Treachery of the Wicked is no Match for our God.
Here is an audio link for today’s post.
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry for help.
The face of the Lord is set
against those who do what is evil,
to remove all memory of them from the earth.
Psalm 34:15-16
David penned this Psalm after he had already experienced the murderous rampage of King Saul in today’s true story.
David believed wholly in God’s righteous love and care for him as he faced each trial in his life.
With that, let’s take a look at 1 Samuel 18. Saul’s misery continues.
Sin has a poisonous effect, doesn’t it? One sin often leads to many more sinful behaviors. Saul’s life was a picture of the downward spiral caused by making one simple rebellious choice.
Saul had been making sinful choices since shortly after his anointing as King of Israel. Today’s story is no different. At first, the Scripture opens with Saul expressing admiration for David. But this feeling of warmth quickly faded.
As the story opens, Saul and his son Jonathan have formed a bond with David. The king was grateful for David’s swift and decisive defeat of the Philistines. Saul was also amazed by David’s courage in the demoralizing defeat of Goliath.
Saul made David a trusted military advisor and soldier. And Jonathan and David formed a friendship as if they were brothers.
The friendship of David and Jonathan is a picture of Christ’s blood covenant. When you have a moment read about this from the Bible Hub article1 linked for you online.
But not surprisingly, King Saul would take another bad turn. When the people of Israel wrote a song for David praising his military successes, a root of deep seething jealousy began to grow in the heart of Saul.
Here is part of that song:
Saul kills by the thousand,
David by the ten thousand!
Jealousy was fueled by the sin of pride, which led to hatred. And hatred led to murderous plans. Because of his sin, God allowed an evil spirit to oppress Saul.
Saul’s hatred for David continued to deepen. Scripture tells us that the more military success David had, the more Saul began to fear him. But Saul also had overwhelming fear because God had left him.
The next day an evil spirit sent from God came powerfully on Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear, and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.
1 Samuel 18:10-11
Now, we must never accuse God of evil. Keep in mind, even the demons that live today, made a choice to reject God and they fell from Heaven along with Satan. (Isaiah 14:12-15)
One of the reasons that God may have allowed Saul to be oppressed was because of His righteous judgement of Saul. Stop and think. When people reject God, they have chosen to be ruled by the prince of this world, Satan.
But also, if Saul had ever received God’s grace, he could not have been lost forever. God allows some oppression to draw people to Himself (2 Corinthians 12:7) and to glorify Himself. (Ephesians 1:5-6)
As this passage continues we can see all of the wicked behavior of Saul, towards David. But truly, every sinful rebellion is primarily against God. (Psalm 51:4)
- Saul promised his oldest daughter, Merab, to David as his wife if David would be a warrior for him. This was a ploy. Saul would try to have David killed in battle, not by his own hand.
- When it was time for Saul to honor his promise, he had already given Merab to another man.
- Then Saul promised to give his second daughter, Michal, to David. Once again, this was a devious trap.
- Saul would again rely on the Philistines to accomplish his wicked scheme.
But Saul discounted God again. God’s hand was upon David.
Before the wedding day arrived, David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines.
Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife.
Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him, and he became even more afraid of David.
As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on. Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers. So, his name became well known.
1 Samuel 18:26-30
I hope that you will take some time to read all of chapter 18.
Share the Good News in your world!
Isaiah 52:17
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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