Women Champions - 5

The Bible character Abigail ( 1 Samuel 25 ) is a tremendous example for us of a woman champion. Married to a foolish man with a total lack of common sense, she overcomes the enemy of death.

David, the future king of Israel, in the process of running from Saul, finds himself and his men in need of food. He sends his messengers to Abigail's husband, Nabal, for help. Nabal responds in a crude, disrespectful way and refuses to help David and his men. The young men return to David and tell him Nabal will not help. Angry and upset, David calls on four hundred men to go to war with Nabal to destroy his sheep and land.

Abigail hears about the problem and immediately takes action. Champions know when something must be done! She hurries and gathers two hundred loaves of bread, two jugs of wine, five sheep already prepared, five measures of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, twenty cakes of figs, and loads it all on donkeys. She then sends the men and the goods ahead of her and she follows on her donkey.

When she meets David, she humbles herself and begs for mercy with a heart of humility and wisdom. Thankfully, David listens to her and bloodshed is avoided. Abigail took a risk putting her own life on the line, but in turn she saved her family and herself by doing so. She was a woman champion in the midst of a difficult situation.

I have met many women like Abigail who have had to divinely intervene when husbands were making foolish choices. Some women have had to take the checkbook and become the one who paid the bills because the husband gambled their money away. Other women have had to dress the children for church and get them to services on their own because the husband like to stay in bed. There are women I know who sent to work to pay bills because the husband sat home on disability and was content to watch television all day. Abigail was married to a drunk, and she knew she had to intervene when his drunken behavior was costing others their lives!

I'm sure you know women who are champions like I've mentioned here -- women who step up to the challenges of life and bring success into the most difficult situations. Perhaps that even is YOU!