Providence Leads The Way Series

THE VERY RELATABLE LIFE OF KING DAVID

Providence Leads the Way

1 Samuel 16:14-23

#kingdavid

INTRODUCTION

As we begin today, I would like to start by reading the passage we will be digging into in ‘The Very Relatable Life of King David.’ We are at the beginning of David’s life presented in the Scriptures and we are getting to know him. There is an issue, though, in this passage that we have to address before we get too far along because it can be distracting. We will be reading in 1 Samuel 16 and verses 14-15 present to us a phrase that makes us uncomfortable and might even make us doubt God.

There are verses in the Bible that make us uncomfortable. This is one of those passages. There are some verses in the Bible that are mysterious and hard to understand. This is one of those passages. I want us to read the passage, but do not get distracted in the first couple of verses because we will talk about them right away.

READ 1 SAMUEL 16:14-23 (ESV)

14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him. 15 And Saul's servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” 17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” 18 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.” 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 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.

‘THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM’

Let’s start with the ‘elephant in the room.’ To be honest, this is not the only passage like this in the Bible (see Judges 9:23). We have in verses 14-15 a phrase that says, “a harmful spirit from the Lord” was on Saul. That is a phrase that makes us uncomfortable and is a bit of a mystery. You have heard me say in the past that God is only good. He is only holy. God is righteous and perfect in all He does. If that is true, how can God send harmful or evil spirits? That makes God not good. That makes God not holy or righteous or perfect. Perhaps I am lying or somehow unaware of this passage in 1 Samuel 16 and the others like it? In addition, we have passages like James 1:13-15 which clearly states God does not tempt or send evil on people.

READ JAMES 1:13-15 (ESV)

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Are we talking about two different gods here? Did God somehow change from the Old Testament to the New Testament? Did James not read 1 Samuel at all? What is going on with this “harmful spirit from the Lord?”

1 Samuel 16, and chapters 18 and 19, present King Saul as being afflicted by this evil spirit. We understand that the evil spirit was “from” the Lord in that it was allowed by God to harass Saul. God is sovereign over all things in this universe and nothing happens without His knowledge. Yes, God did allow it. So, in that sense, it is from Him… because He allowed it. We see the same truth presented in Job 1-2. The Truth is that God is completely and utterly in charge, but He also allows free will for all created beings which invites evil into His creation.