Written by: Captain Nick Green - Church Army

1 Samuel 18 v 1-4
When David finished talking with Saul, Jonathan felt very close to David. He loved David as much as he loved himself. Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him go home to his father’s house. Jonathan made an agreement with David, because he loved David as much as himself. He took off his coat and gave it to David, along with his armor, including his sword, bow, and belt.

Notes
You know when you meet someone new and you just click together instantly. It was a bit like that for David and Jonathan. They felt such a deep love for each other that Jonathan made a special agreement, or covenant of friendship with David, possibly a bit like a “blood brothers” pact. Then Jonathan honoured David by giving him his sword, bow, and belt and robe. Jonathan’s robe represented his right as heir to the kingdom of Israel, and he willingly passed that over to David. From then on Saul made David live at the palace which was to be his new home from entering into the special covenant relationship.

When I came to know Jesus for the first time, I fell deeply in love with Him. He made a covenant agreement with me to forgive me for all the things I do wrong if I’m genuinely sorry, and promised to never leave me or give up on me, and of course I’ll live after I die. As part of the covenant or agreement He made me a child of God, a co-heir of His Father’s kingdom. He called me to live in Him as His own.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, laid down his kingship and surrendered everything at the Cross for you and me. He did it so that you could come into that covenant relationship with God as His precious child. St. Paul wrote, “So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have been made like him… You are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you.” (Galatians 3:26-27)

1 Samuel 18 v 5-6
Saul sent David to fight in different battles, and David was very successful. Then Saul put David over the soldiers, which pleased Saul’s officers and all the other people.
After David had killed the Philistine, he and the men returned home. Women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul. They sang songs of joy, danced, and played tambourines and stringed instruments.

Notes
David had a secret behind his success, but it wasn’t a military strategy. St. Paul knew what it was…
“Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” (Colossians l 3:23)

Whatever you do, do it for the Lord!
How…?
· Prepare properly, especially in prayer
· Be bold and confident (in the Lord) but not proud
· Try your hardest to do your best
· Aim to win/succeed
· See failure as an opportunity to learn
· Do whatever it is cheerfully and willingly, not begrudgingly and complaining.

Doesn’t sound quite right at first does it? Serving human bosses and authorities as if we are serving God. But here’s why God OK’s it;

When you live David’s way expect 2 things…
i. Expect results – Going about things in this way will get results. You will usually achieve whatever you’re trying to do to a high standard. Also because this way of working is what God desires He will assist us in our efforts to serve Him.

ii. Expect others may notice – Verse 6 of today’s reading shows that David’s victorious and efficient reputation went before Him. If you live by David’s strategy you’ll earn a lot of respect, even when you fail. People will notice how well you work and what a good attitude you have. This will open Christian and secular doors of opportunity so you can live out Gods plan for your life to the max. Also it speaks very powerfully to people of the depth of your faith and the reality of the Gospel (in other words, it’s a strong witness).

It’s worth bearing in mind however that not everyone will appreciate your success as further readings reveal for David. 

1 Samuel 18 v 7-9
As they played, they sang,
“Saul has killed thousands of his enemies, but David has killed tens of thousands.”
The women’s song upset Saul, and he became very angry. He thought, “The women say David has killed tens of thousands, but they say I have killed only thousands. The only thing left for him to have is the kingdom!” So Saul watched David closely from then on, because he was jealous.

Notes
As a Christian I found it hard to understand why these women in the Bible appear to have been applauding massacre. I realised though that it makes sense for us to understand their singing not so much as a celebration that people had been killed, but that Israel was being defended by undefeatable warriors i.e. Saul the King, and David.

Those women should have been praising and worshipping God, their only real and true defender. But this was always the nature of Israel’s struggles throughout the Bible as they wrestled with being faithful to God, and often failed to recognise His hand at work in things and thank and praise Him.

It’s very important that we recognise the Lord at work in our lives and in the lives of others; in the gifts and abilities we have, the resources and provisions we receive, and the success and learning opportunities we experience, and in the miraculous. We should constantly thank and praise Him, and communicate to other people that what we have or have achieved is all through the Lord. Doing so is a sure way to bless God. However, claiming the credit for ourselves is a sure way to anger Him and limit future blessings. 

The only reason that David was such a great warrior and defender was that God was with him and working through him. David knew that, but it seems that most others, particularly Saul, only understood David’s success in human terms. So it really got to Saul, as someone well accustomed to taking the credit and revelling in the glory, that his former sword bearer who’d captured his son’s affections so powerfully was now getting 10 times the praise that he got himself as King from the people. Saul became bitterly jealous.

1 Samuel 18 v 10-11
The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in his house. David was playing the harp as he usually did, but Saul had a spear in his hand. He threw the spear, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David escaped from him twice.

Notes 
Saul’s jealously of David’s popularity and success had turned to anger and hatred. The word “prophesied” is probably better interpreted as “raved like a madman”. David tried to calm Saul by playing the harp as he usually did at times like this. However it seems to have had the adverse effect, making him worse this time, driving him to try to kill David with his spear. It wasn’t David’s harp playing was so bad, but Saul was under the influence of a tormenting spirit. Once a great military strategist and warrior, Saul is reduced by his own jealous anger to an unbalanced state. Now the Philistines and the insanely jealous king want David dead. Yet God did not allow David to be harmed.

Do you know that the safest place in the whole universe for you to be is right in the middle of God’s will? God has a plan for your life; like David you have an important part to play in the great scheme of things. When you are where God wants you to be, doing what God wants you to do, wherever that may be, however dangerous the situation appears, it is the safest place for you to be.
No-one can stop God’s plan not even a great warrior King like Saul. Ironically, those who try to oppose God’s plan ultimately, like Saul, are unwittingly helping to further it.

Ask God to show you His will for your life. If you decide you have to go somewhere and do something for Him, go do it. If you know you’re in the right place, great. Either way, trust Him to sort things and watch over you. Don’t worry about the Sauls or the Philistines in your life. They’re probably helping you to achieve God’s will anyway.

1 Samuel 18 v 12-15
The LORD was with David but had left Saul. So Saul was afraid of David. He sent David away and made him commander of a thousand soldiers. So David led them in battle. He had great success in everything he did because the LORD was with him. When Saul saw that David was very successful, he feared David even more. 

Notes 
Saul’s anger turns to fear. Although Saul knew that the Lord was with David now and not with him, he still continued to plot against David. That’s a clear sign of Saul’s disturbed mental and physical state by this point. Saul’s fear of God seems to have been obscured by his jealous hatred of David, and his fear of David as a man just got worse.

Irrational phobic fear is harmful and sets us against people. Yet reverent and respectful fear of God is good and healthy.
Because God is so great and mighty, and because he holds the power of life and death in his hands, we must have a healthy, reverent fear of him. A healthy fear helps us keep our perspective about where we need to be in our relationship with God.
In Matthew 10:28 Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Reverent fear is not a paralyzing fear but liberating fear. It’s an admiring kind of fear, founded in deep love.

Saul feared man; David feared the Lord alone. In Psalm 2:11 he wrote “Serve the LORD with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.”
God’s wonderful love for us destroys fear; “perfect love expels all fear.” (1 John 4:18)
If we hold on to God throughout our lives and live in reverent fear of Him He promises to comfort us and be with us no matter what! ...
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

1 Samuel 18 v 17-19
Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will let you marry her. All I ask is that you remain brave and fight the LORD’s battles.” Saul thought, “I won’t have to kill David. The Philistines will do that.”
But David answered Saul, saying, “Who am I? My family is not important enough for me to become the king’s son-in-law.” So, when the time came for Saul’s daughter Merab to marry David, Saul gave her instead to Adriel of Meholah.

Notes
Sounds quite touching at first doesn’t it? Saul wanting David to become his son-in-law. Actually it’s very sinister because it’s part of Saul’s continued plan driven by his terrible fear and jealousy to get David killed. Saul’s hope was that in sending him out to fight the Philistines that he’d be killed in the battle.

Saul was proud and not able to please God or serve him. Proud people do not make good servants. So according to Samuel’s prophecy, “… God removed him from the kingship and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘David son of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to.’” (Acts 13:22)
It’s really something for God to call an ordinary human “a man after my own heart”. God probably loved David so much because he was so humble, even when he became King. David’s reply to Saul’s offer was basically “I’m not worthy”. It’s not that David didn’t have any self esteem, just that he was humble.

Humility is about being more concerned for others than for ourselves. It’s about not thinking we are above servant hood. It’s about dealing with the log in our own eye before we point out the speck in someone else’s. It’s about being ready to do anything that the Lord tells us to do.

Humility is true strength, for it reaches into the Kingdom of Heaven. Pride is true weakness, for it reaches no further than our own ego.

“… the Holy One, says this: “I live in that high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I refresh the humble and give new courage to those with repentant hearts.” (Isaiah 57:15)

1 Samuel 18 v 20-22
Now Saul’s other daughter, Michal, loved David. When they told Saul, he was pleased. He thought, “I will let her marry David. Then she will be a trap for him, and the Philistines will defeat him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You may become my son-in-law.”
And Saul ordered his servants to talk with David in private and say, “Look, the King likes you. His servants love you. You should be his son-in-law.”

Notes
The two people who loved David the most were the children of the person who hated him the most, Jonathan and Michal. It’s even stranger that Saul was pleased his daughter Michal loved David. Why? Simple; as far as Saul was concerned it fitted in well with His plans for David’s demise. The two-faced king tries to manipulate the couple.

In his scheming Saul had become two-faced. He was charming and affectionate to David, and scheming and hateful behind his back. His affection was not genuine. You and I sometimes come across these kind of relationships in life although thankfully usually with less sinister motives behind them. In the workplace, at school, in business, in dating, in marriage, whatever. People sometimes pretend to have feelings or loyalty to us for selfish and unkind reasons. It hurts when we realise what’s been happening.

Maybe you’ve been fooled by someone like that. But the Lord can not be misled. People may even pretend to be Jesus’ friend to take advantage of us, but He who sees right into our hearts won’t be fooled by them. God has a way for us to be His child if we will receive and love His Son. We can’t pretend that we love Him. It won’t work. Jesus said that many who don’t know Him will say He’s their Lord. It’s God’s desire that all our relationships are open, honest and genuine.

Unlike Saul’s men sent to speak to David, I know that I can say with all integrity to you that the King (Jesus) really loves you and so do I. I hope you love Him too because He has so much to give you; healing from relationships, security, a future, a perfect relationship and eternal life.
May Jesus bless you.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes