DISCUSSION
Now don’t get me wrong, I am sure that Saul had a list of
accomplishments a mile long that were good and a blessing to the Lord. Sadly though, as we continue our study, we
seem to only focus on his shortcomings.
Even after the situation with Agag, the King of Amalek, Saul remained King
of Israel even though the LORD had already selected David to be his
replacement. Saul knew his reign would
end badly, yet he did not know that God had already ordained David. Shortly after the selection of David, we see
his Giant accomplishment of faith (pun intended) in his defeat of Goliath. Of course, Saul celebrated David’s victory as
well because it bought him more time as the King. However, as time progressed, that would
change. David’s popularity had grown so
much that it had surpassed that of the king.
Then the comparisons began; Saul had slain his thousands, and David his
ten thousand (I Samuel 18.6). This made
Saul grow jealous and very angry, and from that day on he looked at David with
“suspicion”. Then the very next day,
Saul’s anger overtook him as an attempt to pin David to the wall with his
spear. By God’s grace, he missed, but
the damage was already done. The spirit
of the LORD had been removed from Saul and was now on David. Saul’s jealously and anger continue for the
next several chapters as Saul continues to seek to kill David. It doesn’t take very long for us to see the
dreadful downward spiral of King Saul, once the LORD’s anointed, now Satan’s
pawn. How could all this happen? Sadly, it is very simple; the moment when Saul
began to think of himself more highly than he ought to think -he fell. The reason why the proverb of Solomon is true
concerning pride going before destruction, is that pride forces us to keep our
focus on self. When we become obsessed
with self, we fail to see the traps that Satan has laid out for us and we fall
into them. Sadly, we keep falling
repeatedly until we get to the point of no return. I pray that we never get to that point, but
that we continue to strive to maintain a clear understanding of who we are and
who God is.
Prayer
Requests:_______________________________________________________________