8.26.2026 - Nate Triemstra

1 Samuel 19:9-10

But an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp, 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.

If you have time, read all of 1 Samuel 19

Saul was chosen by God and anointed by Samuel to be the first king of Israel. Yet he demonstrated early in his kingship that he struggled with self-control. In our passage today, we see that Saul lost control of his temper and tried to kill David. What made this man chosen by God lose his control?

Much like we saw with the Israelites, Saul lost sight of God's faithfulness. In Sault's case, jealousy and anger clouded his view of who God is. After David defeated Goliath (1 Samuel 17), the Israelites sang David's praises, elevating him above Saul. Suddenly, the popular opinion was that David was great, while Saul was yesterday's news. Intensifying his vulnerability, Saul had also been told by Samuel that God had rejected him as king. In this moment of acute weakness, Saul had a choice. He could trust in God's faithfulness and know that God would continue to be his God, even though he would no longer be king. Or he could try to seize control of the moment, disregarding God in an attempt to benefit himself first. He chose the latter.

So often in life, we have a vision of who we are and what our lives should be. And too often, we are prone to striving for this vision regardless of who God is calling us to be. When we hear those voices telling us that we need to be greater, that we need to earn more money, that we need to claim more power, that we need to make our lives look a certain way, we lose sight of who is in control. We become jealous of those who have what we want, and angry that we have been denied what we perceive to be rightfully ours. In these moments, we deny God's faithfulness and let go of our trust in him. Instead of resting in him and having the self-control that he gives us, we allow power, money, and prestige to take control. We allow our desire for these things to make our decisions. We allow a need for control over what comes next guide our lives. As we see in the life of Saul, this only leads to destruction.

Ultimately, God calls us to lives of service and love to him and his people. We can fulfill this call in myriad ways. But we cannot fulfill this call by denying God's way. When our lives are ruled by the jealousy and anger that come from pursuing earthly power, we lose the self-control that God gives us to follow him and be light in a dark world.