I am in Jacksonville, FL for my last camp of the summer. It has been a great set of camps, and the students have been wonderful. But it is time to get back to my family. I will have been gone for two weeks straight, with last week being my 41st wedding anniversary. I am looking forward to getting home to celebrate it with my wife.
I am in the book of 1 Samuel now, and one of the big things in there is to see the contrast between how Saul thinks and how David thinks.
The people of Israel wanted a king to be like everyone else, so God had Samuel anoint Saul, because he would be like the other nations around them. He was tall, handsome, prone to fits of rage, unstable, selfish; you know, like most rulers. God gave Saul several orders that he didn’t carry out the way God wanted.
Saul was supposed to wait for Samuel to offer a sacrifice before going into battle, and Samuel was delayed some, so instead of waiting, Saul offered the sacrifice himself, which was not something for kings to do. But later, God ordered Saul to wipe out the Amalekites, along with all of their people, and their flocks and herds. However, Saul kept their king Agag alive, as well as the best of the livestock. It wasn’t explicitly stated as to why, but Saul was quick to blame shift and say that the soldiers kept apart the livestock for a special sacrifice to God, which was a lie.
22 And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.”
24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. (1 Samuel 15:22-24 ESV)
Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. And this is where a story of David comes in.
Saul was still king, and David was fleeing him. They had been staying in the country and had been with some sheep herds that belonged to Nabal. It was shearing time and David asked Nabal to give him and his men some of the harvest etc. as it was a time of celebration. Nabal refused accusing David of being a mere servant and not the future king.
David was very upset and thought to take revenge on Nabal by his own hand. It was his own idea. He had his men strap on their swords and was on their way to kill every male in Nabal’s house. Abigail, Nabal’s wife, heard what had happened and went to apologize saying it was her fault because she wasn’t paying attention to the situation. She was being very gracious.
But she was also very wise. She said she knew that David would be established as the king, but that when that happened, it would pang his conscience looking back on this if he carried out killing Nabal and all the males. She encouraged David to let God deal with Nabal in His way. David listened to her wisdom and went away with the gift Abigail gave him for his men. And the next day, Nabal was struck in his heart, and 10 days later it says God struck him and he died. David then took Abigail to be his wife.
Psalm 37:4 says to delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Saul delighted in himself and was rejected by God as king. David was delighting in himself and almost made a huge mistake, but his mind was changed by Abigail. David also showed his heart when he had opportunity to kill Saul twice, but refrained saying that God would deal with him. This happened after the Nabal incident, so maybe this was designed by God to teach David to trust in the Lord with all his heart.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and then see what your desires are. Still test them in light of Scripture as we can have a tendency to still want to go our own way.
Amen
If you enjoyed this content, you can sign up to receive this and more to your inbox every Monday by becoming a Monument Member. Learn more here.
