Read: 1 Samuel 25:32-44
Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt. (v. 33)
How do you respond when someone offers you a word of correction? Often, our first reaction is to argue or to defend ourselves from what we may perceive as an attack. But Proverbs 9:8 says, “Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.” We see David had that kind of response in his encounter with Abigail.
David immediately recognized that God was using Abigail’s words and actions to restrain him from his violent intentions against Nabal. “Unless you had hurried and come to meet me,” he told her, “truly by morning there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male” (v. 34). David chose to heed Abigail’s advice, and he allowed God to deal with Nabal instead of taking vengeance with his own hands. And God dealt with Nabal! After a night of drinking, Abigail told Nabal about David and his men, and how close he had come to destruction. Hearing this, his heart failed him, and ten days later “the LORD struck Nabal, and he died” (v. 38). David realized that this was God’s justice: “The LORD has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head” (v. 39).
In the end, Abigail and David were married—a much better ending than the one David had planned! David’s response to Abigail’s gentle correction brought him peace. It also brought him a godly wife of beauty and discernment.
As you pray, ask God for wisdom and humility when you need correction.
About the Author
Laura N. Sweet is a wife, mother, grandmother, and former Christian schoolteacher from Midland, Michigan. She writes devotional material for both adults and children, and her work has appeared in more than a dozen publications.
