Category: Band

The difference between friend and enemy struck me in the story of Esther. Clearly, Haman is a man who desired power, who desired fame and authority, and probably ever-greater riches to accompany those desires. Haman, therefore, required that others give him honor, akin even to worship, something that Mordecai was not willing to give him, so Haman set out to destroy both Mordecai and all of the Jewish people in the kingdom.

Obviously, Haman is a foe, an enemy, and Esther clearly calls him out in front of the king as he asks her what request she would make of him:

Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”

King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

Esther 7:3-6

On the other hand, we have Xerxes. He is the ruling king. So far, he doesn’t seem to have a specific desire to destroy the Jews, except to the extent that he agreed to allow Haman to make the declaration to kill the Jews in his name. It isn’t even clear to me that Xerxes knew which people that Haman was referring to. Haman even identified these people as those that don’t follow the king’s laws, conveniently leaving out the fact that the law that was being disobeyed was the one in which they must bow down to him, to Haman.

So Xerxes is a bit of a strange case because you could make the case, I think, that he is a friend. But at the same time, we have to recognize that he is the head of the kingdom that is ruling over the Israelites, over the people of God. So, in the same way that the Jews would have seen the Romans as their clear enemy in the time of Jesus, we might also see the Persian kingdom as the clear enemy of the Jews in that time.

Yet at the same time, we also see that, in the end, Xerxes relents to Esther, and also honors Mordecai. The Jews are allowed to not only live, but to defend themselves against enemies that come against them and gather together as a people.

So is Xerxes an enemy? That is a little less clear.

In our work, we connect regularly with people who are working against the kingdom that we serve. We routinely meet with adherents to Islam, those that belong to Mormonism, and many others. It is tempting, in the midst of those conversations, to consider ourselves enemies to these people. Their aims are not our aims. They may even be working against us specifically, attempting to ruin what we are trying to do, attempting to make us fail, if not worse.

But there are a few scriptures within the New Testament that these situations remind me of, scriptures that remind me how we should regard friends and enemies, most specifically our enemies. These are some of the more difficult verses in the Bible, in my opinion:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

Clearly, as believers, we are called to look beyond the flesh directly in front of us to the spiritual reality that sits behind that is driving the people to do what they are doing.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:38-48

Jesus goes even further here. He says that we must show love to our enemies. If someone slaps you, you simply turn the other cheek so that they can slap that one too. Or if they force you to do something, you do that and then double the work. Go an extra mile for your enemy.

And one more…

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:9-11

We ourselves were God’s enemies, and what did he do? He came for us. He came to die for us…. while we were his enemies! If ever there was a “turn the other cheek” moment, wasn’t that it? Or didn’t Jesus go an extra mile, and then an extra mile, and then an extra mile yet?

So may we learn from Jesus and his example. Our flesh cries out justice! But our king says to let him take care of the justice. We, instead, need to rightly represent our king in the way that he calls us to be and to do.

The Jews had a massive problem. An insolvable problem. Mordecai would not bow down and give honor to Haman, so Haman despised Mordecai and he manipulated King Xerxes to get him to issue an edict that all of the Jews would be killed. Haman had even offered the king a large amount of money to do it, even though the king had not accepted.

So now, it seemed that Esther was their only hope. She was the only one with the access to the king such that she would be able to persuade him to relent and not carry out his plan to exterminate the Jews. Esther and Mordecai exchange messages between them, but in the end, Esther decides that they must move with God’s help. She decides that she will go to the king and she will ask him to relent, but she calls on Mordecai and all of the Jews to fast with her and her attendants for three days. Before she did anything, they would collectively go to God to ask him to save them.

The result of this is that Esther decides on a plan that will not only persuade the king, but ends up humiliating Haman as well. Because Mordecai had helped the king without any recompense previously, the king decided to honor Mordecai and used Haman to do it.

Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.

His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!” While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Esther 6:12-14

Even further, Haman constructed a pole, upon which he had intended to have Mordecai impaled in a public spectacle of his killing, but that ended up being exactly the pole upon which Haman would die.

Who could have possibly foreseen the series of circumstances that played out in this scenario? Yes, Esther acted, and we must act. But first, Esther went to God. She called upon the Lord for him to act, sitting before him in prayer and fasting. It is clear that this series of events happened in such a way that God himself was moving in their midst. We could have imagined many tears and wailing and begging before the king to not carry out his plan, but instead, we see that the very thing that Haman had plotted to do to Mordecai was what happened instead to Haman.

So as we face problems, we must go to God. We must sit and ask him to lead us, to guide us, to teach us, to help us. Only in this way can we see a solution come about that will bring the problem to the resolution that the Lord would like to carry out instead of rushing in to create our own solutions, and likely even creating bigger problems.

I remembered a song that I heard in the middle of a video called Sheep Among Wolves Volume II. It talks about how Satan has, and will, hang himself on his own gallows. Here is the whole video, although I’m embedding it directly at the song that connects to the story of Esther:

I don’t think it was a coincidence that Jesus used the metaphor of finding a treasure in a field or selling a massive pearl when he spoke of the value of the kingdom of God. Jesus knew that, if there was anything that would call to our hearts, it would be the lure of riches. Money brings power, authority, time and freedom, and much more. There isn’t anyone who would say that he doesn’t want money. Everyone does.

And we will be happy to give up everything to get it.

That is exactly what seems to be happening in Jerusalem. Nehemiah had just led the work to put into place once again the walls of Jerusalem. Then he set to work to reset the people as the people of God. The Law was read and the people all agreed to follow it. And finally, Nehemiah repopulated the city with people from all around the various local towns so that they could once again see the city of Jerusalem grow to be both populous and prosperous once again, serving God once again.

And yet, once Nehemiah returns back to his post in Susa with Artaxerxes, the king of Babylon, Jerusalem begins to fall apart.

Rooms from the house of God are given for storage purposes.

The Levites are no longer provided for as they do their work, so they leave and return back to their homes in the countryside so that they can work and eat.

Work and trading go forward on the Sabbath.

The men were once again marrying foreign women.

I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.

Nehemiah 13:10

Trade took over. The desire for wealth and riches took over. The people left the ways of God. They left the kingdom of God so that they could build their own kingdoms. They desired to give themselves more instead of desiring to give God more.

This is what Nehemiah found as he returned back to Jerusalem and so he set to work to return the city of God back to the ways of God. He knew, and told the people, that these compromises were precisely the path that led God to destroy the city of Jerusalem in the first place. They had repented, but now they had returned back to their old ways.

May we learn the lessons from the story of Nehemiah. May we return back to serve God once again so that we will not come to destruction. May we rebuild the walls, rebuild the people, and sacrificially move to do the same both amongst our own people as well as with others. May this be the point and purpose of our lives. Not trade, not building our own kingdoms, but building the kingdom of God.

Now that the walls were rebuilt and the people reestablished, Nehemiah needed to repopulate the city. After most of the people of Jerusalem had been carried into exile, the city was in ruins, Jerusalem left as a ghost town, a very unpopulated city for its size.

To repopulate the city, lots were cast to bring the people back and begin to fill the city. 1 in 10 of the people from the surrounding towns, from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and the Levites and priests that were living within the tribes, were brought into the city. They were honored, along with the leaders who were obligated to move, for the sacrifice.

Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 11:1-2

Why would it be a sacrifice? Because everything must change. They are going on a mission for the good of the Jewish people, for the good of God’s people, for the glorification of God himself through the rebuilding of the city of God. Their sacrifice would ultimately mean:

Changing a lifestyle. Now instead of living in a smaller town, they live in the city.

Economic changes. They would need to find a new way to earn a living.

Social changes. Only 1 in 10 would come to live in Jerusalem. How likely would it be that one of their friends would be coming as well? Not highly likely.

Sometimes, to serve God means that we need to move to a new location. Doing so may look glamorous, and maybe even glorious, but frequently it means that we need to make sacrifices from the things that we would prefer to do that which God has asked us to do. And so we have a choice whether or not to do that which is comfortable for us or to do that which glorifies God.

Reading about the movement of these people this morning reminded me of two different stories from the time of Christ.

First, I remembered Jesus teaching the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that the unoccupied house – the person who has had a demon driven out of them – would be filled with even more evil spirits than before because the original evil spirit would return, bringing along his friends as well, if the “house” was left unoccupied:

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Matthew 12:43-45

In Nehemiah’s case, he had to fill the city or else those that wanted evil for Jerusalem would come to take it over. Filling the city with those who are like-minded and who wish to serve Yahweh, the one true God, Nehemiah would complete the rebuilding of Jerusalem and set the city on a sustaining path for success.

For us, we must look to continually seek to fill our lives with the good things of the Spirit of God. The evil has been driven out and we have been born again by the Spirit, yet evil still desires to return, to steal, to kill, and to destroy. We must not allow it, but instead “populate” our lives through the good things of the Spirit of God.

Second, when the rich, young ruler came to ask Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded that he must sell everything that he owns and come and follow him. He wanted the man to know that he needed to leave his old life and join this new life, a life in Christ. He had an invitation to eternal life there in front of him, but he chose to stay just as he was. He chose his old life. The life of riches. The life without God.

Yet seeing this, Peter and the other disciples were having a hard time understanding. If the rich can’t get into the kingdom of God, how could they possibly do it? Similar to the people in the story of Nehemiah, the disciples had left their home towns to follow Christ. Would they be able inherit eternal life? Would they be able to truly enter the kingdom of God?

Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Matthew 19:27-30

Yes, of course, says Jesus. They, in fact, will be the judges of Israel. They will be the ones, because they have left everything to follow Jesus, who will receive much more and will inherit eternal life.

So we must ask ourselves… is it worth it? It is…or better said, it will be. But it will only be worth it to you if you truly believe it.

Nehemiah didn’t come to just build walls. Once he arrived and saw the condition of the city, saw how much it had been broken down, he set himself to start with the walls, but then there was much more. He called the people back to the city and allowed those who would lay claim to living in Jerusalem to move back and live there. He reestablished the priesthood and designated the people who would carry on the service to the Lord to come back and resume their duties.

But then, he started to do something even greater. He reestablished the people as God’s people before the Lord. He called Ezra as the teacher of the Law to return and read the Law before the people. After the first day, they celebrated because they had started to relearn what it meant to follow God’s laws. They wept and repented from their sins because of what they had been missing, but then they celebrated and they continued – day after day – to follow God and listen to what he would tell them through the reading of the Law. They celebrated the festivals once again, and they did all that the Lord told them to do.

Then arrived the day that they wanted to reestablish themselves as the Lord’s people. They wanted to sustain all that they had done. This wasn’t to be a resurgence, or a revival, for one time, but it was to be a new way of life. They would continue living as they had come to understand, with the walls rebuilt, with Jerusalem rebuilt, and their lives before God rebuilt.

Together, they decided that this would be their way forward, and so they made it plain and clear. They wrote down how they would live. They made a covenant together before God regarding the way they would live. This would be their new way of life. They were returning to the old way, the first way, the right way, the way of God. They were committing themselves to what they now understood that God wanted of them, and they were doing it together:

“In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”

Nehemiah 9:38

This is our task. We aren’t just about the business of building walls. We aren’t just about the business of making groups, teaching ways to share the Gospel, or teaching people how to disciple others. Yes, we have to do this. But even greater, we have to call people to new ways of life. We build the walls, yes, but day after day, we build the people. This is the real work. This is the true calling that God has given to us.

Doing the work of rebuilding the walls, Nehemiah found himself facing many different obstacles. Throughout the time that he was working, he faced threats from potential raiders or warring parties from surrounding nations, and as a result they assigned guards to watch over them, and even carried weapons with them while they were building.

In addition, they faced internal obstacles. Several of the Jews were taking advantage of the work, attempting to profit from the fact that the people couldn’t work or receive income from their trade given that they were working on the walls. They were taking the people’s land. They were even taking the people’s children as the parents were forced to give their children as servants or slaves in exchange for eating.

Nehemiah confronted the nobles and the officials of Jerusalem to put a stop to these practices. The people were attempting to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and they were forcing them into debt, taking their land, and taking their children! They couldn’t continue on like this. This had to stop.

And thankfully, Nehemiah was able to convince them, even forcing the nobles and officials to take an oath before God and the Levites that they would put an end to these practices. They would no longer charge interest. They would no longer continue to place the people in debt, but instead they would give back that which belonged to the people and even give them a sum on top of what they returned.

When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry. I pondered them in my mind and then accused the nobles and officials. I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!” So I called together a large meeting to deal with them and said: “As far as possible, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the Gentiles. Now you are selling your own people, only for them to be sold back to us!” They kept quiet, because they could find nothing to say.

So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies? I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain. But let us stop charging interest! Give back to them immediately their fields, vineyards, olive groves and houses, and also the interest you are charging them—one percent of the money, grain, new wine and olive oil.”

Nehemiah 5:6-11

As we do the work that God has given us to do, there is no doubt that we will continue to face obstacles, both from outsiders as well as from people that we would call our own. From other believers. From those who we would have thought would be on our side. No, instead, they will oppose us, whether because they see what we are doing as a threat to their own power and their own influence, or for any number of other reasons, just as we have seen in the case of Nehemiah. Let us not be surprised by the challenges that we face. God is seeing his work through, but we must be aware and be ready to face the obstacles that will most certainly come.

Nehemiah had received news from his brother Hanani that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down. The Babylonians had been to Jerusalem many years before and had destroyed it, taking many of its people into exile. Subsequently, the Medes and the Persians ruled and now Nehemiah, one of the Jews in exile, served Artexerxes as his cupbearer.

Nehemiah was heartbroken at the news that the city of Jerusalem was in ruins. He immediately threw himself into prayer, fasting, and most importantly, repentance. At the same time, as he prayed, he asked God to remember back to his covenant with his people, that if the people of God would follow the Lord’s commands, then God would rescue them, gathering them from the scattering that God had done to them from amongst the nations.

So Nehemiah receives permission from the king to go. He receives permission to rebuild the walls. And he even receives letters that he can give to the nobles and rulers of the area showing that his permission to do what he is doing comes directly from the king.

As Nehemiah goes, he surveyed the walls and saw the true state of the ruin of the walls and the gates of Jerusalem. It was completely destroyed and it was a mess! He hadn’t said anything to anyone about his mission. He had initially just been there to see the situation and to survey the work that needed to be done.

But then came the call. Nehemiah wasn’t a construction worker. He was a cupbearer. But he knew that the men of Jerusalem could rebuild the walls, and so he called them into the work. He called them to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

So what can we learn from this? Maybe a few things:

First, let’s ask this question: Did the people of Jerusalem not see the state of destruction of their city? Of course they did, but they had two significant problems:

First, they had a problem of permission. They didn’t have permission to rebuild the walls. To do so could be considered an act of sedition, an act of rebellion against the prevailing kingdom over that area, the Persians, and that is definitely not a situation that they wanted to put themselves in. They didn’t want to be considered rebellious. They knew from experience what would happen if they rebelled against the king of Persia.

Second, while they could see the state of the walls, it was actually just their normal. They hadn’t acted because, well, that’s just how it was. Their walls were broken down. That’s how it is. Jerusalem is defeated. They were used to that idea, and so they didn’t need to spend a lot of time thinking about how it should be different. It didn’t need to be different because that is how it was.

But before the king, living in Susa, Nehemiah wasn’t used to those ideas. He happened to be relationally, or at the least, professionally related to the king. And the king had given him permission to rebuild the walls. He didn’t have a problem of permission.

And second, he wasn’t used to the idea of broken walls and gates. He lived at the citadel. The gates were strong and the walls were high, as they should be. He was able to see things as they should be, and he knew that Jerusalem was not as it should be.

At the same time, Nehemiah couldn’t do this work on his own. He needed others. Many others to be able to complete the work.

Yet at the same time, they also needed him. To begin to move, they needed permission. To begin to move, they needed a new vision. So Nehemiah, coming with a different vision from the outside, partnered together with those living in Jerusalem to rebuild the walls.

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace. ” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.

They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

Nehemiah 2:17-18

Together is how it is done. One or more from the outside. Many from the inside. That is frequently how God accomplishes his plan, and that is how we see the story of Nehemiah begin.

It is a little difficult for us to hear today. In fact, it might seem racist even.

Ezra receives a report that the Israelites have been marrying foreign women, women from the other peoples from around them, the other nations there in Canaan. In reaction, he tears his clothes, sits in repentance, and calls out to God for forgiveness. What’s happening here? Why such a violent reaction to this news?

The Israelites, at this point, are under foreign rule. The people of Jerusalem and the surrounding area of Judea have been conquered. In their area, it started with the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar and conquered Jerusalem, taking many of the Israelites into exile.

The Babylonians had then been overcome by the Medes and the Persians and that is currently where we stand in this timeline. Ezra and the other exiles are living under the reign of the Persians. They have been conquered and are living under the rule of other nations.

But it isn’t just because they didn’t have a very good military and couldn’t fight the Babylonians. Yes, the Babylonians were one of the most powerful nations and armies on the earth at that time, but the Israelites had faced down many powerful armies. And yet, because God was with them, the Israelites had come away as victors each time.

So what changed? Why are they in captivity now instead of remaining in their own land as their own people with their own God?

The answer is that they had rejected God. The Israelites had walked away from him. They wanted their own king, a human king, just like all of the other nations around them. They wanted this human king because they no longer followed God. They were no longer interested in him. Instead, they followed the other evil gods of the peoples around them. And they followed the other evil gods because they had not kept themselves separate from the other people. They had, instead, gone and intermarried with the foreign women of the land. And by intermarrying with these women, they were introduced to the foreign gods and began to worship them instead of worshiping the One true God.

After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.”

Ezra 9:1-2

And so this is the problem. The women, themselves, aren’t necessarily the problem. In fact, they are part of the Gentile nations that God will call into his kingdom, opening the door through Christ to all peoples. God loves the Gentiles, those other than the Israelites as well, but they worshiped other gods and so this became a massive problem. The problem is that the Israelites worshiped the foreign gods and wouldn’t leave them behind. And by doing this, God withdrew himself from the Israelites, leaving them to their own devices. He didn’t protect them any longer, but instead brought the Babylonians and each of the subsequent nations as a punishment for walking away from him.

Now it has come down to this… The Israelites had rejected God as their king and have instead preferred to have their own king. Since that time, they have had Saul who disobeyed God as he ruled Israel. So God rejected him and instead God chose David.

David was a good king, but he wasn’t universally accepted. He united Israel, but the politics of Israel were still strong. There were many that still thought that the house of Saul should rule Israel. David now, however, was ruling with all of both Judea and Israel under him. Yet as he sinned with Bathsheba and caused the death of Uriah, he showed weakness and his son Absalom, hungry for power, rose up and began to challenge David, even raising up an army for himself.

We could see it coming. War was inevitable. Instead of uniting the nation of Israel, it was tearing it apart. And why? Because they, the nation of Israel, had rejected the Lord as king and instead desired a king like all of the other nations around them. What did that cause? It caused them to begin to play politics, which ripped their nation apart.

David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.

2 Samuel 18:6-8

Absalom was coming for David in an attempt to strike him down and complete his struggle for the power and prestige of the seat of the king. Absalom wanted to eliminate the threat for the king’s seat that his father represented. Even if David had abdicated the throne by leaving Jerusalem, Absalom knew that he would not be safe as long as David was alive. There were those that loved him and were more loyal to David than they were to Absalom.

So it came to this. Absalom would march out against David, but David found out about it through those who were advising Absalom yet were loyal to David. In so doing, David amassed a counter-strike and his armies struck him down.

So we should ask… What is the lesson that we should learn? There are many, but one lesson is crucial to understand: There is only one king. There is only one head. And that head is Jesus Christ. He is the king. He and he only. There are many that lead our nations. There are many that other parts of our government. And more to the point that I’m trying to ultimately arrive at… there are many that lead our churches, but there is only one head: Jesus.

But very frequently, even if we don’t say that we are removing Jesus as the head of the church, we effectively do so. For example, in the church in Corinth, some said that they followed Paul. Others said they followed Peter. And still others said that they followed Apollos. Do we not do the same? Do we not say that we go to this person’s church, or that person’s church? Do those who lead not act as if they are the head of a particular local church?

My point is that we need to be very careful that we don’t repeat the same mistakes that we read about with the nation of Israel. We need to make sure that we do not replace, neither in word or deed, the kingship of Jesus. By having one king, even if we struggle, we have peace. By having one king, even if we struggle, we have one authority, and we don’t go to war with one another but instead remain in unity.

God’s Spirit had left Saul and he was no longer walking with the Lord. Even though he was the king over Israel, the fact that he wouldn’t serve God and obey him led God to reject Saul as king. Now, David would be raised up to be king after having been identified an annointed by Samuel.

But there was something more that I was reading today. The word says that an evil spirit came from God to torment Saul. Here is the full couple of paragraphs and context:

Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom? ” And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.

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 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.

1 Samuel 18:8-11

What is this saying? If God is a good God, how can he send an evil spirit? How is this possible?

It is important to remember that God is the creator over all things and can use all things, both good and evil, for his ends. Let’s remember back to Job’s situation. It was Satan that had come to God, asking that God to take everything from Job. God didn’t allow Satan to destroy him, but he did allow him to take away everything to test him.

Could it be similar in this situation with Saul? Saul was the king of Israel. He was the king of God’s people. Surely he would be a highly valued target for Satan, wouldn’t he? If so, then we can imagine a similar request from Satan to God, possibly to even allow him to destroy Saul similar to how Satan had taken everything from Job.

In this situation with Saul, though, we see that the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, so he was easily taken by the evil spirit and he was not only angry, but it urged on his jealousy of David. The fact that the evil spirit had come on Saul was what brought David into the palace in the first place, so that David could play the lyre and soothe Saul. So God had used the presence of the evil spirit to bring David into the palace as royalty.

Yet possibly the evil spirit saw its opportunity to also take out the both Saul as well as the next king of Israel, the next leader of the people of God. When the evil spirit came upon Saul, he would try to kill David. Can we imagine that this was in the mind and was the intent of the evil spirit? Definitely!

Throughout the Bible, we see God use evil for his purposes. God isn’t evil, but he allows it and uses it. Even in the New Testament, Jesus drove out demons from the demoniac to show his power over evil spirits. Or God allowed the spirit of Satan to come into Ananias and Sapphira to bring a great fear upon the first church in Jerusalem for the power of the Lord and his people in that first church. Or even as Paul told the church in Corinth to turn the man stuck in incestuous sin to be turned over to Satan to be brought to repentance. God allows and uses evil, turning the circumstances for our good and for his glory.