1 Samuel 16:14-23 God Knows What He is Doing
Notes
Transcript
God knows what He is doing.
God knows what He is doing.
14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” 17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” 18 One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.
Introduction:
There is a lot to unpack here and we are going to try to get through it all tonight. If we don’t we might have to come back and finish up next Wednesday night. I am gonna try to get through though because I want us to study the David and Goliath story next week. So when we left off I want you to remember from last Wednesday night David has been anointed the king of Israel and God does not see as we see. David has been made the rightful king of Israel. Saul does not know this and neither does anyone else. We have reason to believe that this was done in private because if it had been known to Saul he would have tried to kill David way before he does. His father would not have kept this secret you think his dad is gonna send his son to the king if he is the king. That’s kinda skipping ahead but lets just dive in here.
Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.
The spirit of the Lord departed from Saul….what does this mean exactly. Some like to use this to say that we can lose our salvation but that is not the case this is dealing with this instance and the life of Saul. God’s spirit is upon David at this time. We are gonna see that here in just a few minutes but Saul has fallen out of favor with God. Saul is no longer following God or serving God. Remember from last week when we saw where Saul offered sacrifices to God just so he could win a battle. He is living for himself and not for God.
Have you ever just had a case of the mullygrubs? There ain’t nothing really wrong but everything is wrong. You just get mad at everything and you don’t know why? The reason is you are no longer focusing on God you have started trying to do it on your own or you are trying to take ownership of the win. You are trying to claim God’s glory in your life for yourself.
That is what is going on here with Saul. Saul was reflecting upon his failures as a King instead of repenting and going back to God. He was realizing that the kingdom was lost to him and there was nothing he could do about it. Saul has been told your rule has come to an end and he is just beside himself.
2. We get like this when something happens to us in our lives. We cause it but we are just so angry that we are trying to find somewhere to put it and everything that crosses our path gets the wrath that is built up inside us.
God has picked someone who we will find is a man after God’s heart not because he is any better than Saul but because when he fails and falls short he gets on his face before God and repents and takes whatever punishment, because it is still punishment at this point in the Bible, and he does not try to tell God what to do.
And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.”
Saul’s servants see what has happened. Now it is not so much that God is sending this spirit as much as Saul is allowing the spirit to be there because he is shutting God out. He is focusing on all the wrong that is going on in his life instead of owning it and repenting to God. Notice that not one time has Saul asked God for forgiveness or tried to turn from his ways. So his servants see what is happening and they are trying to find a way to console him. So they decide the best way to calm the savage beast is to play music.
This is God’s hand right here in the middle of this plan and we are gonna see in just a couple of verses how we can confirm the anointing that was on Saul is now on David. Saul agrees to the music idea and tells them to find someone. One of the guys has a wonderful idea…..
One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.”
Now they are thinking of David why because they have heard of him. They were only about 10 or 12 miles apart so it was not far fetched to believe stories about a young shepherd boy protecting sheep from wild animals would not have reached the ears of those in the palace.
Again David is from Bethlehem and I believe that is very relevant to the narrative of Jesus coming from the line of David. After all that is where He is born. Look how they describe David to Saul….a man of valor, a man of war, that word valor means a man of strength. He was exceptionally strong for a shepherd boy. He was prudent in speech and a man of good presence…he will fit in at the palace. He is not going to embarrass the king by saying or doing the wrong thing. The most important part of that I want you see is in the last statement. “and the Lord is with him.”
The Lord is clearly not with Saul at this point so let’s get someone here in the palace that the Lord is definitely with so that God’s presence will return here. They are thinking in one spot and God is working on a whole different level. God is placing David in a position that will provide him with what he will later need.
What I want you to see is that others have seen David’s heart for the Lord and how the Lord is responding to David’s devotion. David is out there with the sheep talking with God and loving the Lord. God is with David becasue David is with God. David knows he is the rightful king but he is not constantly reminding God that he has been picked to rule the nation.
He is just patiently waiting on the Lord to do what the Lord is gonna do and while he waits he just keeps walking with God. I wonder why we can’t seem to get that part down…or at least I can’t sometimes.
3. Do we often miss what God is doing in our lives because we are only thinking in one direction?
4. Does God or will God provide for our future and place us in relationships and places that we need to be in that will grow us for what is to come next? Why or why not?
5. Do we talk with God and follow God while we are in the waiting or do we just keep reminding God that we need Him to do something for us?
Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul.
If David is the king does he have to go when Saul calls him? No but notice that his father sends him. I am sure he did not want to send his youngest son to the palace of the king because you know that word has gotten out that all is not well with Saul. No servant is going to keep that juicy nugget secret for long. But Jesse sends him and sends him with tribute.
David has been made the King of Israel and he is being summoned to the palace where the other king is sitting on his throne. How did David arrive at the palace…………with tribute. Did David tell his father or anyone else that he was the rightful king of Israel? Did David let slip that Samuel had anointed him as the king?
David went humbly following God’s lead and doing as he was told. He went there and he learned all he could learn and was shown how the court was handled and how the day to day running of the palace was accomplished. God not only sent him to his palace to learn from someone else he gave him favor with the ruling king at that time.
And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.”
The rightful king came and humble entered the service of the one that was sitting on his throne and began to learn how to be a king….or better yet how not to be a king. He became an armor-bearer. Now this is going to come into play next week when we get to the story of Goliath’s defeat but for now lets just say David occupied a spot that was considered a place of honor.
He was not only serving the king but the king loved him and told his dad to let him remain in the kings service.
This passage tonight is proof God hears our prayers and answers taking us to a place of honor from a place of service……. but we have to remain humble in the transition time. We cannot out run God and go about telling everyone how important we think we are.
Life Applications:
If I am running around beating on my chest hollering about how much I am serving God and what God is going to do for me and how I am so much better than everyone around me I lose sight of the fact that God is the one that is doing it for me and I am just along for the ride.
God has a plan my part in that plan is to remain faithful, don’t brag, and learn all that I can while I am waiting on the Lord.
God’s plan for my life is so much better than what I think of as a plan for my life. I am going to be so much better off following Him than I am trying to go the direction I want to go. David likely was planning one day to have a pretty nice herd of sheep and enough money to live a life of comfort. God took him from the flock to the palace and all he had to do was be faithful and follow.
