1 Samuel 25:36-44 – With God, we can never lose

It is true that vengeance belongs to the Lord and He will vindicate His own. David did the right thing to trust God to redress the wrong he received from Nabal. He heeded the persuasion of Abigail and did not take matters into his own hand to destroy Nabal and his family. Being discerning and sensitive to God’s leading, David was able to show restraint. God then undertook and vindicated him. First Samuel 25:36-38 described how God did it without David having to lay a hand on Nabal.

This was how it all happened. When Abigail returned home after her intervention with David, she found Nabal in a great mood. He “…was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk...." So Abigail waited till the morning when he was sober to tell him what she had done. When Nabal heard all that Abigail had done, "...his heart died within him.” He was probably so shocked that he became as lifeless as a stone. Ten days later he died. Thus, the Lord had avenged David. When David heard that Nabal was dead, he blessed the Lord and was grateful that He had intervened on time and averted a calamity. God saved him from the guilt of having to shed needless blood. When Nabal insulted David, he was in effect insulting God. This incident tells us how we need to treat the leader of God. We are not at liberty to belittle God’s appointed leader, and one can only do so at one’s own peril. What happened to Nabal proved it. Let us accord respect to our leader and in so doing, we honor God who had appointed and anointed the leader.

This chapter closed by giving us a little of David’s domestic affair. First, he sent for Abigail and took her as his wife. She was only too glad to become David’s wife. So verse 42 said that “Then Abigail quickly arose, and rode on a donkey, with her five maidens who attended her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.” Verse 43 also gave us information that David married Ahinoam of Jezreel. In the whole chapter of 1 Samuel 25, Saul was not mentioned until the last verse. He was again shown in a not so honorable light. We are told that he gave Michal, David’s wife to another man from Galiim by the name of Palti, the son of Laish. This was not the right thing to do, but for a man whom he was against, Saul could no longer tell right from wrong. That’s the story of Saul. But God’s anointed, David, was not only protected but was showered with grace. When we put ourselves totally into the hand of God, we cannot even begin to count the blessings He will bestow on us. This is the story of God’s grace.