“The next day an evil[a] spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. 13 So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. 14 In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.” 1 Samuel 18.10-16
Saul didn’t start off being a bad guy and truth be told, he never wanted to be king. He was selected as king by Israel when they had rejected God as King. A true recipe for disaster. Saul was a head and shoulders above the other men and was chosen for his appearance rather than his heart.
At the beginning, Saul was filled with God’s Spirit and the Lord’s anointing was upon him. He did some great and mighty things in his younger days while still obeying the Lord and following the advice of the Prophet of Samuel. But that obedience didn’t last. Bit by bit Saul turned from the Lord to appease his own desires and that of the people.
So when David comes along, anointed by God, good looking and great with a sword and leading men to battle, Saul not only became jealous but angry. Here we find him in the throne room with David playing the harp and he’s hurling spears at David. The people loved David more than they loved Saul. He had hero blood in him (as my friend Bill says) the anointing of the Lord was upon David. Saul couldn’t stand this because everything David did was met with great success.
Saul’s anger wasn’t simply a human nature instinct, the text reveals that “an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul.” (Now we can question why God was sending, or rather allowing, evil spirits to come on humans, but that’s a topic for another day.) Saul set himself up for the presence of evil by opening his heart to jealously, anger and pride. He could not accept his own place in life even though he was king. If he felt like he had to make himself better than David then he was most likely was doing the same thing with God.
Opening ourselves up to sin and temptation allows evil to enter in. The more we remain in sinful thoughts and actions, the less of God we have and the more of the devils schemes we believe. The presence of evil will not kill you immediately but ultimately it will destroy your heart, mind and soul.
Now is the time to repent and believe the Gospel. Turn to Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith and the hero of your soul. Reject the sin that so easily entangles and refuse to be like King Saul who allowed anger to overtake his emotions. The Lord is your shield and your protector. Turn to him and allow him to rescue you from the pain of sin and death in Jesus name.
“O Lord God, you are good. I praise you for your love and for my life. Help me know the power of your truth inside of me. I am but a man, called by faith to walk with you. Help me set an example for others that by my life, they might see Jesus. I praise you Lord for this beautiful day you have given me and for the chance to walk with you in Spirit and in Truth. For you are good and your love endures forever.” Amen