Saul's Lonely Quest Against His God

Now Saul told Jonathan his son and all his servants to put David to death. But Jonathan, Saul's son, greatly delighted in David.  So Jonathan told David saying, "Saul my father is seeking to put you to death. Now therefore, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself." (1 Samuel 19:1-2 NASB)

Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death."  So Michal let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped. (1 Samuel 19:11-12 NASB)

This chapter of  1 Samuel is really about how Saul can't even get cooperation from his family against David.  It is about his failure to relent with God, his obvious sinful aggression against David, and the support and love Saul's son and daughter have for David.  In a sense this chapter is linkage to the final failure of Saul and eventual rise of David.  That is a long story though.  In the next chapter and following, we will focus entirely on David, and Saul fades to a secondary character.  This is his last chapter as a main character.

Saul is a tragic figure, classic long before Greek was classic.  Whatever he tries fails because he is fighting the One having called Israel into existence.  He can't rule the country of ones called by their God, and yet fight against the One having called them.  His attempts to hold on to the kingdom are futile.  It's obvious, and it's sad.  There's nothing to be done, no council to give, no comfort, for Saul is beyond all that.  The only solace he could find he drove off when he turned against David, his harp player.

But isn't it interesting that this One having called Israel, guided them, and led them now places His new chosen one in the court of his rejected one, and makes him indispensable.  David becomes the best military leader and the one who can relieve Saul of the evil spirit sent by God.  The God of Israel put's David in Saul's face.  It sounds cruel, or even petty, but I believe it is another act of grace as God calls on Saul to relent.  It's only as he is able to acknowledge David's ascendancy that he has any peace, that the harp playing has its effect on him, that all is well with the nation. 

So where is my opportunity to relent?  Where is my Master placing me in a situation where I am to relinquish some power, authority, or position to another?  Peter seems to in Acts.  One moment he leads the Jerusalem church, the next, without explanation, it's James the brother of Jesus.  No explanation, and Peter doesn't seem to mind.  Where's my opportunity?  I wish it were at work.  I'm tire of my work.  I just don't think I've learned the lesson my Master has for me.  I hope I don't learn it the hard way.

Perhaps it's at church, but I don't really have much to give up there.  The coffee bar?  I think I could let that go.  The marriage mentoring program is just getting off the ground, but I'm hardly the motivating factor there.  I don't know.  And I know I don't have to.  This may not be a lesson for me now.  This could be a lesson that my Master wants me to know for later.  Or it could be a lesson He wants me to write about for someone else.  I don't know.  But this is what this chapter is about; giving up my plans for His, even when they don't include me.  Maybe I'm supposed to relent to my Master's use of this entry.  I suppose it doesn't have to be about me at all.