Abigail's Story
Abigail's song (music edition)
Abigail’s story (spoken edition)
ABIGAIL
Hi! I’m Abigail. You can find my story in the book of the Bible called First Samuel.
My story is all about how God made us to be peacemakers. Do you know what a peacemaker is? You could say it’s someone who stops a fight. And that is part of it, but it’s also something bigger. A peacemaker is someone who feels God’s peace and shares it with others. And that peace makes people happy and keeps them safe. Here’s how I found that out for myself . . .
NARRATOR
Abigail’s story begins with her husband. He was a man named Nabal. He owned lots of sheep and goats.
The Bible says that Nabal was often in a bad mood. Maybe that’s why, when some men came to him and asked for food, Nabal said mean things and didn’t share anything with them.
Bad idea, Nabal.
These same men had protected Nabal’s shepherds and sheep from harm. Nabal should have been happy to share with them—not just because sharing is good, but because he owed them for the help they’d given him. But Nabal was thinking only about himself.
Bad idea, Nabal.
These men who asked for food worked for a man named David. And when they told David how Nabal had treated them, David was very, very mad. He was so mad that he wanted to start a fight with Nabal.
“Strap on your swords!” David told his men. They were going to teach Nabal a lesson.
Meanwhile, one of the shepherds who worked for Nabal ran and told Abigail what had happened.
“Do something quickly!” he told her. “Otherwise, something very bad will happen.”
Abigail worked fast. Here are all the things she gathered to take to David:
Two hundred loaves of bread.
Two bags of wine.
Meat ready for cooking.
Roasted grain.
A hundred raisin cakes.
Two hundred fig cakes.
Good idea, Abigail!
Abigail jumped on a donkey and left right away to go meet David. But she didn’t tell Nabal what she was doing.
Good idea, Abigail.
Before long, Abigail met David on the road. He was not in a good mood. He was ready for battle. But Abigail was prepared: God was there, helping her be a peacemaker.
As soon as she saw David, Abigail got off her donkey and fell down on her knees.
She apologized for her husband’s actions. And she thanked God for stopping David before he could do something bad in revenge.
“Please take this gift,” she added, showing him everything she’d brought. And she told David how God had blessed him.
Good idea, Abigail!
Abigail did more than stop a fight that day. She brought peace to David’s heart so that he could feel God’s presence. Right there, David stopped feeling angry. He started feeling thankful instead. David thanked God for sending Abigail to meet him. He thanked God for stopping him from doing something bad. David even felt so much peace that he gave some peace back to Abigail.
“Go home in peace,” he told her.
Abigail did. Because God’s peace was already in her heart—just like it can be in yours when you follow God and choose to be a peacemaker, too.
ABIGAIL
Can you see now that my story is all about how God made us to be peacemakers? Maybe it can help you think of a time when you were a peacemaker and how that made you feel close to God. Or maybe it can help you remember to be a peacemaker in your family or with your friends.
Here is what some Christian Science Sunday School students had to say about being peacemakers: “Abigail’s story happened a long time before Jesus. But it still reminds me of a beatitude that Jesus gave us: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’ ” (Matthew 5:9, New International Version).
And here’s what another said: “Peace comes from God. It’s a spiritual quality that we express, so it can’t go anywhere. It can’t be taken away by anyone or anything. So we always have peace to give, and God helps us give it!”
What did you learn from my story?
