Abigails supporters!

1Samuel 25

Going through abuse and oppression it is easy to feel all alone and exposed, especially when you stand in for exposing your abuser Caught up in the abusers deceptions and mindgames, thoughts like "why would anyone listen to or believe me?" is not strange or far away.

But God always put people around you that will support and encourage you. They can be hard to spot and sometimes it may take courage to reach out, but they are there.

ForAbigail, God also put people around her. The first we hear about is one of her own servants...

14Nowone of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold,David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, and hespoke to them in anger. 15Yetthe men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, nor didanything go missing as long as we went with them, while we were inthe fields. 16Theywere a wall to us both by night and by day, all the time we were withthem tending the sheep. 17Nowthen, be aware and consider what you should do, because harm isplotted against our master and against all his household; and he issuch a worthless man that no one can speak to him.” the way this young man spoke about his master was unheard of and would surely have had extreme consequences if Nabal had found out. But for Abigail to have this young man confiding in her and recognising the evil nature of Nabal that she had to endure must have been extremely encouraging for her in her endeavour.

19Then she said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me; behold, I am comingafter you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

Knowing the danger of what she was going into and knowing she had their support, she send her young men ahead of herself, and again she was supported even if the repercussions would have been dire for the servants should Nabal have found out.

In meeting David the most obvious part is how Abigail stops him from killing all Nabals men, but there is also a request from Abigail that David remembers her verse 31 maybe Abigail prophecied Nabals death and her becoming Davids wife,or she requested Davids help and protection if she should need it. Either way the result of her intercession was David praising God for her intervention and granting her all her requests verse32-35

so Abigail surely had Davids support and protection when she returned home to confront Nabal.

And when Nabal died, David was the one God used to protect and support Abigail making her his wife, and so restoring Abigail to the position she always deserved.

Abigails story shows that Godputs people around you all through the processes from accepting that the abuse is real to exposing it, and afterwards in restoring andprotecting you, it still takes courage but you can rest assured thatGod is faithful.

By: Mike Petersen

If you are somewhere in the process but feel alone, we are here to support help and encourage you, you are not alone!