14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. 1 Samuel
When we turn away from the Lord and His Spirit we open ourselves up to harmful things of this world and from the dark side of the spirit realm. It may seem all right at first, but we may be on a slippery downward slope, king Saul was such a man. His life was afflicted by periods of torment from an evil spirit.
15 Saul’s attendants said to him, ‘See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the harp. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better.
Saul’s attendants offered a solution to his suffering, find someone who played the harp well and let him play when king Saul sank into a dark and disturbed state. How much contemporary music of our day, even Christian music, would offer such relief to someone in distress? In many cases it could aggravate their condition. Music is very powerful, it bypasses a lot of our defences and excites the emotions. Satan was the master musician among the angels in heaven and knows how to use it to influence people today. We need to be alert to what we allow to enter our lives and hearts because it’ll programme us in the opposite way of God’s Spirit! WE MUST NOT ALLOW OUR MINDS TO BE LULLED INTO DWELLING/FEEDING UPON THE INFLUENCES OF THIS WORLD. I believe this has never been more important than at the present moment.
18 One of the servants answered, ‘I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.’
So David’s name came forward as a possible candidate to help the king during times of trouble. The scripture lists the good points about David, his bravery, good appearance and most importantly, God’s favour upon his life. The public anointing by Samuel resulted in a visible change in the young David’s life. The blessing of a father or mother is also of great benefit to children, but all true blessing is valuable.
19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, ‘Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.’ 20 So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.
So the Lord brought David from the sheep to the king’s palace, initially as a musician to comfort Saul. The favour of the Lord on David’s life made him popular and the king chose him to be his personal armour-bearer. We don’t have to stay where we start out, God’s favour should lift us higher as we progress in life. So the calling of the man who would be the next king of Israel had begun.
May the Lord bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us and we surely need Him.