How To Overcome A Jealous Spirit

And so I stopped by today to say two things to you: First, if you have a jealous spirit today, you need to work to put your jealousy in check, for jealousy is destructive and cuts you off from God’s blessing, and I think we’ve made that point. But in the time that I have remaining, I want to turn my attention from the one that’s caught up in a jealous spirit to the one that’s being victimized by a jealous spirit. And the message to you today is that you can make it in spite of somebody else’s jealousy.

In our text today, we see how a spirit of jealousy can mess up a situation, but we also see how we can overcome a jealous spirit. The man caught up in jealousy is King Saul, and the man being victimized by jealousy is God’s servant, David. As we set the scene, it’s important to note that, while Saul was jealous of David, the truth is that Saul had brought his troubles on himself. Saul had been blessed by God to become King of Israel, and God had endowed Saul with certain talents and abilities. The Bible describes him as a choice young man, humble and filled with self-control. But along the way, Saul got full of himself, and he began to think that he was more than he was. Twice Saul disobeyed God and did what he wanted to do. And as a result God told Saul, through Samuel, that his kingdom would not last, and that another would reign in his place. The Bible says that God took His spirit from Saul, and that as a result of the absence of the Spirit of God, an evil spirit consumed him. And this evil spirit caused Saul to be filled with jealousy toward David.

I remind you that Saul first became aware of David one hot afternoon in the Elah valley, when the young shepherd boy decided to uphold the honor of the Lord and face the Philistine warrior, Goliath, in combat. No man in Israel’s army, including Saul, was willing to face Goliath, but David, without sword or shield, without armor or helmet, in the power of the Lord, was able to bring Goliath down. That day, Saul was very pleased with David, and he took him into his own house, and made him as one of his own sons. But as David continued to labor faithfully in Saul’s service, the Bible says that two things happened.

The first thing that happened was that David’s popularity with the people grew. The eighteenth chapter of I Samuel tells how, as David was returning home one day from a successful mission for the King, the crowds began to call his name and sing his praises. As David passed by, the women sang to one another, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” But the second thing that happened was, when Saul heard their singing, his countenance toward David changed, and the Bible says that, from that day forward, Saul tried to destroy David.

Now I want you to understand that David had done no evil to Saul, and in fact, the singing of these women was not disrespectful to Saul. They were simply giving David credit for his accomplishments. But Saul saw this action as them exalting David over him, and their singing made him angry and paranoid. Hear him as he asks himself, “If they ascribe to David ten thousand and to me just thousands, then what else could David be after than to take my kingdom from me?”