David, the early years - Part 7

Jealousy

10^th December 2011

We looked last week at David's victory over the fearsome Philistine champion, Goliath. We read on:

1 Samuel 17v55-18v5
As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, "Abner, whose son is that young man?" Abner replied, "As surely as you live, O king, I don't know." The king said, "Find out whose son this young man is."
As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine's head. "Whose son are you, young man?" Saul asked him. David said, "I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem."
After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.
From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father's house. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people, and Saul's officers as well.

It all seemed to be going so well. David won the victory. Saul found out who he was and gave him a high rank in the army. Saul's son, Jonathan, befriended him. David was a successful army commander and his promotion pleased the people and the army. Of course this was great for David, but it was also great for Saul. David had saved him from defeat and humiliation in the battle, and was continuing to win battles for him. Surely Saul was growing in effectiveness and popularity as a result. But...

1 Samuel 18v6-11
When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."
Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.

The women were singing a victory song, giving thanks to God for military victory, and rejoicing in the prowess of Saul the warrior king and David the shepherd turned giant-killer. They meant no disrespect - quite the opposite. But Saul hated the song because he was getting less praise than David.

Quite right! Saul had been afraid to fight Goliath but David fought in his place, and won. David deserved more praise than Saul. But Saul was king. And kings like to be first ALL THE TIME.

The duty of a king is to serve God and protect his people. But the top priority for many kings is to remain king - to protect their position, and so maintain the power, money and luxury that comes with the crown.

And, to apply this to God's people today, the duty of a pastor is to serve God and provide spiritual nourishment and care to the people in his church. Sadly, the main preoccupation of some pastors is to remain as pastor. Pastors can be heard complaining about the strain of leadership but, generally, they're most reluctant to give it up. It's nice to be the leader. It makes us feel important. Of course, many of us are privately dismayed that we don't make more difference than we do, that our churches are growing slowly, if at all, that the people in our churches don't seem to have grown very much spiritually, that few are being born again through our ministry. But we don't want to hand over to someone else.

For many pastors, our ministry is what gives us a sense of worth. We, of all Christians, should know (and we probably preach) that it's being loved by God that gives us self-worth but, just like anybody else, we can lose sight of that. And, for many pastors (including me) our ministry is what pays the bills. It's hard to give up the ministry.

And that can make us jealous of those with more gifts than we have, or who seem to achieve more than we do. And we can suppress those who are growing in grace, or even attack their reputations, to protect our own position and income.

Saul was so jealous that he tried to kill David. Modern-day pastors don't go that far, but we can damage the next generation of leaders, and restrict the growth of the church, and dishonour God, and harm our own relationship with God, if we allow our insecurity, pride and selfishness to triumph over our love for God and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We can so easily become Saul, when we wanted to be David.

Who are you in this story? If you're Saul, then you'll know that God holds out to you the promise of repentance and restoration. You can rediscover your first love. You can get right with God and with the people around you. Your church can find a new surge of love and power as its leader knows forgiveness and the spiritual refreshment that will surely follow. If you're David, then take heart from this story, because David wasn't killed - he went on to gain the throne of Israel, in accordance with God's plan for his life, and in God's time.