We all sin. We all mess up. We may love God and strive to please Him, but at some time or another, we will mess up. When we do fail God and fall short, the enemy enjoys sending condemnation to flood our hearts and minds and make us feel like God doesn't love us anymore. Even after we've sincerely repented, we sometimes still carry the weight of guilt, feeling that any moment, God might send his wrath upon us. Yet, God's thoughts, as the Bible says, are not so. The Old Testament of the Bible contains many types and figures of Jesus Christ starting with Adam to Moses and so on. These Old Testament types and figures come in the form of men, and rightly so because Jesus was a man. Yet, recently, I stumbled upon another example of a type and figure of Christ in the form of a woman. The story of this woman allows us to see just how merciful God really is and how he handles our failures, weaknesses, and sins.
In the first book of Samuel, chapter 25, we read about a woman named Abigail. The bible describes Abigail as, "a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance..." (v.3). Abigail was married to a man by the name of Nabal who the Bible says was "harsh and evil in his doing" (v.3). The story goes on to say that David and his men were in the wilderness and heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. Most likely he and his men were tired and hungry. David sent ten men to greet Nabal and ask him for food. Nabal, drunk at the time, refused to acquiesce their request and then went on to insult David. At the time, David had been anointed King, but was experiencing the power struggle between him and Saul. Nabal, knowing this, used it to insult David by saying, "Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?"(v. 10-11). David's men returned to David and told him what Nabal had said. As you might imagine, David was furious. How dare this man insult him in such a way, especially when he had come to him in peace! Immediately, David has his men prepared their swords as he planned his revenge on Nabal and his household, saying, "Surely in vain I have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belongs to him. And he has repaid me evil for good. May God do so, and more also, to the enemies of David, if I leave one male of all who belong to him by morning light.” We see clearly that the wrath of David was about to fall upon this evil and foolish man Nabal, and rightly so. They began marching towards Nabal's house to execute their plan. Meanwhile, Nabal's servants went back and told Nabal's wife Abigail of all that had happened and how her husband had treated the future king. Being the wise woman that she was, the Bible says that she "made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys" (v. 18-19). She then ran out to meet David. We are told that she threw herself before David and asked him for mercy and to overlook her husband's actions for he was foolish, just as his name meant (v. 25). She went on to take the blame upon herself for not being there to greet David's men when they came the first time. She asked David to receive the offering of food that she had brought him and went on to acknowledge David as the rightful ruler of Israel (v. 30). David, realizing that he was about to make a big mistake, said this,
"Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! And blessed is your advice and blessed are you, because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. For indeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely by morning light no males would have been left to Nabal!' So David received from her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have heeded your voice and respected your person.”
This story goes on to say that Nabal died shortly after the incident due to a stroke and David took Abigail as his bride. This story is not only a beautiful story about a woman's virtue and character, but also a story about how powerful God's love is towards us and how precious the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was and still is. Nabal represents who we are- wretched and foolish sinners who offend God with the insult of sin. As sinners, we offend God by not acknowledging his authority and kingship just as Nabal did not acknowledge David's. David represents God who is ready to pour out his wrath on us and our offspring because of our sin. Abigail who represents our Savior Jesus Christ because she stood in the gap, taking the blame upon herself even though the sin was not hers. She brought her offering which pleased the King and turned away his wrath. Jesus Christ did the same for us. He took our sin upon himself like it was his own. He didn't have to take the blame, but He did anyways. Like Abigail, He brought a precious offering to the King, offering of his own blood. This offering pleased God and turned his wrath away from us. Isaiah 53:5 says," But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed." Jesus stood in the gap and became the propitiation for our sins. Once we've given our lives to Christ and fall short, we still deserve the wrath of Christ, but there is Jesus once again, shielding us from the wrath, covering us in His blood. Don't ever say that you're not forgiven. Don't ever say that you've gone too far that God can't love you anymore. Jesus paid the price by becoming the ultimate sacrifice. Yes, we deserve punishment, but Christ took the punishment for you. It doesn't stop there. Once the sacrifice was made, David took Abigail as his bride after her husband's death. We too have become part of the bride that God will come back for. Isn't God's love amazing? I pray this thought will allow you to appreciate just how wonderful God has been to you and allow you to see that no matter what you do, God already has you covered.
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