The Spear

I Samuel 18 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as the celebrated, Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day on.

Saul was chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to be the first king of Israel. The Bible says that Saul came from a wealthy family and that there was not another man in all of Israel that was as handsome as Saul and that he stood head and shoulders taller than any other man in Israel. After Saul was anointed king by Samuel the prophet, God gave Saul a new heart and the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul and he prophesied among the people. The Bible tells us that Saul was a valiant warrior and a deliverer of Israel. Saul was not a perfect king or a perfect man and because of sin God ultimately rejected Saul as king and chose David to be the next king of Israel. And because of this and many other things, Saul was jealous of David and that was the beginning of all kinds of evil. Saul's jealousy tainted his love for David. David was Saul's musician, a warrior in the army, the best friend of Saul's son and the husband of Saul's daughter. The two men were connected in almost every way.

There are few things as destructive to relationships as jealousy. It is one of the ugliest of all human emotions. It presents itself in many fashions and carries deadly poison in its barbs. It is a stifling, strangling character. It is selfish and demands attention. It must always be first and foremost. It cries and whines for attention. It connives and struggles to be heard. It has no pleasure in the success of others and can never be satisfied. It is quick to find fault; critical and sarcastic. It is confrontational and arrogant. It is oblivious to its own worth; always seeking the blessings of others. It is delusional in its thinking; irrational in thought. And, if left unchecked, it destroys love between itself and those at which it is directed.

It is especially destructive between believers.

The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for the thought, I will pin David to the wall...Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but he had departed from Saul.

Even in the work of the Lord there is jealousy. Even in the courts of the king. But this should not be.

Ephesians 4 And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

We all have our place in the body of Christ. Our own spot that can only be filled by us. Rest in your spot. You are not more or less important that anyone else in the sight of your Father. You may be a vessel of wood or gold. Silent or vocal. Visible or hidden; but you are His. You are loved. You are needed. Fill your space with grace and peace. Safe in the knowledge that you belong.

I Corinthians 13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hope all things, endures all things.