A Call To The Remnant

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand. And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. (1Sa 18:10-11)

Jealousy and envy lie at the heart of many a murder or a murderous spirit. Once it is given in to then they are given over to a spirit far worse. Murder rises from the darkness of our hearts and meets a spirit willing and able to take us down roads we would normally never go down. It becomes cold and calculating quite apart from the heat of passion. Saul knows fine well he is going to murder David and he sets about lulling him into a fall sense of security by “prophesying,” out of his distress. He is speaking, not on behalf of God but rather he is speaking from a place of jealous rage. It is so well controlled and so religious in nature that David takes up his lyre and begins to worship God having no idea what lurks in the heart of his his king. Then Saul, with all of his might mind you, with everything that is in him, unleashes the javelin in an attempt to not just injure him, but to run him through and pin David to the wall.

This spirit has manifested itself down through the ages. Jealousy and insecurity has been its primary motivator. How the Pharisees must have bristled by the multitude that followed after Jesus and would make Him their king. Murder rises in their hearts while all the time portraying themselves as men of God. And in every century since Jesus arose, religious men, men, jealous of those who actually know Jesus, who actually have a relationship with God, who actually enter into worship with Him, plot their downfall. Hangings, stonings, dismemberment, torture and vicious treatment all in the name of God, all flowing from the distress in their hearts when they encounter a man or a woman who actually know God. Even today we see the same spirit at work. The once born man becomes the all out enemy of the twice born man and often times all done under the same roof and under the name of God.

David’s attitude towards his primary enemy is outstanding. Jesus’ love for His enemies is the reason we now live. He forgave the ones who cruelly and with malice aforethought designed His downfall. Stephen cries out the same message while he is in the midst of being stoned to death. It breaks the chains of hell. One  of the audience that very day at the stoning of Stephen would go on and write two thirds of the New Testament. And all down through the following 2000 years, men and women of God would face the same enemies with the same spirit and they would follow the dictates of the most High God. They would speak the truth in love. They would never relent, never capitulate yet never render hatred for hatred. They would stand strong in the worship of God and that worship would be first measured by their lives. Let us stand strong brothers and sisters in a day and age where tolerance is worshiped as a virtue but never actually lived out. Our enemies design is to pin us to the wall and do it all in the name of something that sounds very religious, tolerance. We know better, therefore we are to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.