READ
1 Sam 18-19, Pr 14
Verses Chosen for Reflection:
“The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.”
1 Samuel 18:10-11 ESV
“A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.”
Proverbs 14:30 ESV
REFLECT
King Saul rebelled against the Lord so many times and the Lord had rejected him as a King. He disobeyed God and acted according to his own will and flesh (as we have seen many times in the previous chapters). Most importantly God had left Saul and the evil spirits took this opportunity to influence him to do wicked things to inflict harm on an innocent man (David). So his heart was full of envy and jealousy as David became more successful and garnered respect and support from the people. Saul became ever more insecure and getting rid of David had become his main goal in life. So I believe at that point the spirit of the Lord had left Saul and this made him susceptible to the attack by the evil spirit.
Provebs 14:30 tells us that a tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot. This was the case with King Saul as his spirit of jealousy had completely taken over his life, to the point of madness and insanity. I do not think Saul enjoyed plotting to kill David, who actually did no harm to him. Jealousy and insecurity had torn Saul’s life apart. It was quite unlikely that he enjoyed being a King after that as he had to deal with illusions and fear that David might overthrow him and even his own son might betray him (as Jonathan was close to David). Indeed Saul had lost his tranquility in life and his purpose of being a good King.
RELATE
Jealousy and insecurity is something we have to battle with in our daily lives. Whether we are at work, in school or even in church and ministries, we have to face such fruit of the flesh. My corporate life exposed me to many such instances of jealousy and insecurity among colleagues and peers. Colleagues who feel insecure may withhold information, spread rumours to pin someone down or even exclude someone deliberately from emails and meetings. Sounds familiar? This is what we refer to as “toxic” environment. Have we witnessed such scenarios in church life or ministries? Do we sometimes feel repulsive when a fellow worker gets all the attention or praises while our sense of inferiority or jealousy starts to take over? The result of jealousy is usually resentment. For some of us who attended the church camp recently we were reminded that the greatest thing of all is love. And let us be reminded again of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 that says - 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful… And according to Galatians 5:22-23, love and kindness are part of the fruit of the spirit. If we do not bear the fruit of the spirit we will then yield to the fruit of our flesh, and eventually wickedness, which was the case of Saul.
REST
Heavenly Father, forgive us when our flesh is weak and when we yield to the spirit of our flesh. Help us to pause and think before we act. Keep us grounded to the fruit of the spirit so that we can walk in perfect harmony with others and with You. In Jesus name we ask, Amen.
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