I like David. He loved the greatest King -- was after His heart. Want to meet and talk with both of these kings someday!
Saul had a fairly decent start but didn’t end well due to ego, rebellion, lame unilateral decisions, complete-madness and his fear of loss. Really didn't want to lose his position of power. This control-manioc was addicted to power. Flawed but humble David (Israel’s greatest monarch second to Christ) also rose to power but real slowly and it was tough (there were lots of blessings and consequences cuz not all his decisions were great), and then there was his handsome son Absalom who was willing to seek out to kill his own dad just to gain power. Stupidity comes back to bite!
Go check it out well -- go prayerfully read the whole story.
From David’s perspective, there is no indication that he knew anything was going on wrong in the kingdom until Jonathan (Saul’s son and David’s best friend) warned David of Saul’s very evil and murderous intentions. But wait.. at this point, David was also Saul’s son-in-law. Saul had given his daughter, Michal, to David but that in itself was an attempt to ensnare David. Saul wanted no competition or anything or one that appeared to be like that. But to David, this would act have been further evidence of his favor with the king of Israel. Weird. How confusing it must have been for David to realize that even his marriage was an attempt by Saul to cling on to power. Saul wanted the top spot and he wanted to call all shots his own way. Did he like any accountability in connection with his lofty position of delegated authority? Nope. None.
Son Jonathan was able to see thing as they really were and keep Saul’s intense jealousy at bay but only for a season. Eventually, King Saul was overcome and obsessed with removing this younger threat, Mr. David, far from his kingdom.
Saul went mad. David had to bolt, split, flee for his life. Read the rest of 1 Samuel to see how David kept running from Saul until it ends with Saul’s physical demise. He’s in eternity now, but God knows where.
It was during that horribly tough time that many of David’s intimate Psalms were written (See Psalm 18, 57, 59, 63, 70, and 142). At one spot Saul is off relieving himself in a cave, but it’s the very that David was hiding in. David could have easily taken him out for good.. but it wouldn’t have been God’s will or good to do. And Saul has no idea that David is in there too. At that moment King Saul’s life was in David’s hands to do with as he pleased, but David responded to the situation with great respect, integrity and opted to preserve Saul’s life. He had cut off a piece of Saul’s robe, but later when the two meet to speak and Saul realizes that David could have wiped him out (killed him) Saul exclaimed to Dave:
“You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today. I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.” (1 Samuel 24:17-21)
It was a different kind of relationship between the two men in 1 Samuel 15-31. Who had seen anything quite like this before? Power and position were involved. Would David enter the throne properly, or would he compromise spiritually? Would he become bitter and mad like Saul? Check out the change in 1 Samuel 15 and 16. Saul is fired by God. He is rejected by our loving LORD in one chapter and the young lad David was anointed by God as the king in order to take his proper place at just the right time. God had tried to work on the character of Saul. He’d tried to help him, but now He was working on David’s character to teach him how to rule.
In 1 Samuel can you detect any clues from the word as to why Saul experienced such rejection? Of the rise of David and fall of Saul the story continued to play out in a shocking sort of way.
“The narrator of 1 Samuel portrays David as the most loyal and devoted of Saul’s citizens. When Saul was tormented by an evil spirit, it was David who stepped in. When Saul’s army was on the brink of humiliation it was the young David who rose to Goliath’s challenge. He did everything that Saul asked of him. But in 1 Samuel 18 we read that Saul became jealous of the accolades given to David. Everything goes south in the relationship from this point forward.” ~ Robert Bergen
David had been the one with proper devotion to the Lord and with integrity (at least during this part of his life.. he blew it some later on really badly). King Saul was the one who made hidokus rebellious decisions and was rejected by God. Saul was the one who was graspy and egotistically selfish. He’s the one who held on to the position of power but through his narcissistic-grasping of that power, he eventually lost it all. His own foolish choices led towards him forfeiting all of it. Who was the person with real power. It was David who exemplified this through his prayer time, praise and self-control like in that cave where he could have taken Saul out. David was, in one sense, very loyal to Saul even after Saul was so cruel and flakey. Even after Sau’s death David remained loyal to authority. He kept this vow and chose to honor Saul’s family line.
Are you a leader in charge over others? You can indeed learn from this story.. what not to say, think or do. We all can learn how not to be and how not to pass on the baton of leadership.
Let’s take heed to God’s living word that encourages and is also cautionary. What can happen if we allow pride, idolatress gaspiness, rebellion, jealousy and an addiction to our self-centered view of power that can overtake anyone’s heart? A whole lot of bad can happen as it did to Saul. If we are in a position like David’s, we can learn gobs during and from the pain of being rejected and then pursued by a once hero.. by one whom we thought was a father and friend type of figure.
Think about Saul’s perspective here a bit.. it would be helpful to consider the seeds of his jealousy. We must ask, why did Saul feel so threatened by David? A clue is given in 1 Samuel 18:15-16. Here we see that Saul had a fearful awe of the way that God was using David. He saw in David’s success his own failure. As David’s candle waxed brightly, Saul saw his own light beginning to wane. He knew that his kingdom was going to be given to another and rather than repent and accept God’s providence Saul kicked against it.
Saul’s story could have been so much different. First, had he obeyed God in the first place then he would not have experienced rejection as a king. But even after this happened, he could have had a redeeming story. Saul could have graciously passed the torch to David. He could have mentored the young man. He could have delighted in the prospect of another taking the reigns and leading Israel into a bright future. But his jealousy caused him to not only shipwreck his own story but also hazard the story of his people.
History is replete with examples of leaders who held onto power in such a way that they failed to launch the next generation into leadership. For Saul, it was his own personal sin that caused him to lose influence.
See the story from David’s perspective and consider some of the Psalms he wrote during this season. The theme of those psalms is a steadfast trust in the Lord in these difficult seasons. Psalm 63 is a particularly helpful reminder that when we are rejected by those whom we put our trust in, that God is the one who will bring the satisfaction we are longing for. While in the wilderness David found satisfaction in the God who would always be his home, regardless of his physical location.
David also understood that God was sovereign over his life and the life of Saul. Having drunk deeply from this well is what enabled David to not murder Saul in that cave. When this truth is implanted in our souls, we are less quick to enact judgment ourselves. We can trust God’s sovereign care for us and also his bringing others to justice. God will have the last say on both David and Saul. It’s important if we find ourselves in either position to remember this precious truth.
One could say that what separated David from Saul was a confidence in God’s plan and purpose. Saul, it appears, was not able to see the bigger story. For Saul, everything rose and fell upon his own leadership. In his mind, if Saul was in power then the good story was able to continue. And so, Saul labored to keep himself in power. You can see hints of this even in what he asked David in 1 Samuel 24: “Keep my line alive”. Saul was worried about the name of
But David was able to see that God had a much bigger plan and purpose. David seems to be more concerned with the kingdom of God than with his own. We see this even in the story of his slaying of Goliath. His central concern was that Goliath was defiling “the armies of the living God.” He trusted in God and conquered Goliath. This thread remained throughout most of David’s life. His faith was in the God who would establish an eternal kingdom. What are some thoughts that come to my mind? These...
What does it mean that “He is before all things” in Colossians 1:17?
What does it mean that in Christ the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 1:19)?
Learn about all the friends and foes of God’s Kingdom. Yes, and of Christ in His Church. See 3 John 1–8
Who was Diotrephes in the Bible?
In Daniel chapter four Nebuchadnezzar also sought to exalt himself.
Who was Demetrius in the Bible? .. Gideon had a son (Abimelech) who killed all his half-brothers just to become king. Remember him?
He sure liked the limelight and to honor himself. What was Absalom’s Monument all about?
Why Saul failed as a leader.. the reasons are multi and manifold. David knew the kingdom was God's from the get go, but Saul thought the kingdom was his own.
It drove the control-freak of a king mad from all the jealousy he felt inside.
Six times we see a spear thrown.. I believe it was one time was at his own son. Not sure if this happened more and wasn’t recorded.
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| Photo by Payton Tuttle |
I sure ain’t a doc, but much of schizophrenia involves the demonic, not all but much of it does. Factoid people can still be possessed but Christians cannot be. Was Saul? He was certainly oppressed and harasser by an evil spirit.
Goliath was the easiest giant David ever had to down. Saul was the other giant of sorts that he had to face.
All the Giants after Goliath were not as easy for David to dealing with! Saul was the hardest one for David to deal with.
It's hard to develop godly character when you come into rulership fast and easy without some hard won battles. If you come into power, please don’t let the giant of your fleshly nature cause you to fall. Be careful with your mind.. with your mouth-gate, with your eye-gates and ear-gates. Stay pure and tight in fellowship with God.
Religious Saul’s kingship was ended, he was fired, but he didn’t leave. Man, Mr. Lucifer is sorta like that too. The cross at Calvary ended his future hopes of rulership and gaining the top spot. He so craved to be worshipped, but he’ll get the lake.
Who was Alexander the coppersmith in the Bible?
Diotrephes - “The man who loved the preeminence” would face his own consequences. He wanted to remain the church boss due to his hardhearted arrogance.
“I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.” 1 Samuel 15:30
King Saul wanted to be and stay the boss in the Kingdom and to do things his own way for life.. in a kingdom that wasn't even his. Wasn’t going to happen. When David was king he knew it wasn’t his kingdom and that he was a steward of it.
Choose not to become merely religious and puffed up -- have a real relationship with God, and stay humbly obedient to His Word. What are religious people and leaders like? Dead.
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:5
“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men..” Isaiah 29:13
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4
I dare ya to also read about John Newton? Newton in his mid-30’s was inwardly moved by a quote from a Puritan named Cotton Mather.
Mather said, “My usefulness was the last idol I was willing to give up; but now I thank the Lord, I can part with that also, and am content to be anything or nothing, so that His wise and holy will may be done!”
To this Mr. Newton thought on, and interjected with his own thoughts: “May He make me willing to resign it at a moment’s warning; and to sit quiet in my chair or my bed, and rejoice that his work is prospering without me, and that others are serving Him better when I can serve Him no longer!”
Interesting huh. Mr. Newton was hoping to be more like King David than like King Saul had been. Do you hope to live more like David (minus his sins) than like Saul or Absalom (with their destructively horrific sins)?
I hope you hope to. Do you hope to live more like King Jesus than all others? Do you hope to know and follow Him more closely? You can now and follow him today. Yep, even here and now. So turn, trust and come to your King just as you are.. to worship Him alone.
David for the most part was a successful king. I so appreciate that and thank God for Him. Jesus Christ is more so by far. Never sinned once. Not even once! Let's seek, obey and humbly follow Him with our whole heart.
Newton the writer was successful and he had a great history of pouring his life out for others. Into others. He had many “disciples” and many still read his works. Yet, Newton also messed up. He botched up his life a bit. He refused to give up his pulpit long after he should have. They had to pull Newton down from the pulpit when it was clear he was no longer capable to lead right. History has many reminders for us all. Great men of God, no matter how great have feet of clay and can mess up. They can struggle with not trusting the Lord in every season of life. Thankfully Mr. Newton wasn’t given to ego or bitter jealousy as Saul was. Yet the path of Saul is one filled with many victims. Why make victims from your choices when you can instead minister God’s word and lead other’s to Jesus for His regeneration, sanctification, restoration and healing? kurtwVs.medium.com
