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Saul's Slippery Slope: Final Lesson

The downfall of King Saul is marked with pride, presumption, and foolish hastiness. Rather than trusting the will of God, he became reliant in himself and in others. He also treated the commands of God with flippancy and irreverence. Because of this, Saul was tormented with nightmares and faced an onslaught of depression. It is stated in 1 Samuel 16:14, “Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him (ESV).” This has been the point of much contention because some wonder over how God could do this. The Bible reveals that God is not the author of temptations (James 1:13) nor is there any darkness in Him (1 John 1:5), so how do we make sense of such a statement?
We must realize the implications of the first part of verse fourteen which said that God's spirit left Saul. The departure of God's favor and presence meant that Saul would undoubtedly experience anxiety and fear. Due to the hardness of his own heart, God's hand of peace was off his life. In defending the question of why evil exists, if there is a loving and all powerful God, someone once said, “Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light." A man with a reprobate mind will inevitably experience maladies of the heart, because he has walked away from the refuge of God's loving presence.
Also, some would say that such a “spirit” was not sent, but divinely permitted to torment Saul. The apostle Paul realized and rejoiced in the fact that even though satan tried to viciously harass him, God was using such a struggle to stamp out self pride and embolden trust in the grace of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 12). Perhaps such an evil spirit was permitted to attack Saul, so that way he could turn back to God and seek forgiveness. Alas, this was not the case. Saul kept hardening his heart and upon suggestion from his servants, he obtained a skilled musician to play for him when he was met with mental anguish. That musician's name was David (1 Samuel 16:14-23).
Unbeknownst to Saul, David was chosen of God to be the next king of Israel. The young man that settled his mind with soothing music, would one day sit on the throne of Israel with strength and wisdom. Out of all the pitfalls of Saul, there is one that stood out above the rest. It was envy. Time does not permit me to divulge into 1 Samuel 17, but I trust that you remember the story of David and Goliath. David would become a mighty warrior who earned the trust and admiration of King Saul. Of course, one day Saul's attitude towards David dramatically changed. 1 Samuel 18:6-9 states, “As they arrived, David was returning from a campaign against the Philistines. Women from all of Israel's cities came to meet King Saul. They sang and danced, accompanied by tambourines, joyful music, and triangles. The women who were celebrating sang, "Saul has defeated thousands but David tens of thousands!" Saul became very angry because he considered this saying to be insulting. "To David they credit tens of thousands," he said, "but to me they credit only a few thousand. The only thing left for David is my kingdom." From that day on Saul kept an eye on David (GWT).
Saul allowed the seed of envy to take root in his heart and grow into bitterness, which inevitably bore the fruit of hateful actions. For years, he would foolishly and unsuccessfully seek to kill David. The writer of Hebrews warned believers not to allow bitterness to infect their hearts (Hebrews 12:15). Let us learn from the pitfalls of Saul and strive to cast aside arrogance, impatience, and bitterness. Let's rest in the grace of God, trust in His ways, and commit ourselves to the call of humility and loving others.

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