ABISHAG !!!!!!!
Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.
(1 KINGS 1:3)
Abishag had an unusual job: keeping the old and infirm King David warm. And not just by covering him with blankets__the comely Abishag was expected to crawl into bed with the king. David's servants said to him, "Let her lie in thy bosom, they my lord the king may get heat" (1 KINGS 1:2 kjv). That's exactly what happened, as Abishag "ministered" to David in a nonsexual way.
# 2 _We have no biblical record of Abshag's feelings toward her job. Perhaps she was pleased to be chosen as the great king's personal body warmer. Maybe she found lying in bed with a dying seventy-year old man distasteful. Possibly, her feeling shifted from day to day.
# 3 _Our feelings toward our own responsibilities__at home, at church, at the office, wherever__can vary widely. But whatever we've been called to do, we should do to the best of our abilities. As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (! CORINTHIANS 4:2).
# 4 _Dream job or nightmare, know that God has called you to this particular time and place. Do your best__and, if appropriate, pray for the chance to move on.
 |
| Add caption |
ABIJAH !!!!!!!!! Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king , and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zachariah.
(2 CHORNICLES 29:1) There are not many reference to Abijah in Scripture, but a very important one commends her son, the king of Judah: "Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him"
(2 KINGS 18:5). Abijah's husband, Ahaz, surely never influenced his son to trust in God, for he increasingly worshiped the pagan gods and even closed Jerusalem's temple. If either of Hezekiah's parents positively influenced his faith, it would have been Abijah. # 2 _No matter what a child has experienced, one faithful parent can have a powerful influence for God. While her husband gave himself over to pagan gods, Abijah's quiet faith may have turned her son to the Lord. It is no different today. God still raises up the children of faithful mothers. The unfaithfulness of a father can even become a clear warning and sad contrast to a mother's faith. No matter what challenges a mother faces, Father God always remains with her, if she trusts in Him and prays faithfully for her child. Though a human father may fail, our Lord never will.
# 1 _ABIHAIL !!!!!!
Rehboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David's son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab. (2 CHRONICLES 11:18)
Abihail, whose name means "father is strength," was the daughter of Jesse's first son Eliab, which means "God is father." She certainly had an impressive lineage, since her uncle David and his son Solomon became Israel's greatest kings. And Abihail married one of David's sons, possibly by a concubine.
# 2 _Abihail's daughter Mahalath married a king, Rehoboam. But this mother's heart must have been saddened to watch the kingdom fall apart in her son-in-law's hands. Doubtless Mahalath also suffered as his wife, since Rehoboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines. It couldn't have been a satisfying marriage.
# 3 _Abihail proves that even a "premier family" background can't guarantee a trouble-free life. The Bible doesn't descrlbe her sorrows, but we may easily read between the lines and understand that lineage isn't everything.
# 4 _Today, it still doesn't matter if you hail from a family of great stature or a very humble one__troubles will come your way. Only God, the strogest Father, can protect His children and bring them through each storm. He is powerful enough to help us withstand each problem in life and bring us through safely.
ABIGAIL # 1 !!!!!!
# 1 _His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. She was an intelligent beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly and mean in his dealings.
(2 SAMUEL 25:3)
Here is one of the Bible's great mismatched couples. Since it was the custom of the day to arrange marriages, Abigail had probably been wed to Nabal for his wealth, not for any meeting of the hearts. While she was a faithful and savvy woman, he was not only named "Fool" (the meaning of Nabal), his actions showed he was one.
#2 _Though women of that day generally had much less respect and authority than men, the Bible speaks highly of Abigail while recording only the mean-spiritedness and wrong-headedness of her husband. The two were certainly spiritually incompatible. While Abigail had faith, her husband had no time for God-certainly his attitudes and actions were not those of a faithful believer. Still, though theirs could not have been an easy relationship, resentment didn't crush Abigail's spirit. Instead, she used her many personal gifts and graces to bring the best to her household.
# 3 _At the festive sheep-shearing time, the surly and greedy Nabal intentionally offened King David. Recognizing the danger, one of the wealthy landowner's servants knew whom to approach: He reported the situation to Nabal's wise wife. Immediately, Abigail understood the foolishness of turning down a polite request for support from the displaced David. Though the newly anointed king was fighting Saul for the throne, his warriors had protected Nabal's fields and clearly deserved some recompense. Food for his band of men did not seem an unreasonable request. Nabal had much, and the common custom of the day would have demanded that he share with those had protected him and his household from harm.
# 4 _Instead of wasting time arguing with her husband, Abigail prepared food for David's men and set off to approach their leader to make peace. She mounted her donkey not a moment too soon. On the road to David's camp, she met the warrior-king and his men, headed in her direction and intent on exacting retribution.
Abigail knew her husband's attitude had risked all his holdings and placed her in a difficult position__yet her dependence lay not on her spouse, but with God. Understanding that David was doing God's work and required her support, she provided it. That simple intervention and her humble words and attitude before Israel's anointed-but-on-the-run king prevented unnecessary bloodshed.
David immediately appreciated Abigail's faith and good qualities and praised God for her quick actions. If Nabal did not know how to recognize his wife's value, the king did. He turned aside his wrath because of this faithful woman's generous response.
While Abigail worked out a peace plan, her husband partied. She returned to find him drunk, so not until the next day did she explain how she'd spent her day. Hearing what his wife had done, the brutish Nabal literally had a fit__perhaps experiencing a stroke. A few days later, he died.
# 8 _David saw Nabal's death as God's justice and immediately sought Abigail's hand in marriage. In a moment, faithful Abigail moved from a fool's wife to a king's bride. In Abigail we see many examples of faithfulness. When difficult relationships become part of our lives, we can follow her example. Will bitterness and resentment overwhelm our faith? Or, like her, can we trust God will make use even of our hardest situations? Do we do the good that falls our way, knowing that God's wisdom will bring benfit to ourselves and others??
# 9 _Though matched with unbelieving spouse, Abigail remained faithful to her Lord. Like her, do we resist allowing unsatisfactory relationships to stall us out in our faith and continue on, trusting our God? Humility clothed Abigail's strength. No radical, angry woman, she paved the way for all woman of strength to walk humbly before their God and make peace in broken relationships. God alone brings tranquility to broken lives. Abigail experienced that, and so can we. And, like Abigail, we may find that when we've passed through the troubles, God gives us a better life than we ever expected.
