Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
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Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people, and Saul's officers as well.
When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang:
"Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."
Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.
Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had left Saul.
1 Samuel 18:5-12
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Chapter 18 opened, Saul took David in and didn’t allow him to return to his family. David befriended Saul’s son, Jonathan, and was so successful in every task that Saul gave him that he was appointed to a “high rank in the army”.
All seemed well and it was…at least until Saul and his men returned home from David’s defeat of Goliath and the Israelites win over the Philistines. It’s then that Saul’s relationship with David took a turn for the worse and all because of the sinful nature of jealousy.
For as Saul and his men returned home, “the women came out from all the towns of Israel” to meet them. They were dancing to joyful songs with tambourines and lutes as they sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." Their words were meant to be songs of praise to two warriors who had brought Israel victory but they were anything but praiseworthy to Saul.
We know this because scripture tells us “Saul was very angry” at the refrain being sung. Why? Because David was given more credit than he was. In fact, Saul said as much when he thought to himself, “They have credited David with tens of thousands…but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" Little did Saul know how prophetic his thoughts were as David had already been chosen by God to lead the kingdom of Israel.
Well after all this had transpired, scripture tells us that “Saul kept a jealous eye on David” from that day on and that jealousy, sinful in its own right, would fester inside Saul and lead him to even greater acts of sinfulness. For the “next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul” and while David “playing the harp”, Saul took a spear in hand and hurled it at David saying, “I'll pin David to the wall." But Saul’s attempts were unsuccessful because “David eluded him twice”. And this caused Saul’s anger to turn to fear because he knew “the Lord was with David” but had left him.
Friends, this is exactly what happens when we decide to turn our backs on the Lord and lose the power of His Holy Spirit in our lives…we turn to sin. For if we aren’t going to allow the Lord to rule in our hearts and minds, then Satan is ready to step right in and do his evil within us. It happened with Saul and it will happen to us as well.
Saul knew it was wrong to covet and be jealous but he did it any way. He did it because he didn’t have the strength or power to resist it…the strength and power that only comes from the Lord. And so he fell prey to sin because he couldn’t obey God’s commandments (Exodus 20:13 and 17) without God to help him.
Paul would later write about jealousy as well in his letter to the church in Galatia, including it in a list of acts that were part of the sinful nature. Read the following verses:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Saul had fallen prey to the sin of jealousy but as we can see, jealousy isn’t the only sin we can fall into if we decide to try and live without the Lord in our lives. And worse of all, we see that there is a terrible penalty for living in any or all or these ways…we “will not inherit the kingdom of God”. I don’t know about you but that’s a consequence I don’t want to experience…and none of us have to if we would only follow Paul’s further words in Galatians:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control…Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25
Friends, if we truly belong to Christ Jesus then we are to crucify the sinful nature in us and instead live by the Spirit…the Holy Spirit…the only Spirit who can lead us daily into lives filled with righteousness and holiness…lives that are filled with fruits like love, joy and peace…patience, kindness and goodness…faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
The Lord was with David and he defeated Goliath and eluded the murderous attempts of Saul. In other words, David had victory in the Lord…and praise the Lord that we do as well.
As we get set to enter a new year and start to ponder resolutions, what better resolution to make than to commit ourselves to be more like Jesus…and in doing so, bearing more fruits of the Spirit in our lives and in the lives of others.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can do just that. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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