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Keeping Your Heart
July 13, 2020
Keeping Your Heart
1 Samuel 18-19
“Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” Prov. 4:23
Chapter 19 gives us a snapshot in the long saga between Saul and David. It’s really a pretty sad
chapter in which Saul makes several attempts on David’s life and ends up in a humiliating
position. His first command to kill David is averted by Jonathan, Saul’s own son, the second
David’s agility and awareness help him escape, the third attempt Michal, Saul’s daughter and
David’s wife, helps David escape and finally the Spirit of God side tracks the messengers sent to
get David. Saul’s relentless pursuit of David puts him in a situation where the Spirit of God
causes him to prophesy, or praise him, before Samuel while naked and lying on the ground. This
would be humiliating for anyone, but even more so for a king. So how did Saul get here?
Looking back in chapter 18 we find some answers. Saul became angry and jealous, 18:8, over
David’s victories and in 18:9 he started to “eye” or become suspicious of David. Knowing that
God had departed from him and was with David he was fearful of David, 18:12. Out of these
emotions of fear, suspicion, jealousy, and anger Saul began to plot against him and with each
failure his fear grew even more, 18:29
David on the other hand, chose to react wisely. In 18:5 we see that David was obedient to Saul
and behaved wisely. 18:14 David behaves wisely and the Lord is with him, and again in 18:30
we read that he behaved more wisely than all of Saul’s servants.
Both men faced unpleasant circumstances. Saul Knew the kingdom was being taken from him
and David knew there was an ongoing attempt to take his life. We are often faced with
situations that we would rather not be in. They may not be of the magnitude of what Saul and
David faced, but still situations that have the potential to charge our emotions. In times like this
if we, like David, choose to react with wisdom rather than with emotion we will find ourselves
under God’s protection. We know from the whole story that David would not harm Saul even
when opportunity presented itself. His refusal to react was out of his respect for the fact that in
spite of Saul’s failures he was still anointed by God to be king. When we consider that everyone
is loved by God and Jesus died for each soul, whether they have taken advantage of his grace or
not, they are all precious in his sight. For us to allow our emotions to fester anger, jealousy,
suspicion, fear, or any other vengeful thoughts this could lead us down a similar path of Saul.
Jesus teaches things like “love your enemies” Matt. 5:44. Paul writes in Romans 12:21 “be not
overcome of evil but overcome evil with good “
God’s blessings on your day!
Bluffton North Ministry Group
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