Monday, July 18, 2011

1 Samuel 19:9-24

9 But an evil spirit from the LORD came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.

11 Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.

14 When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”

15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.” 16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.

17 Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?”

Michal told him, “He said to me, ‘Let me get away. Why should I kill you?’”

18 When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19 Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah”; 20 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”

“Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said.

23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Questions to consider:

  • What do you think it means that "an evil spirit" from the Lord came on Saul?
  • What does Saul do after his first attempt to kill David fails?
  • How Michal respond to Saul's attempt to kill her husband?
  • How does Saul feel about Michal's deception?
  • What happens to the men that Saul sends to capture David?
  • What happens to Saul when he goes himself to capture David?

Possibilities for prayer:

I like the way in which God intervenes in Saul's final attempts at capturing David. Three sets of men are overcome by the Spirit of the Lord, and when Saul decides that the only way his mission will be accomplished is if he does it himself, he is also overcome by the same Spirit. God protects David from Saul's attempts to kill him, and he does so in a way that could only be from God.

Today, let's reflect on ways we have seen God protect us, ways in which God has come through in times and situations in which only God could intervene. Take some time to thank God for that protection and intervention.