Live Differently

Women in the Old Testament had little to no choices in life. Their worth was solely based on who they married and the children they gave birth to. The stories of Abigail and Bathsheba are almost mirror images of each other. The bible mentions the beauty of each woman and the contributions they made to David’s reign.

Both women had husbands who died. One for being a fool, and the other for being an honorable man. As a result they both became wives of David and they both had children by him. In both cases David wanted the husbands dead, albeit for different reasons. He wanted to kill Nabal for his lack of hospitality and insults and He wanted Uriah killed to cover up his sin with Bathsheba.

Both of their stories are written with purpose and have provided lessons that have remained for generations. Abigail is remembered for her noble character and wisdom while Bathsheba is remembered for her sin with David.

But if you dig deeper you will find that not only did God protect and reward Abigail for her faithfulness, He also forgave and blessed Bathsheba with the honor of being in the lineage of the one true King, Jesus Christ.

One of the lessons from these woman is that we are all imperfect people living in an imperfect world. Like David and his wives, we have good times and bad times. There are things we do that we would like to have shouted from the rooftops and other things we do that we hope no one finds out about.

That is why it’s so important to look beyond someone’s outward appearance or their life history and see who they are on the inside. In Christ we are a new creation and everyone has something unique to offer to the world.

How nice it would be if we can all extend that kind of grace and understanding to each other. To realize we’re all on this journey together regardless of our pasts. We are called to love God with all our hearts and love our neighbor as ourselves. If we can do that, then we can look back on our lives knowing we were good and faithful servants and one day we will hear God say “Well Done”.

Be Intentional about seeing the good in others.

Praises & Prayers

Father, thank you for making us new creations in You. Help us to remember that we are ALL sinners saved by grace and it’s our responsibility to extend that same grace to others. Thank you for Your incredible love for us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Messages from His Word

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.