Saul and David

Here are some random thoughts I had as I read about Saul and David:

Saul never understood the proper worship of God. Even when he tried, it was in his own way and his own strength, not according to God’s way or God’s plan.

When the Lord rejected Saul, Samuel went home and mourned for him. God’s response was, “How long will you mourn for Saul?… be on your way; I am sending you… I have chosen…” How often do I spend too much time mourning the past, or mistakes, or a friend who has turned away from me or from God? At some point we must get up and go on; God has a next thing for us to do.

When David faced Goliath:
“The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” David trusted God to act in the present by remembering how God had acted in the past.
“You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty the God of the armies of Israel, who you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head… and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel… it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s…” I’ve just always found David’s speech to Goliath inspiring.

When Saul became jealous of David and sought to take his life, David seemed to recognize that his enemy was not really Saul, and that he had to wait for God’s timing in his struggle with Saul.

David was a warrior, but also a musician and a poet, and he wrote a lot amidst his battles and difficulties. The psalms, which are so full of his struggle and his emotions, are the most comforting section of the Bible for me. When I begin to meditate and pray David’s prayers myself, amazing things happen inside me.