Only Servants Have Moral Superiority

S

(1 Samuel 25:32) And David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!"

O

Abigail was threatened by two quasi-kings. She quietly and actively defied her "worthless" husband Nabal to rescue their family from his dangerous misuse of prosperity and authority. In contrast, she openly confronted David in order to rescue her family from his cruel misuse of power and control. Her own repentance for "not seeing the servants David sent" (verses 24-28) seems mind-bogglingly trivial in contrast, but her repentance was the suspenseful event that finally opened their prison walls so they could escape from disaster into safety and wisdom.

A (Personal)

In this story, only the servants do right and see accurately. I see that only by taking on that role and those responsibilities do people make good choices. Abigail offered herself to David's service (and became a true queen). David, when he acted as God's servant, recognized that he needed to submit to and obey Abigail's request. And this story begins with a surprise guest of even greater importance. In this notice of Samuel's death, readers are reminded of the life of the greatest servant that David and Abigail's generations had ever seen. Samuel's life, from start to finish, was an unblemished example of honorable, honest service, even though he served in the shadow of greatly inferior kings. Hmmm ... whom do I relate to most in this story?

A (Psychological)

Yalom, in his book, The Gift of Therapy, advises a new generation of therapists to cherish their patients as actually mattering greatly to them. He says, "Let them enter your mind, influence you, change you--and [do] not to conceal this from them" (p. 27). Larson explains that "our empathy and helping usually begin with a perception of a social bond with people needing assistance," and our bonds of "we-ness" help us resist the barriers and destructive blindnesses of "they-ness" (The Helper's Journey, p. 16). This shift is very difficult. The conflicting values of Nabal's, Abigail's, David's, and their servants would have been impossible to sort out (except by sheer violence) had it not been for the respect given to the higher authority--God's kingdom. Both Abigail's and David's decisions to repent are not unlike an addict's challenge to disengage from neurotic paradoxical behaviors--the addict's constant choice to continue in self-defeating behaviors even while recognizing the counterproductive nature of those actions (Larson, p. 72). Our answer as well lies in valuing the long-term gains that are achieved by sacrificing one's short-term, immediate comfort and safety. David and Abigail's encounter demonstrates the reasonableness of the psyche of Christ's kingdom, where servants are given the greater honor and authority (Luke 22:24-27; John 13:1-17).

P

Lord, I long to serve You. I dislike serving my Nabal-like tendencies of inflating of my own importance. For too long, I've served my David-the-Controller tendencies to push my own agenda. How long have I indulged in Abigail-like blindness and avoided recognizing the importance of the people you've sent to influence me? Instead of being stone-hearted, I want to repent like David and Abigail did. I want to be constant and faithful, like Samuel was. May I always keep Your service--never my own sense of entitlement--as my sole objective.