Tuesday, February 24, 2009

1 Samuel 19

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"But once again an evil spirit from the Lord rushed upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing the harp." v9

In light of what we were talking about last time this came up, I found this.

Some of the most difficult passages in scripture are those that show God using the devil or evil spirits for His purpose. We know that God is not the cause of wickedness, so it goes against our understanding to think of Him sending evil spirits hither and yon to do His bidding. Yet, we examine scripture and there they are...

So, what about the sending of evil spirits by the Lord? This may be more common in scripture than you think. In Psalm 78:49, God judged Israel "by sending evil angels among them." In Judges 9:23, "God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem." In 1 Kings 22:22, God sent a "lying spirit" in the mouth of the false prophets to send Ahab to his death. In the passage in question (1 Samuel 16:14-15), God removed His Spirit from the disobedient Saul. This opened the door for an evil spirit to come and torment Saul. Though in this passage, it is only the servants of Saul that said the evil spirit was from the Lord, in other passages (1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Samuel 19:9), the text states that the evil spirit came from the Lord.

What we see in these passages follows a pattern. When God removes His protective hand, he often turns the person over to Satan for destruction or to an evil spirit for torment. The devil and the evil spirits do the work, but God has allowed them to do what come natural to them for His own purpose. I know that some will have trouble with this concept, but it is thoroughly established in scripture. God does not commit wickedness, but He uses the wicked for His purpose. In the end, God will have His glory. How much better it is for us to submit to Him and obey Him willingly.

article in it's entirety can be found here; http://www.learnthebible.org/an-evil-spirit-from-the-lord.html

the picture of this "evil spirit RUSHING upon Saul is such a vivid picture of jealousy. I think of the times I have felt a literal WAVE of jealousy, insecurity or condemnation. I think to picture that as an evil spirit rushing on me to debilitate me would be so helpful in fighting and overcoming those feelings. Ugh.

Berry Girl said...

so so sad, Saul's decline. Thanks for that insight.

don't you find it strange though that everyone just starts prophesying, and even Saul received the Spirit of the Lord again (for the moment) and prophesied...naked, apparently...
that just all sounds so bizarre.