplies, they came upon the "Desert of Maon," where a wealthy man and his wife were living. David then sent his servants to Nabal, "a surly and mean man," to ask for any supplies he could spare for David and his people. But Nabal did not know David and refused him with disgraceful words, "Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days" (1 Sam. 25:10). This angered David to the point where he sought to destroy everything Nabal had.

However, David was met by Abigail, an intelligent and beautiful woman who was Nabal's wife. When Abigail had heard of Nabal's rejection of David, she immediately sprung into action and supplied David with everything she could.

As you continue to read the story this week, compare the different roads that Nabal and Abigail took. Notice their different personalities. Nabal, the beast of this story, was mean in his dealings with those around him. Abigail, the beauty of this story, was kind, God fearing, and was willing to ignore her husband's rejection of David. Nabal's action resulted in his death. Abigail's resulted in peace.

 

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