Abigail made haste. Three times we read that she made haste. This was a business which would admit of no delay. All other concerns must be thrown aside till this momentous matter had been settled, and her salvation secured. "Abigail made haste," and taking her true place before David in utter self-abasement at his feet, she owned her sins, sought his forgiveness, and acknowledged him as lord.
How sweetly must those words have sounded in the ears of the hunted fugitive—"My lord"-though they came from a feeble woman's lips. How cheering the confident confession, "My lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.... But when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid." Like the dying thief, she looked on to a day of glory and, like him, she received a ready reply to her petition-"Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person."
Marvelous picture of Christ's way of receiving sinners! And how sweet it is to His heart now, to be sought and owned by poor lost ones like you and me in this day of His rejection. Listen to His own words as He describes it when the poor outcast of John 4 owns Him in her heart as "the Christ": "I have meat to eat that ye know not of," and in Luke 15, "Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost."
And listen to what David says to Abigail: "Blessed be thou." 'Why? What was she blessed for? Because she took her true place as a needy suppliant, and owned him as her savior. Because her faith recognized him as God's anointed and, cost what it might, she determined to throw in her lot with him. So he calls her blessed.
Well, David never forgot Abigail's faith. But he was not content that she should remain at a distance from him, so, after the death of Nabal, he sent for her to be his wife. And will anything short of union satisfy the heart of Christ for His blood-bought ones? No; "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Col. 3:44When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4).
As Abigail shared the fortunes of David, as she roamed with him from one hiding place to another—sharing his poverty and hardship—some might have said, What folly to give up a luxurious home, and the broad acres and great possessions of her husband Nabal, for a life of trial and privation. But a day of reversal was coming, a day for which she was content to wait, when David, with the kingdom restored to him, would be reigning at Jerusalem, and she reigning with him. And how richly did that time compensate for all the sorrows of the past!
"He and I, in that bright glory,
One deep joy shall share;
Mine to be forever with Him,
His, that I am there."