Week 12 1 Samuel
In the middle of 1 Samuel there’s a changing-of-the-guard statement made. Samuel had told the young David that he would be the next king and then the bible says: the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon (David) from that day on. Then the very next verse says: now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression. These two verses land right in the middle of the book – I counted 395 verses before them and 413 after.
If I’m reading through 1 Samuel for the first time I’m likely getting a sense at this point that things will a) get worse for Saul and b) get better for David. But what actually does happen is that things a) get worse for Saul and b) get worse for David.
After the Spirit of the Lord came on David Saul tried to murder him twice before sending a death squad to assassinate him. So David left town. He spent time going from pillar to post – Nob, Gath, Adullam, Moab, the forests of Hereth, Keilah, Ziph, Horesh, the Arabah valley, Engedi, and back to Gath and Ziklag. Hiding out, living like an outlaw from the Dead Sea to Philistine country.
This all happened after the Lord’s Spirit came on him.
It’s tempting to think that when the Spirit comes to people things will get better.
In David’s case the Spirit came and things got worse.
Note: quotes from 1 Samuel 16:13 & 14 (NLT)