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In Christ, Mark
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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 our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we saw in the opening verses of 1 Samuel, chapter 18, Saul took David into his court and didn’t allow him to return to his family. There, David befriended Saul’s son, Jonathan, and was so successful in every assigned that Saul appointed him to a “high rank in the army”.
With this, all seemed well but then Saul and his men returned home from David’s defeat of Goliath and the ensuing Israelite victory over the Philistines. It’s then that Saul’s relationship with David took a turn for the worse, all because of the sinful nature of pride and 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 these words:
“Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."
Their voices were raised up to sing praise to two mighty warriors who had brought triumph for the nation of Israel but they ended up being offensive to Israel’s king, a king who you will remember had turned very self-centered…so much so that he erected a monument to honor himself. The scriptures tell us that “Saul was very angry” at the refrain being sung.
Why?
Because David was given more credit than he was. In fact, Saul revealed his feelings on this 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, we read where “Saul kept a jealous eye on David” from that day on and it was this envy that festered inside of Israel’s king, leading him to acts of even greater wickedness. For the “next day, an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul” and while David was “playing the harp”, Saul took a spear in hand and hurled it at him saying:
“I'll pin David to the wall."
Thankfully, Saul’s murderous attempts were unsuccessful because “David eluded him twice”, causing Saul’s anger to turn to fear because he knew “the Lord was with David” after leaving him (Saul).
Friends, this same thing can and will happen to us when we decide to turn our backs on the Lord and reject the power of His Holy Spirit in our lives. When that happens, we, like Saul, will 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 it, sowing his seeds of evil within us…just as he did in Saul.
Saul knew it was wrong to covet and be jealous but he did it anyway. He did it because he didn’t have the strength or power within to resist it…the strength and power that only comes from the Lord and His Spirit. And so he fell prey to sin because he couldn’t obey God’s commandments (Exodus 20:13-17) without God to help him.
Moving to the New Testament, we find the Apostle Paul later writing about jealousy in his letter to the church in Galatia, providing the Galatians a list of acts that were born out of one’s sinful nature. Here’s what he had to say:
“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.”
In today’s passage, we see where Saul fell prey to the sin of jealousy but this isn’t the only transgression we can fall into if we decide to try to live without the Lord in our lives. Paul lists many others and if someone needed a reason to turn from these wicked ways, we see that this is given as Paul pronounces a terrible penalty for disobedience. For those people who choose to separate from God and partner with the devil can expect not to “inherit the kingdom of God”.
Now, I don’t know about you but that’s a consequence I don’t would never want to experience and the good news is that no one has to. Going back to Galatians, we find Paul also telling his readers how they were supposed to live. Here’s what he had to say on this:
“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, the Word of our Lord is clear here. For if we truly belong to Christ Jesus then we are to crucify the sinful nature within us, living by the leading of the Holy Spirit instead…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, who was a man after His own heart, and as a result, he defeated Goliath and eluded the murderous attempts of King Saul. In other words, David had victory because God granted it…and praise be to Him that we do as well.
Today and every day, let’s commit ourselves to allow the Holy Spirit to make us fruit-bearing vessels as we go out to do what Jesus called us to do…make disciples of all nations. In doing so, we get to help them bear the same fruit, using the same Holy Spirit that helps us.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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