Abigail

“And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.” - 1 Samuel 25v32-33

Nabal was a scoundrel (NKJV) according to his own wife’s testimony. David made a reasonable request of him to help his soldiers and Nabal refused to cooperate and would not even acknowledge David as the king to be.

David was furious. He didn’t even stop to think, but decided to take his army and kill all the men in the area. For once he was going to act according to the flesh, and not wait for God.

When Nabal’s wife Abigail heard about it she decided to act. She prepared provisions and went to see David and beg for the rest of the men. After she reasoned with David he responded in a very, humble, God honouring way. He blessed her for coming to her for her advice. When he dealt with Goliath he trusted God. When he was dealing with Saul he refused to take matters into his own hand and trusted God to sort it out. When it came to Nabal he apparently became irritated and decided to act according to his own will. Abigail was able to keep him from acting wrongly.
How do we act when someone confronts us in this manner? It is so easy to get angry, get our back up and say something like, “Mind your own business!” When someone cares enough to stop us from acting in haste may we have the humility and grace of David.