Friday, May 9: 1Samuel 18- God is absolutely sovereign .

The story of Saul and David continues in this chapter. Clearly the two men are on a collision course.

As I read, verse 10 caught my eye and troubled me. I thought surely, Lord, I should meditate on another verse, but I kept being drawn back to verse 10. The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand

Did I read it correctly, “an evil spirit from the Lord came forcefully on Saul”? The word ‘from’ troubled me. Did God send the evil spirit? Does evil spirit mean the things I think it means?

As I pondered I did some research. The word used for ‘evil’ means opposite of good and ultimately means the opposite of God. And every translation I consulted translated it ‘from God’ communicating that God sent the evil spirit.  

My ponderings swirled. God had lifted His Spirit from Saul; God’s protection and presence were therefore gone. God was orchestrating the changing of kingship from Saul to David. And apparently as God orchestrates this change God has the ability to use evil spirits for His purpose. I am not sure what to make of this.

It brings me back to one of my core Biblically formed beliefs; God is absolutely sovereign! Absolutely. He can move pagan kings to do His bidding (Cyrus is an example of this). And when God so deems it appropriate, He can move even a spirit opposed to Him to do His bidding.

Like I said, I don’t fully grasp this, but then why should I, a mere mortal grasp all the ways of the living and true God. Nor should I exert too much pondering power of how God does this, since the Lord in His wisdom did not care to share the ‘how’ but only the ‘what’ in His revealed Word.

So today I sit in awe of God, working out His plan, will and way! I have been called to serve the Almighty God… wow, how dare I refuse??? How dare I give less than my very best??

Lord God, Almighty, I am in awe of You. You move and orchestrate things to serve Your will and plan. You truly are ALL-MIGHTY.

I surrender to Your will and way. I surrender to You. You are Lord and my Lord, I will follow as You lead and do as You bid me to do. I pledge my life to You. Through Jesus, my Savior and Lord, I pray. Amen.