This is me, Abigail, and a llama.
One time Abigail checked out a book from the library titled, "How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk". This cracked me up because during our late-night, "I-hope-we-wake-up-in-the-morning-and-don't-freeze-to-death-or-get-kidnapped-or-eaten-alive-by-fleas," talks in Peru, we would often talk about Abigail's fear of marrying a less than nice man (growing up, my mom frowned on the word "jerk" and I just realized how much I dislike saying it... or even typing it for that matter!).
This always reminded me of another Abigail who, unfortunately, lived the fate that my Abigail feared so much. This Abigail married a not very nice man named Nabal. The Abigail in this story, very much so like the Abigail pictured above, was beautiful and intelligent, yet the man she married was evil and "churlish" (a super cool way of saying he was a big fat meanie), but he was rich!
So I highly recommend you read this story for yourself, because it's fantastic and you can find it here: 1 Samuel 25. Read it. The rest of this post will make more sense :)
Ok so the gist of the story is:
Nabal is rich and has lots of provisions. David and his people are in a rough spot. David heard about Nabal and sent 10 young men to very politely and kindly greet Nabal and ask him to share some of his goods with David and his people. Nabal had plenty to spare, however he was rude and sent them away empty handed and insulted. This upset David and he decided to seek revenge and prepared to attack and kill Nabal.
Abigail, Nabal's incredible wife, caught word of David's plans and that woman "made haste!". She didn't say a word to Nabal as she gathered tons and tons of food and hurried out of town to meet David and stop him.Abigail intercedes just in time, in behalf of Nabal, saving his life, yet also in behalf of David, saving him from committing a terrible sin. She takes the blame upon herself, "taking the iniquity" upon her own shoulders so that forgiveness could take place between the foolish and the angry. I love, love, love the "type and shadow" in this story about forgiveness, however that's not the direction I want to go today. (P.S. Please read The Peacegiver by James Ferrel, it's incredible and also talks about Abigail's incredible story).
No this post came about because of something that Brother Rowe said at FHE last Monday that really hit me. It was a lesson on judging others and taking the beam out of our own eye rather than commenting on the mote in someone else's.
He said, "It's not about being right, it's about doing right."
This is a lesson I learned at a young age. Growing up in a family of 10 very strong personalities, I found that we cared a lot about having the last word, winning the argument, being "right". Yet, some of those were the most petty arguments, such silly things that had no value, yet we were determined to make sure that the other knew that we were right.
David and Nabal from the story above were both puffed up with their pride, Nabal's from riches and David's from anger, and they both were out to prove that they were right. Abigail didn't give two cents about who was right. All she cared about was doing right and that's exactly what she did. She didn't argue, point fingers, or even bow out innocently. She was close to the spirit, put her own personal interests aside and did exactly what the Lord wanted her to do.
Mull that one over for a bit. Let it sink in. Where can I apply that in my life? Do I believe it? Do I believe that it's more important to do right rather than be right?
So, dear Abigail, I know you won't marry a churlish man, like our other Abigail friend. But just in case you do... you'll know what to do when he angers some other man who comes ready to kill :)
But I sure hope you won't have to worry about that.
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