This full and challenging chapter includes the introduction and anointing of David as future king, and David’s entry into Saul’s service.
“Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. So Saul said to his servants, ‘Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.’ One of the young men answered, ‘Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.’ And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.” (v14,17-18,21,23 abr)
After Samuel anoints David as king, the Holy Spirit “rushes” upon him (v13) which apparently catches the eye of at least one person, one of Saul’s advisors. So David is called in to play the lyre for Saul whenever the harmful/evil spirit attacks him, which drives the evil spirit away (I’m guessing David would play ‘psalms’ of praise to God, which the harmful spirit would not want to hear).
The main challenge in this chapter is wrapping our heads around ‘God sending a harmful spirit upon Saul.’ The first thing we need to know is God is love, and He would never wish harm upon us, let alone ‘send harm upon us’. 1 John 4:7-21 explains how God loves us and abides in us (the Holy Spirit) and we abide in Him (by obediently loving Him and others). So how can a God of abundant love ‘send a harmful spirit upon someone’?
There are two important concepts we need to understand around the theology of God’s actions – He works actively, and passively. When working actively, He is directly causing something to happen, like sending His Spirit upon David to guide and protect him (as He initially did for Saul as well). When working passively, God withdraws His active hand (eg. His Spirit departed from Saul) and allows Satan to have his way. By removing His protective Holy Spirit from Saul, God passively ‘sent’ (allowed) a harmful spirit to come upon him.
So why did God allow this? Because it’s what Saul asked for, and God honors our freewill choices. By consistently disobeying God’s leading and commands, Saul essentially told God “I don’t want Your Holy Spirit telling me what to do, because I’m not listening anyway”. God withdrew His Spirit because Saul wanted to do things his own way. What Saul didn’t realize was God’s withdrawal meant he would be put into a far worse kind of bondage, with a much heavier yoke, from a much harsher master (Satan).
This is essentially what Jesus is talking about when He says “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30) He’s saying that with the Lord, we will find rest from the torment and torture of evil spirits, for His protective hand will save us from the worst Satan can offer. God’s gentle, kind, and loving Holy Spirit is far easier and lighter than Satan’s harsh, murderous, deceitful, and torturous spirits.
I encourage us today to embrace the gift of God’s Spirit and obey His every word. We cannot praise God enough for how generously He loves and protects us through His presence. Those who grew up as Christ followers may not see the contrast in their lives from not having God’s presence, but any who came to Christ in adulthood would know the difference the Holy Spirit makes. Let’s not grow complacent or take the Spirit for granted, and let’s definitely not push Him away, because He will leave if we ‘ask’ Him to – and no good could come from having the Spirit leave us, as Saul found out the hard way.
Father God, our most High and Holy Lord, You are merciful and gracious beyond compare. Thank you Father for the amazing gift of your Spirit. We cannot express how generous and loving Your presence is, for our finite vocabularies lack the necessary words. We simply thank you for partnering with us, and granting us Your kind and gentle guidance, as we do our best to love You and those around us. Please protect us from the evil one and his spirits as we seek to honor, glorify and praise You. In the name of Jesus, who makes all of this possible, amen.
~ Conqueror in Training