Spiritual Refreshment

1 Samuel 16:14–23 KJV 1900

14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. 15 And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. 16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. 17 And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. 18 Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. 19 Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. 20 And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. 21 And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. 23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

Introduction

Saul’s life takes a dramatic turn for the worst.

The Spirit of the Lord leaves him.

This is a devastating loss in Saul’s life.

He would no longer know the power and presence of God in his life.

The presence or absence of the Spirit in the OT says nothing about salvation.

It only speaks to the fact that God’s power worked in those whom He had selected for service.

Because of Saul’s disobedience, God’s focus had shifted to a new person being prepared to lead Israel.

With the Spirit of God no longer residing on Saul, an evil spirit begins to trouble him.

The Jews are fiercely monotheistic.

They hold to the fact that God is sovereign over all things.

So, the spirit is depicted as coming from God.

God permitted an evil spirit to afflict Saul.

This could be seen in fits of depression.

Saul became filled with feelings of fear and anguish.

These afflictions characterized his actions for the rest of his life.

The Spirit of God and the agents of Satan are both seeking welcoming soil for their operations.

Saul was welcome soil for demonic activity since he had made himself a rebel against God.

Rebellion against God is no light thing.

It invites evil into a person’s life.

His servants notice.

Because, of course they did.

The effects of Saul’s spiritual condition were influencing his public interactions.

Paul’s behavior from this point forward became erratic.

He was prone to drastic mood swings.

Saul becomes a very difficult person to be around.

The servants ask Saul to commission them to go find help.

They specifically ask that a man be found that is skilled in playing the harp.

Music is intended to comfort and elevate mankind.

Music was believed, even then, to have the power to heal and soothe.

Saul tells them to go find someone that can play for him.

Saul is at least honest enough to admit that he is struggling.

He can sense that things are not right.

One of the servants tells Saul about a young man in Bethlehem.

He describes this son of Jesse, and tells about a man that is skilled in more than just music.

Look at this description of David.

Cunning musician.

Mighty, valiant man.

A man of war.

Prudent in all matters.

A comely/handsome person.

The Lord is with Him.

The fact that David was more than just a musician would have greatly interested Saul.

Two chapters earlier, we can see that Saul was always on the lookout for valiant men.

1 Samuel 14:52 “52 And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him.”

Whoever Saul’s servant is in this verse, he may just be the greatest headhunter/talent scout of all time.

Everything that this servant says about David describes the characteristics that would define David’s life.

Saul immediately sends for David.

Just a few verses earlier, Samuel had come looking for David to anoint him as the next king.

Now Jesse gets another guest looking for David, this time it’s a messenger from the king.

David is sent to join Saul.

Of course he comes bearing a gift for the king.

The nature of the gift points to the infancy of the Jewish monarchy.

Israel is still a fledgling, wild country.

David proves to be a valuable asset to Saul’s court.

Saul fell in love with David and the way that he carried himself.

He makes David his armorbearer,

He asks Jesse if he will permit David to stay with him.

The greatest service that David pays his king is through his music.

We’ve already mentioned the ancient view of music.

Some examples of historical views of music include the Greeks.

They would utilize calming music to quell riots.

In the 1700’s, the French Academy of Sciences published a book documenting several accounts of diseases being remedied by music.

The Spanish king Philip V was cured of debilitating depression by music.

He had locked himself in his room.

He wouldn’t get out of bed.

He wouldn’t eat.

He wouldn’t shave.

He wouldn’t bathe.

They set up a famous musician in the adjoining room and ordered him to perform a full concert.

At the end the king came out and requested to see the musician so that he might reward him for the beautiful music.

The musician had been coached to ask for one thing only, that the king would bathe and return to the court.

David’s playing had a very similar effect on Saul.

Whenever he was afflicted by the evil spirit, David would play and the spirit would leave.

This surely required that either Saul or David had to be able to recognize when this was happening.

There is an instance in 1 Samuel 18 that may be an occasion when music was not administered soon enough.

Did the music permanently banish the demon? No.

The music limited the sphere of operation of the evil spirit that afflicted him.

As a result of David’s playing, Saul was refreshed.

Based on this word “refreshed” we get a certain picture of what Saul experienced.

The word is defined as “to smell, to be relieved, liberated, fragrance.”

It doesn’t seem like all of these words go together does it?

Imagine this though, have you ever had a stuffy nose?

When you blow out the obstructions and you can once again breathe clearly, how great does that feel.

Now imagine you take that first clear breath and you smell something really good.

That’s a picture of Saul’s mind after the music.

We could also illustrated it as the difference between be squished in a tight space as opposed to having room to spread out.

We could say that Saul was carrying a heavy load that was lifted.

We could say he was feeling worn out and sapped but he became reenergized.

All of these illustrations fit the picture of what David’s music did for Saul.

Lest you think just any music will do.

Can I remind you that we have a solid collection of examples of the kinds of songs David performed.

They are called Psalms and they are incredible weapons against an unhealthy spirit/mind.

Through this story, we see that spiritual refreshment is a matter of spiritual warfare.

Wars are fought over a series of battles.

Those of you that have fought the battle against temptation, depression, or addiction, you know that you don’t fight one battle and that’s it, you never struggle again.

It requires consistent, repetitive attention.

One of the obvious weapons that God has given humanity is music.

This is reiterated in the NT.

Saul lost the Spirit of God, right?

The opposite of the absence of the Spirit would be the presence or filling of the Spirit.

Paul tells us that one of the signs of being filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18-19 “18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;”

All good gifts are from God.

There isn’t a single good gift from God that satan hasn’t tried to pervert.

Just as godly music frees and refreshes us, there is ungodly music that will enslave and depress you.

If you are in need of Spiritual refreshment tonight, may I commend to you one of the most powerful medicines that you have at your disposal, Godly music.

If it can help a man afflicted by an evil spirit like Saul, don’t you think it might do you some good to?

Saul had lost the Spirit of God, you have the Spirit of God living in you.

Fill your life, your car, your home with Godly music that will refresh your spirit and mind.

Teach your kids how to enjoy Godly music.

Don’t create a culture where Christian music is boring and something we endure for church and the good fun music is the stuff we listen to all the rest of the time.

There is great variety in Christian music.

You don’t have to find someone to play it for you live.

You should value those who can minister to you in music the way that David ministered to Saul.