The Wrong Thing to the Right Guy

4.16.2011

1 Samuel 18:25 25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’ ” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines. NIV

Saul said the wrong thing to the right guy – Saul didn’t know David. From a distance Saul didn’t know David, the harp player who soothed his jangled nerves (Cf. 1 Samuel 17.55ff); to him David was some nameless faceless servant among the many who did something Saul felt he needed.

And up close, Saul didn’t know who David was. When Saul offered his oldest daughter to David as a wife, David simply responded, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”(1 Samuel 18:18).

So when Saul demanded the foreskins of the Philistines from David as payment for Michal, his daughter, David, who saw through the eyes of the Spirit, saw this as an opportunity to zealously reduce the number of the enemies of God; Michal was just icing on the cake to him. So David went out and killed not one hundred, but two hundred Philistines, to fulfill what he saw as his duty to the king. David, by the Spirit, had the ability to see things that Saul was completely blind to…

When we say things to people, we must remember that they will only hear them by their relationship to God; Saul had no idea of the magnitude of David’s devotion to God. To Saul, David was just another groupie trying to get the best out of the situation like everyone else in the king’s court. Saul misunderstood anointing, authority, and most of all, godly affection. David didn’t. So when Saul sent David on what he thought was the perfect fool’s errand, David went in the same Spirit that he did when he fearlessly took on Goliath. David’s focus was always upon God – Saul’s was only upon himself. I must daily discipline myself to keep my focus always upon the Lord!

Father in Heaven,
It is not for my kingdom that I live, but for Yours. I pray this day for spiritual strength to maintain my focus and to be wise in how I relate to others knowing that it all depends on how we all relate to You – amen.