Yesterday, I discussed the difference between divine abandonment and divine discipline…
And how David exemplified the latter.
He was a man who had sinned greatly before Adonai…
Yet came to a place of sincere repentance…
And in the final analysis was forgiven.
So if David was the epitome of a man subjected to God’s divine discipline after sinning…
Who do you think was the epitome of a man subjected to the Lord’s divine abandonment?
Was it not Saul?
See, there’s a reason why David’s story immediately follows after Saul.
It’s to show the contrast between the two…
So we would have an example and be able to clearly tell the difference between a king who was divinely abandoned and one who was divinely disciplined, but in the end forgiven.
Let’s take some time to examine Saul’s life for a second.
First take a look at 1st Samuel 10:21-24:
“Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and Matri’s clan was taken. Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, ‘Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.’ They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, ‘Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.’ Then the people shouted, ‘Long live the king!‘”
So we can see there is no doubt that the Lord had chosen Saul.
However, in time, we would see Saul walk away from God.
As a result, the throne of Israel would be taken away from him.
“‘You have done a foolish thing,’ Samuel said. ‘You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.’”-1 Samuel 13:13-14
Well, we all know what happened after Saul received those harsh words of judgement from Samuel.
He was replaced by David…
But he didn’t give up his throne so easily.
Saul rebelled against the Lord’s Will to the point where he tried to publicly kill David.
“The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, ‘I will pin David to the wall.’ But David evaded him twice.”-2 Samuel 18:10-11
Back in those days, God always gave the King of Israel a prophet.
The prophet’s job was clear-cut:
Give the king information God wanted him to know.
However, Samuel left Saul never to speak to him again.
Why?
The answer is simple.
The Lord no longer had any oracles to deliver to Saul for he had abandoned.
Now that’s a scary place to be if you ask me.
However, we see the opposite situation with David.
The opening verse of 2nd Samuel Chapter 12 says it all:
“Adonai sent Natan to David.”
That’s all the proof we need to know the Lord had not abandoned David.
So I wanna close with a question that we’ll pick up the next time we meet.
Both David and Saul had sinned grievously against the Lord.
Saul had disobeyed God’s commandments with regards to holy property after defeating the Amalekites.
David had committed both adultery and murder.
From a behaviorial perspective, there really wasn’t a difference between the two men.
Yet we find David on the receiving end of these words of mercy from the Lord spoken through Natan:
“The Lord has taken away your sin.
You are not going to die.”
My question is what was the key difference between the two men that resulted in one receiving eternal forgiveness and one receiving eternal separation.
The answer is ONE key word.
What do you think it is?
Lemme know in the comments…
And we’ll see if you’re right the next time we meet.
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