Passage Read: 1 Samuel 17-20
Meditation Verses: 19:4-5
Thought
All this time, David was thinking only of serving the Lord and Saul, but because the Spirit of the Lord had withdrawn from Saul and an evil spirit come on him, Saul was given over to his jealousy and grew to hate David. It didn't matter how much David benefited Saul and Israel, all Saul saw was a threat to his reign. David knew he had been anointed king, but he didn't make any move to overthrow Saul, but only to serve him faithfully. In everything he did, he did what was good and right in God's eyes and for the king and for his country. Yet the king hated him without cause.
Application
You would think that when a man does what is good and right, the Lord would bring him affirmation and praise and honor. And God did bring those, but from the people around him, not from the one over him. Instead, God allowed bitterness to grow against David in the heart of Saul. The more David did what was good and right, the more trouble came his way. Honor is not always the reward of faithfulness, not at first. God intended to test and refine David. Saul was tested and found wanting, so God sought a man after His own heart, David. But David, He would put through the wringer, as if to destroy him. God has His plans and purposes, even in allowing good to be repaid with evil. I shouldn't be surprised when it happens to me; it is a good thing, if I will allow it to refine me. I will come through the better for it, if I remain faithful to do what is good and right through it. It didn't make David perfect, but it kept him humble or made him more humble before the Lord. That is the most important lesson: God is the Lord; I'm always His servant.