The Trouble With Success
1 Samuel 18:1-16
How many like to think that when good things are happening that everyone will like us and want to rejoice with us? Most people will. But there will be people, even in the church, who will be jealous of our victories, and how we handle this jealousy and criticism depends on how we embrace the Cross of Christ.
We feel like heroes when we win the game and bums when we lose. We’re celebrities when have our picture in a magazine or newspaper and we cut it out and put it on the refrigerator. But if no one recognizes our good works we wonder what we did wrong and why God isn’t supporting us.
The trouble with success is it never arrives on its own. It is often preceded by difficulties and accompanied by pain and rejection. Furthermore, to be successful in the eyes of God takes a lot more than making big money, being popular and getting your name mentioned on T.V. That is what the world calls success. To be successful in the sight of God also involves the wisdom to know when to speak and when to be silent; the ability to teach and be taught; the courage to know when and whom to fight and when to turn and walk away.
These were a number of things that David learned, and was in the process of learning, when God anointed him to be king. Since there was still twenty years to go between the anointing of David and the time he finally took the throne, God began the long and difficult process of helping David become the man God needed him to be in order to lead Israel in a way that honored God.
These 16 verses are going to give us six lessons on what happens when a person is successful in the eyes of the world and the consequences of that success. And as we will see, not everybody you meet will be happy that you’ve been successful. Let’s read our passage and see what we can learn. READ 1 Sam. 18:1-16.
Before David killed Goliath, life was very peaceful for David. He split his time between the quiet solitude of the desert watching the family sheep and the palace to play the harp for the king. Then, after obeying his father and taking food to his brothers, David sees Goliath and the rest is a history we’re still talking about today.
The last chapter ended with Saul asking Abner whose son this young man was. Abner didn’t know and the king wanted to know. Now, just because Saul was told earlier doesn’t mean he was paying attention. I think he had a bunch of people around him and he didn’t have time to learn the names and histories of the hundreds of people that served in his court. David was just a young teenager who showed up and played the harp every once in a while. But he had just saved Israel by killing their most powerful enemy. Now the entire nation of Israel will hear about the exploits of David, and David’s life will never be the same. Now he was a success.
But success isn’t all it is cracked up to be, especially personal success, for David was about to find out that not everyone is happy when you are successful. Sure, most people were at first. Jonathan becomes David’s friend but Saul, who loved David when he was just playing the harp and everything was about Saul, didn’t take it too kindly when the nation sang the praises of David louder than they did the praises of Saul. We like to think that when we’re successful then everything in life starts to fall into place, but success brings with it its own set of trials and tribulations, and David is about to find out just how true this is.
After the slaying of Goliath, we are now going to look at six consequences of such monumental success. And I believe that wise individuals and congregations can learn something from this story to keep them aware of just what might happen if they are successful in their personal life and in their church life. Now, the first thing we see after David kills Goliath is –
1. Favor (vs. 1-4). Yes, success brings with it an element of favor. Instead of allowing him to return home to watch the sheep, Saul keeps David with him. Isn’t that a nice promotion? Who wouldn’t want to leave a bunch of sheep in the desert and move to be with the king of Israel permanently? As the anointed one of Israel, God is now moving behind the scenes to bring David closer to the destiny God has prepared for him.
Not only has David’s career taken a dramatic change, his personal life has too. Now Saul’s son Jonathan has befriended David in a most significant way. Jonathan was the natural heir apparent to the throne. He probably grew up thinking that he would be the next king of Israel. But God granted Jonathan the spiritual insight to know that David was now God’s chosen king, and Jonathan, unlike the vast majority of people on earth, does something almost unthinkable: He strikes up a life-long and deeply intimate friendship with the man chosen to replace him for the highest position in the land.
And this attitude of Jonathan should challenge us all, for most of us would not embrace the person who is about to succeed us, especially if we’ve shown ourselves to be as brave and successful as Jonathan. In 1 Sam. 14:1-15 Jonathan takes his armor bearer and crawls into a Philistine outpost and kills twenty men. But now Jonathan enters a relationship with David and supports David as the new king by giving David his robe, tunic, sword, bow and belt. In other words, Jonathan hands David the kingdom he might have inherited.
How do you respond to those who are more successful than you are? Do you seek to know God’s will in the situation and support those who appear to be going farther than you are? If you do not support your successors, you will find yourself not in competition with another person, but in competition with God Himself. Furthermore, Jonathan must have known that by supporting David he was putting himself in opposition to his father, and we’ll see how that plays out later. Sometimes when we support those God has anointed it will put us in a difficult position with our family. But Jesus knew this and it is why He said, “There is nobody who leaves his house or wife or siblings or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive more than he has given up—much more—in this age and in the age to come. He will receive eternal life” (Luke 18:29-30).
Question: How can you show favor to those who are more successful than you?
2. Praise (vs. 5-7). Because of his success against Goliath, Saul started asking David to do more. Verse five says David was successful with any assignment Saul gave him. As a result, Saul made David commander over the men of war, which was “welcomed by the people and Saul’s officers alike” (vs. 5). Not only was David successful, but he also conducted himself wisely. Whatever he did, he did it well—with godly character and wisdom. Remember, it is one thing to do the right assignment, it is another to do assignment righteously. And David did his assignments righteously, finding himself pleasing to the people and to the warriors.
And this is a good thing. God gave the future king favor in the eyes of the common people and court. The same thing happened to Jesus, where Luke 2:52 says “Jesus kept on growing—in wisdom, in physical stature, in favor with God, and in favor with others” (The Voice).
Now comes the mixed blessing. Because David was wise and successful in the ways he conducted himself in the kingdom, the people began to praise him. In fact, they said that David was ten times more successful than Saul. I don’t know about you, but that kind of praise would probably go to my head. Especially since my love language is words of affirmation. I am always looking for praise. I’m looking for people to tell me they appreciate what I’ve said or what I’ve written.
But David doesn’t let it go to his head. In fact, he seems to keep his head down and continue his assignments. This new-found celebrity status doesn’t seem to change David. But it changes many people. Prov. 27:21 says, “Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.”
Question: How can we keep praise from going to our head?
3. Jealousy (vs. 8-9). Saul now saw the people now looking favorably at David and singing his praises above himself, so fearing he might lose his kingdom Saul kept a wary eye on David. Instead of looking at the slayer of Goliath with respect, admiration and gratitude that was due him, he watched David with jealousy and looked for ways to hurt him. Saul was the kind of king who thought if he wasn’t the center of attention then no one should get the attention. I also think that Saul was feeling a bit convicted. After all, it wasn’t the job of a teenage shepherd to face the nation’s enemy; it was the job of the king and the king was scared. How would you feel if you were too frightened to face your enemy but an unknown boy from a small town steps in and shows not only a huge amount of faith in God, but also the courage to face down and beat the giant you knew was your responsibility to vanquish?
But Saul couldn’t thank David because Saul needed all the glory. Someone once said, “There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.” And because this quote has been attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, President Truman and even John Wooden, the true author of the quote never seems to get all the credit! This jealousy of Saul reminds me of Paul who tells us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice” (Rom. 12:15). And it is still a quote many Christians need to hear today. Why is God’s family often quick to smile when people we have declared as our enemy are mourning and rejoice when they are winning? I thought God so loved the whole world that He gave His Son.
But the world, and even the church, can be a place of tremendous enmity, hostility, ill-will and hatred. Even though the phrase “God so loved the world that he gave . . .” is our basic test for understanding and interpreting everything that happens in and around us, we still find ourselves in the midst of hatred and jealousy. Even in the church. Eugene Peterson says, “We’re criticized, teased, avoided, attacked, shot at, abandoned, stoned, cursed, hunted down, snubbed, stabbed in the back, treated like a doormat, and damned with faith praise. Not all of those things, and not all the time, but enough of them and often enough to realize that not everyone shares God’s excellent attitude toward us.” – Leap Over A Wall, pg. 48.
Question: Has your success ever been the source of someone else’s jealousy? Have you ever been jealous of someone else’s success?
4. Violence (vs. 10-11). How swiftly trouble follows on the heels of triumph. First David goes from hearing the praises of the women singing about his ten thousands versus Saul’s thousands (yeah, it was a bit imprudent and unwise to provoke the king that way), and now he’s dodging sharp, pointed flying objects. The hatred of Saul is the most puzzling kind, for it was a hatred provoked by goodness. How do you explain that?
David was doing everything right when Saul tried to kill him by hurling his spear at his ruddy head. Later Saul even went back on his word to give his daughter in marriage to the man who killed Goliath. The reward for killing Goliath was to marry Saul’s daughter and be tax free for the rest of your life. But instead of a wedding, Saul sends him out into more battles, and when it was time to marry Merab, Saul reneged and gave her to another man. Then Saul’s daughter Michal has the eye for David, and Saul uses this opportunity and sets the price for Michal’s hand as the foreskins of 100 Philistines. Saul figured if Goliath couldn’t kill David, and constant war couldn’t do it, maybe 100 men protecting their delicate selves from harm would do the trick. But David returned with 200, uh, trophies and finally got a bride.
This is a good reminder to hold everything we have with a very loose hand. The Puritans would say, “Build not thy counsel in any earthly tree, for the whole forest is doomed to destruction.” It is only as our heart is set on things above that we will not be dismayed and caught unawares when the things of this earth are taken from us. Even in violence.
We are a very blessed nation to have the world’s strongest army protecting our freedom. Most Americans sleep well knowing that no foreign invader is going to come and take our land and our freedoms away from us. But this is not the case in many nations of the world. Many Christians can find themselves going from the joy of praise in church on a Sunday morning to the terror of persecution on a Sunday night.
Finally, we must take notice of the connection of the jealousy and the violence, for a jealous spirit quite naturally leads to a violent spirit. Many people are robbed or hurt by people who are jealous of their possessions, positions, power or prestige. People who give way to jealousy will quite naturally find their next move is into violence. It was that way with Saul, and it continues that way today.
Question: Has your goodness ever been the cause of another person’s jealousy and violence?
5. Fear (vs. 12). Of course we know that the jealousy and the violence didn’t work, so now Saul becomes afraid of David. This too is the natural result of a person who once had the favor of God and now knows that favor resides with someone else.
This word for fear in verse 12 is different than the one we see in verse 15. A closer rendition might be “apprehensive.” At first Saul was apprehensive about David, but after Saul sent him away to command 1,000 men and David was successful even in this, then Saul became very afraid.
You see, Saul had rebelled against the Lord and now the Lord was with another – one whom Samuel described as being “one who is better than you” (1 Sam. 15:28). And the proofs that David was now that person who was better than Saul were too numerous to deny, for the Lord was protecting David from Saul, giving him victory over his enemies and even turning the hearts of Saul’s children Jonathan and Michal towards David. And because Saul no longer had the Spirit of God upon his life he was no longer able to rejoice in God’s plan and infinite wisdom. And without the Holy Spirit of God in our lives, our only recourse is to be afraid – afraid of God, His anointed and as we will see later, Saul even became violent towards Jonathan, his own son.
Question: Have you even known someone who walked away from their relationship with the Lord and become a fearful person?
6. Success (vs.14-16). Last week we saw that God prepares his people to kill giants. We talked about the way God prepares us in solitude to face the giants we never see coming, how there will be distractions, decisions and ultimate victory for those who walk in the Lord’s ways. We see something similar here. We see David was prepared to escape Saul, how Saul tried to distract David with commanding 1,000 men (it sounded like a promotion but was really a plan to have him killed), that David decided to turn from Saul and not retaliate and finally how David succeeded in everything he did.
And now we are right back where we started. We’ve seen David go from the success of killing Goliath to the success of leading 1,000 men, and we’ve seen the trouble that success causes in his life. And it brings us back to what I said in the beginning. We all like to think that when good things are happening that everyone will like us. But there will be people, even in the church, who will be jealous of our victories. How we handle this jealousy and criticism depends on how we embrace the Cross of Christ.
Question: How would you define success?
