Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20020407.htm

1 AND 2 SAMUEL: GOD'S SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS IN OVERSIGHT
Part XXII: Accepting God's USE Of Persecution To Advance His Human Leadership Plans
(1 Samuel 18:1-30)
  1. Introduction
    1. Though God raises up a believer to do His will, his path in that divine assignment is not necessarily easy. Indeed, if he obeys God, he will be persecuted as Paul claims in 2 Timothy 3:12.
    2. Accordingly, when God chose David to be king in place of Saul (cf. 1 Samuel 16:1, 13) and began to bless him while removing His blessing from Saul, Saul became jealous of David, and so persecuted him.
    3. Yet, every spiteful deed Saul did merely advanced God's plan regarding David's ministry, revealing the need for all leaders similarly mistreated to accept God's use of such unjust persecution for His glory:
  2. Accepting God's USE Of Persecution To Advance His Human Leadership Plans, 1 Samuel 18:1-30.
    1. God clearly planned to set David on Israel's throne while rejecting Saul as Israel's king, 1 Sam. 16:1, 13.
    2. The Lord even implemented this plan beyond merely anointing David, for He let Saul be plagued by a destructive demon while equipping David with His Spirit for blessing in his life, 1 Samuel 16:13-14.
    3. This shift in God's spiritual blessing from Saul to David led to Saul's persecuting David, but that in turn only forwarded God's plan of having David replace Saul as Israel's king (as follows), 1 Samuel 18:1-30:
      1. At first, David's defeat of Goliath led to Saul's identifying David with the royal court, and that moved him into the public spotlight in preparation for his ascension to the throne of Israel, 1 Sam. 18:1-5:
        1. After God had used David to destroy Goliath and deliver Saul and Israel from military defeat, Saul assigned David to his royal court while Saul's son, Jonathan, pledged total loyalty to David, 18:1-4.
        2. Saul then set David over his military, and due to David's defeat of Goliath, this was acceptable not only for the military, but also for the nation, 1 Samuel 18:5.
      2. Yet, David's fame in time eclipsed Saul's fame, leading Saul to be ominously jealous of him, 18:6-9:
      3. Nevertheless, though Saul then began to persecute David, God arranged for each of Saul's persecution efforts only to ADVANCE David's role as leader in preparation for ruling on the throne:
        1. First, Saul's jealousy coupled with the demonic spirit led him to try killing David as David played his harp to soothe Saul, 1 Samuel 18:10-11a. However, with God's Spirit upon him, David twice avoided Saul's flying javelin, 1 Samuel 19:11b with 1 Samuel 16:13.
        2. Second, fearing David apparently due to his ability with God's Spirit repeatedly to avoid his javelin, Saul demoted David from the court and his role as commander of the whole army to command a mere thousand men, 1 Samuel 18:12, 13a. However, this demotion became God's promotion, for it led to David's having to lead soldiers into success in combat so that, with God's equipping, he succeeded further to gain favor with the people to Saul's further dismay, 1 Samuel 18:14-16.
        3. Third, as Saul had promised his daughter, Merab to the slayer of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:25), he offered to give her to David with added conditions of killing more Philistines in hope that David would be slain in the process, 1 Sam. 18:17. However David responded he did not deserve to be wed to the king's daughter, relieving himself from becoming manipulated by Saul, 1 Sam. 18:18.
        4. Fourth, Saul sought to infuriate David by culturally demeaning him to get David to react in rage at Saul and discredit himself, and that by Saul's giving his daughter Merab promised to David to another man in marriage, 1 Samuel 18:17-19. Then, to add insult to injury, Saul offered to give his daughter, Michal to David in marriage providing he pay a dowry of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines in hope David would be slain in preparing to pay the dowry, 18:20-26. Well, David acquired twice the foreskins Saul requested to Saul's dismay and to David's added fame, 18:27-29.
        5. Fifth, being put into so much combat with the Philistines by Saul, and enabled by God's Spirit, David continued to show so much success in battle that even the enemy Philistine commanders he fought highly respected him, 18:30! This only enhanced David's fame among even the Gentiles!
Lesson: God USED Saul's persecution of David to FURTHER God's plans to establish David's throne.

Application: If GOD assigns us to a ministry that is OPPOSED or PERSECUTED on a PERSISTENT basis, we should ACCEPT this DIFFICULTY as GOD'S assignment as HE has planned to USE the difficult state to FURTHER our EFFECTIVENESS in that assigned ministry!