S. O. A. P.

Here’s Your 90 second AM Devotional!

S-cripture:

1 Samuel 18:15

When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him.

O-bservation:

This is the story of King Saul’s troubled relationship with the young man known as David. Whether 1 Samuel is written in sequential order or not, it’s hard to know when, if ever, Saul knew that David had been anointed as his replacement. We do know, however, that Saul was troubled by David. If ever there was a relationship based on one man’s ambivalence toward the other, it was Saul’s relationship with David. Here we see that as David became more SUCCESSFUL, Saul became more FEARFUL.

A-pplication:

Why was Saul fearful of David? There are probably more answers here than I’m going to give, but I think it had its origins in Saul’s JEALOUSY of David. As stated in this AM Devo before, my Father used to say, “Be nice to the little guy on his way up, because you meet him on your way down.” Once again, no one is actually sure when Saul became aware of the fact that Samuel had secretly anointed David as the new King. But whether or not he knew it at this point, he was certainly JEALOUS of this young man’s fame. It is true that God’s Spirit had departed from Saul and was now on David, but we don’t know if Saul knew that. What we do know is because of Saul’s JEALOUSY, he was unable to encourage a young man who truly loved him and bore him no ill will. “When SUCCESS causes FEAR,” you can bet JEALOUSY is nearby.

P-rayer:

Dear Jesus,

I’m asking You this AM for help. I want You to help me run as far away from JEALOUSY as possible. Let me be an encouragement to the generations that follow after me. Amen