Peace

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We are going to jump back to the Old Testament today to a woman who was shrewd and calculating and knew how to cultivate and spread the peace of God. It is easy these days to lose peace. We work hard and still manage not to be satisfied. We feel empty and try to fill that hole within with many things. But things do not satisfy. Only when we see things as they are, a gift from God, do we truly begin to be satisfied. But if we are not thankful and filled with gratitude and thank God for what He has given us then our hearts become as the desert and we will not be happy. When we don’t recognize God’s goodness, God will not abandon us but He will allow the consequences of our actions to catch up with us. He gently teaches us how to expand our hearts and learn from our travail.

 *“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, and I showed myself their Master, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” - Jeremiah 31:31-34

This passage is beautiful. It shows us the heart of the Father. If his children break faith, He has to show Himself the Master. We already talked about the Children of Israel in Egypt and in the desert wanderings. They complained and they preferred slavery to sonship. It took a couple of generations for them to rekindle the faith and to lean on the Lord for His provision. He taught them not to rely on their bellies and feelings and how wrong things were going, but to turn to Him. Every time they did, He treated them with Mercy and every time they lost sight of the Lord he allowed consequence. Remember the Seraphs? As they were dying, they realized their sin and looked to a prefigurement of the Cross, a snake on the pillar and they were healed. 

The Lord promises peace to those who cultivate peace. He promises His angel to go before you and that when we listen to his directions, and turn our heart not to our own designs but to His and our vocations and obligations then we will have peace. It is part of the human experience to suffer, but when we make our suffering a prayer and allow it to turn us to God instead of ourselves and our woeful miseries then we will see the fruit of our travails and beget life. Isaiah 53:10-12. How does this apply to our topic today? The woman sets the tone in her household. Where her heart is, everyone else follows. If she ain’t happy, nobody happy. If she is peaceful, everyone has peace. When she is gentle, there is calm. When she has a harsh attitude most likely there will be drama. Am I saying no firmness? No, we should not spare the rod but there is the right way to apply it and the wrong way. We bring those charged to us to the authority God gives and teach natural consequences. If this then this will happen. Girls are completely different from guys and need to be handled differently. So much has to be navigated for a girl. Why she feels a certain way. What time of the month (for older girls) it is. They tend to be sensitive. A guy needs straight logic and a firm “don’t be doing that” from the father figure. They are pretty physical whereas girls are emotional. The mother shows them regulation. She shows them control and how to channel all the negative energy and how to maintain peace. She teaches how to handle emotions and what to do with them.

Wounding occurs here. Perhaps we weren’t modeled to very well on how to always have that gentle decorum. Maybe there wasn’t mercy when we felt ourselves all in a turmoil and we weren’t shown how to deal with it. Perhaps we weren’t shown that emotions are natural parts of life, data to be taken in but then directed by reason. Emotions are meant to give wind to sails and can be easily misinformed.They inform our intellect which directs our wills. It can be pretty scary when we are flooded with strong emotions and girls need the reassurance it is going to be okay. God will sort it out if we give it to Him. Having trust and faith is a big part of the woman’s role. She shows her children how to rely on God for sustenance and direction. To rely on Him to care for our needs and to keep pressing in when we don’t receive an answer right away. She models how to receive love and how to receive direction. Meaning how to receive authority and accompany those in our life. They watch how we relate to our husbands. They see how we can appease anger and show solutions. The woman points to the authority and allows that authority to direct the home. She is heart. She takes ownership of the doings of the household. She carries out the wishes and is that point of meeting and appeal.

Keeping all this in mind, let’s turn to our scripture 1 Samuel chapter 25. We meet a man named Nabal. Which means fool. This is a case of being named for who he really was. This man was a shepherd and had many assistants who were keeping the flocks. David’s men were protecting them and assisting them and asked by David’s direction for a little compensation. Nabal flies off the handle and says, “Why should I provide for you? I have my own to care for! You aren’t part of that. Who is David? He turned away from his master.” Hmm first clue. No gratitude. Did he see any of the pain of shepherding that was greatly assisted by David’s men? Nope.  Second clue of wrong, not recognizing God’s authority through David. David’s men tell him of Nabal’s answer and he tells everyone to gird swords and carry out destruction upon the house of Nabal. He is angered now too. Luckily, one of Nabal’s servants tells Abigail (his wife) what happened and how her husband has acted and that likely David will strike. What does she do? 

Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. And as she rode on the donkey, and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them. Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; and he has returned me evil for good. God do so to David* and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male of all who belong to him.” When Abigail saw David, she made haste, and alighted from the donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed to the ground. She fell at his feet and said, “Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your handmaid speak in your hearing, and hear the words of your handmaid. Let not my lord regard this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal* is his name, and folly is with him; but I your handmaid did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, seeing the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt, and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal. And now let this present which your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord; and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. - 1 Samuel 25:18-28

What humility! She knows her husband. She takes ownership of his actions and tries to appease and make reparation. She tells David, don’t sin in your anger upon my house. Let God deal with Nabal. I did not see your men. Thank you for their help and sparing us many troubles. I know you are on God’s business and may he prosper you. She speaks blessing upon David where he has been cursed. She speaks truth to a very sticky situation. David is pretty impressed and loves Abigail right away for her beauty and discretion. He says “Go in peace my daughter to your house! Thank you for saving me from blood guilt and avenging upon my own hand instead of God’s.” She lived her role well did she not? She acknowledged truthfully the foolishness of her husband but points David to the higher authority of God. Let him deal with Nabal and forgive your servant for my transgression. 

And she goes home saving her entire household from her husband’s folly. He was drunk when she arrived home and she waited till morning when he was sobered up to tell him what happened. And he became as stone. His heart died as he realized what his wife had done for him and his foolishness. A few days later, he physically died and when David heard of it, he sent his servants to ask her hand in marriage as he saw what a good helpmate she was by relying on God. She had taken God seriously. She had acted out of love and gratitude allowing God to be God and deal with Nabal’s folly instead of her making the situation worse by grumbling at him and yelling at him to do something. That would only have escalated the situation and could have caused a needless war where there had only been kindness and assistance on the part of David’s men. She used good sense and calmly told Nabal the facts of what could have happened if she did not intervene. He is cut to the quick and gives up pretty much. There was no repentance so God took his life. He despaired. Unlike David, who was able to check his anger and thank Abigail for her resourcefulness. And in the end, they had the upper hand and had each other until David turned his heart away later. But that is another story with another woman (Think Beersheba) and many other women. But David, at least, knew his wrongdoing and repented often. But he did not transmit this blessing to his sons and the throne was taken away from all the tribes but one because of his heart turning away and his sons also in the end turned away because they saw their father turning away. God permits consequence but showers mercy. From the stump of Jesse, God sends deliverance as He promised, through Jesus. Jesus took on all the weight of sin and saved us. But again this is another story for another conversation. 

Abigail took on the weight of anger and was able to dissolve it. She was able for a time to keep David on the straight and narrow. For that, I am sure God Blessed her abundantly for her love and peace and acknowledgement of Him. Satisfaction and the opposite come at a price. We choose peace. Check out my latest book, which is a bible study and leader’s guide. You can always reach me at twoheartstruehealing@outlook.com or on my website, www.twoheartstruehealing.com  Know I am holding you in prayer and may God bless you abundantly. Until next time!