Thoughtful Thursdays: Abigail–Never Underestimate the Power of One Small Act

I have been sharing some posts from John C. Maxwell’s books about different Giants of the Faith. The current book I am reading is Wisdom from Women in the Bible.

The chapter I read this week is about Abigail. Maxwell titles this chapter, “A Single Act of Wisdom Can Change Your Destiny.”

We see her story in I Samuel 25. The first verse that talks about her says:

The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance;  I Samuel 25:3

That phrase, “good understanding” means “wise,” “prudence,” or “discretion.” Not only was she wise, but she was uncommonly beautiful. The Bible only uses this Hebrew phrase for 2 other ladies: Rachel and Esther.

In this short story, we see several factors that demonstrate her wisdom or prudence:

• She was approachable.
  When Nabal spurned the request of David, Nabal’s servants knew that David would be offended. So one of Nabal’s hired men went to Abigail and told him how Nabal had refused David’s request, how David and his men had protected Nabal’s animals and men, and asking her to help.
• She made good decisions and could act quickly under pressure.
  I Samuel 25:18 says that she “made haste.” In other words, she hurried. She got a lot done in just a little bit of time. She “took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.” She got a lot done! Women of wisdom are also hard workers — the Proverbs 31 woman shows us this!
• She was humble.
  When she met David, she fell on her face and bowed before him. I Samuel 25:23-24 describes her actions:
  “Now when Abigail saw David, she hastened to dismount from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be!”
• She knows when to keep quiet and when to talk.
  We see this in I Samuel 25:32-33, 35 and 36-37:
  “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. . . . I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.”
  “And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.”
• She acknowledges how God was in control and reminds David of how he should want to have no regrets later in how he obeyed God’s leading.
  “And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.” I Samuel 25:30-31

I read I Samuel 25 and shared these points that demonstrated Abigail’s wisdom before reading the chapter on Abigail. Once I read the chapter, the points I saw were pretty much the same points that Maxwell included. However, after he shares the Biblical story and wisdom from that woman’s story, he shares some life lessons from each woman.

Here are the life lessons he says we can learn from Abigail:

• Wisdom paired with action gets positive results.
• When taking action, do the right thing in the right way.
• God promises to give you wisdom if you ask–so ask!

Other John C. Maxwell blog posts include the following:

Running with the Giants Book:

• Moses: Live in the Faith Zone, Not the Safe Zone
• Nehemiah: We Need Help!
• Abraham: God Always Does the Right Thing
• Noah: Make a Difference!
• Joseph: Don’t Give Up
• Jonathan: Big Picture Thinking
• David: How’s Your Kid’s Heart?
• Naaman’s wife’s servant girl: One Small Act Can Make a Big Difference
• Esther
• Rebekah: Going the Extra Mile

Wisdom from Women in the Bible Book:

• Rahab: God’s Story is Full of Surprises
• Sarah: Waiting on God
• Ruth: Follow Your Heart?
• Hannah: God Answers

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