Year 1, Day 302: 1 Samuel 16

Transitioning to David

1 Samuel 16 begins the transition to David, although the conflict between Saul and David will stick around for a little while longer.  There are a few things we can pick up from this chapter.

First, let’s nail the obvious one.  David is chosen in spite of being the youngest, not necessarily the tallest, and not necessarily the best physical specimen.  David is loyal, obedient to the will of his father, and willing to work.  God chooses people based on their heart, not their appearance.  And so should we.  That’s where most people go with this passage.

Samuel Comes to Bethlehem

Now let’s go somewhere else.  Look at Samuel’s coming to Bethlehem.  Notice the elders of the town’s response to the prophet of the Lord coming into their midst?  They are fearful.  This is something that makes them tremble.  I’m not saying that we should live in fear of people, but sometimes I think we take our spiritual leaders in the world a little too lightly, too.  When a pastor gets up to speak, are we ever a little fearful about what he or she might say to convict us? 

Yes, I know that some people out there will say, “Yes, I want to be convicted.” That’s a good thing.  But shouldn’t we also fear the true depth of conviction that should be occurring?  After all, true conviction and repentance is hard work!

But it doesn’t need to end with the pastor.  Do any of us really have spiritual friends who occasionally hold us accountable and make us stop and think?  Are we ever fearful of how God might use them, too?  If we don’t have friends who convict us from time to time, what does that say about our spirituality?

When Samuel comes to Bethlehem, the people are afraid.  They know what it is like to have a prophet among them.  They are right to be initially afraid.

Move Along, Samuel.  Nothing to See Here

Let’s look at another point in this passage that often gets overlooked.  Where does this passage open?  The Lord says to Samuel, “Get over it; I have moved on and Saul has proven who he is.”  I gave him a chance to prove his character to himself and he has done exactly that.

So often we dwell on the sorrow of things not going the way that we expected.  So often we mourn over tragedy.  No!  We should not be spending our time here on this earth mourning over the world and its downfall.  We should be spending our days here on this earth looking for God and joyful of the fact that we can be in relationship with Him.  Yes, it does hurt to see people we care about reject God.  But even so, what is that next to the fact that the creator of the universe wants a personal relationship with you and He has called you to play a part in what He is doing in this world? 

God is looking at Samuel and basically telling him to get back on board with where His plan is heading.  That’s some great advice.  I find God’s speech to Samuel here in 1 Samuel 16:1 strikingly consistent with Jesus advice about mourning in Luke 9:60.  I also find it consistent with the advice of the angels in Luke 24:5 when they ask the women “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”  In this passage from 1 Samuel 16, God is telling Samuel to recover his focus.  Quite literally we can make this parallel: Do not seek God and His ways (the living) among Saul (the dead).

The Spirit of the Lord Left Saul

 Then we move into the second half of the chapter and I can’t get but a single verse read before stopping to comment.  The Spirit of the Lord left Saul because David was now the Lord’s chosen king and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented Saul.  Now, let’s be clear.  Do not confuse these spirits.  The first is the Spirit of the Lord and the second is a spirit from the Lord.  Even there, note the description well. 

The second spirit is from the Lord, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the spirit is there because the spirit and the Lord are “on the same side” as it were.  All you need to do is read the first two chapters of Job to understand how God and Satan discuss involvement in Job’s life.  Satan cannot touch Job without God’s permission.  The same thing could be happening here.  Saul has chosen his lot, and now God is permitting an evil spirit to give Saul the fruit of his efforts.  So many people try to use this verse to indicate that God sent an evil spirit to Saul to torment him.  It need not be read that way.  God could simply be permitting an evil spirit to torment Saul because Saul has made it clear that he has no interest in following God’s ways anyway.

Still Within the Dominion of God

Whatever the case may be, notice that God uses the evil spirit of torment.  Saul needs to be soothed, and David is introduced to the palace to soothe him.  It is a neat transition for God to employ here.  David has already been secretly anointed by Samuel.  If Samuel had told Saul what he had done out in the open, Saul would have no doubt tried to kill David.  At the very least David would never have been invited to the palace!  But God and Samuel will give Saul time to self-destruct while David is learning the palace routine.  It’s a phenomenal plan full of brilliance!

Furthermore, David will see Saul’s self-destructive behavior.  Now, this doesn’t mean David will be able to avoid self-destructive behavior.  David’s reign will be full of self-destruction, as is all of our lives, too.  However, what David will learn is the importance of confessing our sin when we self-destruct.  That is a valuable lesson that David will find reinforced time and time again in the presence of Saul.

<><