What is true love? In this passage we see two good examples, don’t we? For even though Saul had irrationally condemned David to death (verse 1), Jonathan nevertheless pleaded with his father on behalf of his friend (verses 4 and 5). He was loyal to David, faithful to the promise…

What do you do when someone’s out to get you? Oh, it may not be as dramatic as Saul trying to kill David. Maybe it’s a coworker who is jealous of your abilities. Maybe it’s a rival or competitor in business who is afraid of your success. Or maybe someone…

Transitions are never easy. As the baby boom generation is retiring at a faster and faster pace, all sorts of institutions from corporations to congregations are dealing with the challenges of finding new leadership. So, how should yesterday’s leaders respond to those who replace them? And how should new leaders…

It’s easy to see why the account of David’s fight with Goliath is one of the best-known stories in the Bible. Those who are out-manned and out-gunned have long drawn inspiration from such a bold, scrappy, clever, nimble underdog, who faces down an over-confident, over-grown menace. But if David himself…

Have you ever really blown it? Have you messed up to the point where you’re not sure anyone could forgive you, not even God? Saul seems to have been in such a situation. He had chosen the path of pragmatism over faithfulness to God’s commands when he refused to destroy…

“How will we ever replace such a leader?” As mourning crowds file through Westminster Hall, thus honoring the memory of Queen Elizabeth II, they might ask each other such a question. Samuel also grieved, not because King Saul had died, but because Saul had departed from the Lord’s will (15:35,…

It just didn’t make sense, at least not to Saul. After all, in those days, livestock was one of the principal forms of wealth. So, God asking Saul to kill all of the Amalekites’ livestock would be like God telling us to gather a pile of money and burn it….

Fear seems to have been the one constant in Saul’s life. On the day he was to be anointed as king, he tried to hide himself among the baggage (10:22), perhaps hoping that the responsibility of the office would pass him by. Then, when the immense Philistine army gathered to…

Talk about a sign from God! A tremendous earthquake shook the land, one so great that the Philistine multitude began to flee from the battlefield (14:15-16). Could there be any doubt that God wanted His people to pursue them, to achieve a crushing victory over their enemies? And yet, the…

It was, quite simply, an impossible situation. Saul had started out with a 3,000-man army (13:2), but the fear of the Philistines had caused many of them to “scatter,” leaving Saul with only 600 soldiers (13:15; 14:2). Meanwhile the Philistines had “30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the…