God saves David from a big mistake that would have cost him being king. David was lined up with the Philistines ready to go to war with Israel. David was going to war against his fellow man. The leaders of the Philistines saw David and were scared because they thought he might turn against them and kill them. We do not know what David would have done because he did not fight against the Israelites when Achish thought he was doing that already.

David departed from the battle line with his men and the chapter ends with that. The truth is God knew what he was doing because he was protecting David from a mistake that would have been devastating. God took him out of a situation that he might have gone into. God does the same thing with us. He allows us to be brought out of a situation for our protection and sometimes allows us to try and withstand it on our own.  God loves us a lot. He wants us to be protected. When we are in fellowship with God we can know were to go and what to do. When we are not that is when we most likely will make stupid decisions.

In the movie Star War: Return of the Jed the forrest moon planet in it was called Endor. It was home to the Ewoks. Now obviously this may show a little of my nerdyness but the reason why I bring this up is because En-dor gets brought up in this chapter and that is the only reason, there really is no connection. In this chapter we see just how far off Saul went in the deep zone. David is mentioned only in the first part but then we go and focus on Saul.

David was still in the land of the Philistines and serving Achish and now the Philistines were going to war against Israel. Interesting that David was now in a bind. 

Saul Seeks Help

Now Saul was in a bind not knowing what to do. He then realizes that he can turn to a witch to solve his problems. During this time there were mediums or witches and they were removed from the land. This was the practice of the surrounding nations to try to speak to spirits or the dead. This is something that God specifically spoke to Israel to not to do (Lev. 19:31). Saul had already disobeyed God by not listening to wait for Samuel and the sacrifice. He disobeyed God when he did not destroy the Amalekites when he was told to. He went to try to find help and he asked this woman to speak to the dead and more specifically to Samuel. 

The interesting thing was that she did and Samuel was there and speaking to Saul. Many people wonder about this particular passage and think about how could this happen. What we can see is that God allowed this to happen to speak to Saul. Saul needed to realize that he disobeyed God and God had taken the kingdom away from him. In this chapter we see that Saul will die in battle and so will his son, Jonathan. 

Tough News

Saul fell once he heard the news and did not want to eat or do anything. He realized the truth that was spoken a few chapters ago was true. I do not know if you you think about this but I wonder what would have happened if Saul would have repented and realized that he was in the wrong. In verse 15 we see that Saul is blaming God for not answering him but the truth is it was because of Saul. 

We have tough news too. In Romans 6:23 says that because of sin we receive death. If we stopped there that news would be tough. We would think, well how can I get past this point. All I have to hope for is hell and eternal death. That is very tough news. But it does not end there.  It continues by saying but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. He looks at our wretchedness and loves us and takes it away. The news may sound tough but it does not end there. It ends with hope and joy and life everlasting. Take hold of the hope that you have or can have. Grab hold of Jesus Christ the redeemer of lives. Do not forsake his doing and his salvation.

The Bible is very honest with the people God uses. They have good times and they have bad times. They do the right thing and they do the bad thing. They show that they can overcome evil and how they can give into to evil. With our story and history of David we now see how he has done so well by clinging to the Lord. He killed the giant that everyone was afraid of, he did not take revenge on the king of Israel. He trusted in the Lord when he lived with his band of men in the wilderness. In this chapter we see some of David’s flaws.

I am Tired (vs 1)

David from his heart even said he would die from the hand of Saul. He was tired of being chased and instead of praying to God for strength to carry on, he decided that it would be best for him and his men to leave town and country and live with the Philistines. This may not seem that bad at first but what happens is we see some of the flaws of David coming out. This was not the best move for the soon to be king. 

I have been tired before and usually when we are tired is when we make very poor decisions. We know he was tired and being pursued and living in the wilderness. I know I would be sick and tired of that for some time. 

Downfall 

In verses 8 and 9 we see David battling the enemies of the Philistines. He was truly being a servant of Achish. He lied about who was going to battle with. Achish, the Philistine thought that David was attacking the people of Judah and David truly was not but lied about it. David was successful in this area as he was a gifted leader in battle. The truth is though the way David went about it was by being unfaithful. The truth is that Jesus has never let me or you down. He remained faithful even when it was the hardest to. He stuck it out. We are not perfect and yet he still remained faithful. He remained faithful to die for us even when we are faithless.  Jesus is my rock and my strength.

David lost faith in God who was his deliverer. David put trust in himself and his own actions. David will soon learn his mistake and turn back to the Lord.

Put your trust in Jesus

John 14:6 tells us to trust in the truth which is Jesus and he is our savior. I know I have done many foolish things before and have put my trust in myself and made stupid decisions. I need to realize that Jesus is my hope and Jesus is my answer. He is the way, truth, and life. No one can go to the father except through Him.

It is nice having good friends. God intended for us to have friends. We are relational people. Sometimes we choose people that are not very good friends or we are not very good friends to others. I remember growing up and having a friend that was awesome. We would hang out and do everything together. We would spend the night at each other’s house almost every night in the summer. When my friend would go away and see family for a couple weeks I remember how bummed I was because he was not around. 

In this chapter we see David moving up in the people’s eyes as a leader and Saul becoming more and more jealous of David. We also get to see a great true friendship exemplified in this passage.

True Friendship

Jonathan and David were true best friends. We see that their souls were knit together. In verse 1 we see that Jonathan loved David as his own or that he had an unconditional love for him. Jonathan than would give David his own robe. He would also give David his armor and even his sword, bow, and belt. Now we may be thinking that’s cool, that’s what friends do. The truth is what Jonathan did for David and gave him was very significant. 

David was a shepherd or a very low position. Jonathan was a prince. Jonathan gave David a robe. This robe symbolized that he was a prince. He was giving David something that was a sign of royalty. This also was showing that he believed that God has anointed David as king. He gave David his armor which was his protection which meant he cared more about the protection of David then himself. He gave his sword which remember not that many Israelites had swords during this time (13:19; 17:50). This was a very special gift of war. Everything that showed Jonathan’s importance was given to David to make him important. That is what a true friend does.

What kind of friend are you? Do you give or do you take? A true friend is someone that gives of themselves for the better of the other person. Do you want your friends to continually give and give? Evaluate your friends and how you with your friends. A friend should not cause you to sin. A friend should cause you to glorify God more. Jonathan stripped everything that made him royalty so David would be royalty. Would you do that for your friends?

Jesus is true Friend

In this story I could not help but reflect on how Christ had stripped himself of everything royal and godly for me. He was born into a manger, and being a man, lived a perfect and sinless life. He was beaten and bruised and hung on a tree for me. He rose again to conquer death and died to give salvation to sinful man. Jesus was like Jonathan in that he gave up everything for us so we can be considered righteous. Romans 5:8-10 For God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by they death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall be saved by his life. Christ not only gave us righteousness but took away our sin by paying the debt for us. A true friend sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). John 15:13 tells us that no one has no greater love than this to lay down his life for his friends. Jesus laid down his life for us and he calls friend. He is a true friend.

I like movies were we see the underdog of the story when or overcome the enemy. For example I really like the movie Facing the Giants.” It is about a small underdog football team beating a successful established football team. The focus is on not winning but about trusting the Lord and letting His will take place. I have always been one to cheer for the underdog in games because I know the little guy can win.

In this chapter God is true to his word and is found a new king, David. The only thing is David was different than Saul, by a lot.

Meet David

God told Samuel to get up and start moving forward. He told him he found a new king and that he was from Bethlehem. This new king was the son of Jesse. Samuel went and met the first son named Eliab and Samuel thought, this guy is it. I don’t know why he thought that but God told Samuel, “Do not look on the outward appearance but on the inward, what God looks at.” He must have been tall and muscular. He might have been Mr. Manly man, I don’t know. The 2nd son passed by but it was not him either. Samuel went through 7 of sons and none of them were it. Then there was 1 more who was in the field and he was the youngest.

Samuel met David and saw that he was young, ruddy and had beautiful eyes. He was the one that God wanted to anoint and he was. It says a lot that David was not there with his family but that he was doing his job. He was being a shepherd. He was taking care of his father’s flock. Who would have thought this early on training was going to be for him as a shepherd over the whole nation.

David in Action

As soon as David was anointed the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and we see that the Spirit of the Lord departed Saul. It is sad but we see that a different spirit came upon Saul. Saul was afflicted with an evil spirit which I believe would be bitterness and guilt. He was on edge because of his sin and not repenting to God for it. Someone suggested that Saul get someone that can play the lyre which is like a harp to calm him down. This opened the door for David because he was also a skilled musician.

David would play the lyre for Saul and he would be comforted. Saul loved David and we see that David was issued into the service for Saul. How interesting that Saul the formal king would have the next king working for him. Soon Saul’s love for David would turn to bitterness and jealousy. 

The Underdog Wins

The reason why David is the underdog is because he was the unlikely candidate to become the king. He was young, inexperienced, not physically domineering. He was far from the world’s standard as a king for a nation. But God is great because through Him all things are possible (Luke 1:37). God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1st Corinthians 1:27). We need to know in our weakness that is how God will show his strength (2nd Corinthians 12:10). God does those things and I love seeing them brought out because it shows God’s glory. God is awesome and we see that he works everything out for his glory. David is going to bring the people closer to Him. David is small but God is mighty. We are weak but God is strong. May we continue to have that mind set in this life and the world will be amazed of what God will do for us.

Rejection is a hard thing to swallow some times. I remember asking a girl to one of our school things and she said no. That was hard because I thought she was going to say yes. The cool thing is that I did not end of going by myself. I went with a group of friends and it was more fun that way. Rejection hurts even more when it caused by our own faults. If you lied to a friend and they were mad at you and asked that you left them alone for a while, that hurts.

In this chapter we see Saul being rejected as king by God. It is not of anything other than Saul was leading the people down a very wrong path. He was doing more harm than good.

The Last Chance

In this chapter God gave Saul specific instruction. He was told to go and destroy the Amalekites. This was also what God said would happen in Exodus 17 upon the Amalekites in going to war with Israel. Saul was told to destroy everything, men, women, child, and animals. All seemed like Saul was listening but then we see that he kept the king alive and also the men took all the good sheep and oxen as spoil.

God wanted Saul to be obedient to his words but instead he was going along with them and adding his own twist on it. Saul was getting out of control and as Samuel was going to talk to him Saul built an altar to himself. We see the leaders of Israel before Saul who built altars but they built them to the Lord. They did out of appreciation for what God has done, but Saul was building himself one as if he was the one who brought victory. Saul’s pride was getting in the way and it was time for God to step in. 

Samuel confronted Saul and said, “You did not listen to God and because of that you are no longer king.” Saul did not take any of the responsibility, he blamed the people and said it was because of them that they kept the good animals alive. Then he tried to say it was because they were going to sacrifice them to the Lord. God said, “It is better to obey than to sacrifice.” To sacrifice is to obey and Saul rejected God’s word so God rejected Saul.

Saul acted like a child and asked for repentance but only because God rejected him. He should have asked for it before the judgment was given. God already had someone else in mind who will lead Israel. And we see from this chapter that Saul would disregard God’s Word. In the last chapter we see that Saul was leading his people into sin. We know leaders are not perfect because of sin. But when a leader who does not follow after the Lord and leads the people into sin is not a good leader. Saul needed to be removed because Israel would be going into a worse state. May you hold dear to the words of the Lord and when you have disobeyed them, return to God and ask for forgiveness. Remember obey is the key.

Have you ever watched a movie and you see one of the main characters heading into trouble and you wish you could warn them. You may even watch and see some of their mistakes and so, how could they make that mistake? Sometimes we see that in real life and we could warn people but they do not always listen. Sometimes it even happens in our own lives. We choose to not listen to others who may warn us about pit falls that are ahead. For some reason they can see it but we can not. I think it is we choose to not. 

In this chapter Saul is fading fast from a man who should have been honoring to God to a man who wants honor and fame for himself. It may be subtle now but it is starting to show.

Disobedience

We see the enemy, the Philistines raging war on Israel and we know that the Philistines have been the enemy from the beginning of this book. This time the fighting has gotten so bad that the Israelites are living in caves and hills because the oppression of the enemy is so much. In verse 5 we see that the Philistines had mustered 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and enough troops that looked like the sand of the seashore.

They were afraid of the mighty and many Philistines. The scene then goes to a specific part where we see Saul and the leaders waiting. We read in verse 8 that he needed to wait seven days which were given by Samuel for them to wait for the sacrifice. This sacrifice was to go before the Lord and they would then ask the Lord what He would want them to do. 

We see that the enemies were coming in fast. Saul waited to seventh day but there was no Samuel. He could have thought, maybe something happened? Maybe Samuel won’t come? I wish that were the case but Saul being pressed by the people and not being obedient decided that he could do the sacrifice and ceremony which resulted in true disobedience to God. Saul was commanded to wait but when he could have waited a little longer, he did not.

Samuel confronted Saul and we do not see any remorse from Saul. He just carried on with what he was doing. I wish I could tell you, if Saul repented then the lines that came out of Samuel’s mouth would not have but Saul did not repent, nor realize his sin.

Samuel then told him, his days as king are done. They are numbered and God has found someone after his own heart. Samuel was speaking about David. We see that Saul numbered the people and decided that he was going to do what he needed to do.

God gives us chances to repent from disobedience. It may be the Holy Spirit convicting you are getting caught for something. God puts those flashing lights up and we need to heed the warning. We need to turn towards Christ who is the one who settles our disputes with God. Turn from sin and turn towards God.

Samuel was saying goodbye to Israel as if a former president would announce a nation. The only thing different is Samuel was saying this because God was saying, “You got what you want.” Samuel was just making sure Israel knew what they were doing with their decision.

Integrity

Samuel told Israel that tell me if there was something that I did to take advantage of you. Let me know if you can find anything. They could not, Samuel did not take anything from the people. Actually he continually wanted to serve the people. He is a great example of a true leader. He did not want personal or financial gain. He wanted the well being of the people. 

Samuel then decided to not sugar coat anything for Israel. He went through the history of Israel and showed them that God has been the one that has fought for Israel. God is the one that was the leader who would go before his people. He wanted to leave them with these final words. He wanted them to know that God has been and would continue but the decision they want is not good. 

The people asked that Samuel would still pray for them. How interesting is that they would not heed his words about God being the king but yet still wanted Samuel to be the mediator for them. This reminds of the person that knows they are in sin but does not seek forgiveness. They ask other people to pray for them but they cannot go before the Lord themselves.

In Everything Speak Truth

Samuel really did care for the people because he could have just thrown in the towel and forgot about them and asked God to through down his wrath. What we do see is that Samuel loved them and told them their wrong. He not only loved them but also kept them in prayer. We need to be praying for all our friends, family members, but most importantly our enemies. We need to pray for those that are in the wrong and be willing to be honest and upfront with them.

I remember being in 6th grade and being in my first fight. It was during recess as we were playing football. There was this one guy who was big and was picking on another kid who was not very liked and popular. I remember I was getting so upset over how he was picking on him. He was on the other team and was running right by me so I decided to stick out my foot and trip him. He fell flat on his face and I just remembering going, “What did I just do.” I started to walk off the field because I did not want him to start fighting me but he pushed me and started to hit me. I just remember kicking him and he left me alone and I told him that he should not  pick on people. I don’t know if that got his attention or the teacher that was coming but he stopped.

Take action

In this chapter we see Saul starting to do his kingly duty. Remember the last chapter he was somewhat timid about being king. He was found hiding when he was announced in front of all the people. I would be hiding too.  Israel now was at war with the Ammonites and word reached Saul and he gathered all the troops of Israel for them to fight against them. They did and won. We read in verse 6 that the Spirit of the God rushed upon him and he took action. He knew he needed to fight for the people and that is what he did. 

We need to know that even though Saul was a leader, he could not sit back and watch this mistreatment of the people take place. He had to do something. We as Christians are called to be leaders in this world and we can not sit back and watch them live in darkness. We need to be able to stand up for the Lord and be moved. It takes action and we have been given the ability to take it. 

Do people get mistreated at school around you? We normally do not want to make a stand because we might start getting mistreated. We need to know we serve a Great God will give us the strength. We need to ask him for it. Stand up and be an example as a follower of Christ.

Peer Pressure gets to all of us at one time or another. I was having lunch with my family and the server mentioned that sounded good so I said, “I will have that.” Then my brother in law, Aaron, said, “That sounds good too, I’ll have that.” When it came to Adam my other brother in law, he said, “Fine I will have that too if everyone else is.” The server laughed and said, “Nothing like peer pressure.” Now this was a time where peer pressure worked on the behalf of a simple decision as food but peer pressure can get us into a lot of trouble. 

In this chapter we see Israel demand a king because they want to be like the other nations.

The apple does fall far from the tree

Samuel was getting old and his sons were helping in the judging of the people. The only thing was his sons were taking advantage of the people. They would bribe the people for them to rule and judge in their favor. They were nothing like Samuel. Samuel feared the Lord, his sons did not. Samuel had a love for the people, his sons did not. 

The people called to Samuel and asked they could have a king just like the other nations and he said why and they even replied with, “Your sons are nothing like you.” This probably was a piercing blow to Samuel to hear about his own flesh and blood.” The cool thing we see is that Samuel goes straight to the KING of KINGS for help.

Peer Pressure

We see that the people asked Samuel for a king so they could be like the other nations twice. Samuel even warned them that the king will have the young men join the army, take the best fields for himself and the kingdom and that they will be obligated to him but they did not listen. We see the true heart of Israel right now. They cared more about being like the other nations than being a nation under God. In verse 7 we see that the people have rejected God as being their King. 

We too can fall into this peer pressure and make compromises. We can care so much about the opinion of man that we forget the most important opinion, God’s. We fear man and what he thinks more than what God thinks of us. Peer pressure is a mighty weapon of the Devil. He will have us get worked up over what others think and forsake him. We can give into the snares of others so easily. It was just 1 chapter ago that Israel had true repentance but whether this was a new generation or they were getting comfortable they forgot about God. That is why it is so important that we never stop seeking the Lord.