Nabal has humiliated and offended David. So David straps on his sword and heads down the mountain to slay every male in Nabal’s house. He’s planning a Nob-style slaughter. Regarding David’s mindset, passion is in the room, and reason is out the door! But quick-witted Abigail moves to intercept David before he does something he’ll later regret. She meets him with a winsome gift and persuasive words which bring David back to his senses. Abigail says: “The Lord has RESTRAINED you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand” (1 Samuel 25:26).
My wife walks our Golden Retriever, Shasta, with a RESTRAINING leash. It holds the dog back from running out in front of 55 miles-per-hour cars and trucks, from leaping into neighborhood ponds laced with muskrat traps, and from scrapping with neighboring German Shepherds. Her wise counsel also keeps me, her husband, out of a lot of trouble.
Our sovereign Good Shepherd enlists RESTRAINING leashes of many forms, to keep us from sinning to our spiritual hurt.
Charles Spurgeon writes:
Your sicknesses, and pains, and griefs, and depression of spirits, and all sorts of trials are often sent to you just to prevent you from sinning; they tether you, RESTRAIN you, like the horse that was in a meadow with a clog on him. (A clog is a block of wood tied to a horse’s hoof to keep it from galloping.)
A friend said to the owner, “I wonder why you clog such a fine horse as that; it seems such a pity.”
“Well,” replied the owner, “I would rather clog him than lose him; and if I did not clog him, I should lose him. He has a habit of jumping hedges and ditches, and we cannot keep him unless we clog him.”
So, my brother, you have a clog, because the Lord would rather clog you than lose you; he would sooner make you suffer here than permit you to suffer for ever in hell.
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel” (1 Samuel 25:32), for RESTRAINING us with with wise-witted spouses, neck pinching leashes, and hoof tethering clogs.
markchanski 