Get Off The Ladder - The Bitterness

1 Samuel 18:6-9, 12 NIV 

[6] When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. [7] As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” [8] 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?” [9] And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David. 

[12] Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.18.6-12.NIV)

Are you a good loser?  

Be honest. 

During Covid, once the Scottish Premier League had been won, two groups of football fans gathered in emotional groups outside their clubs’ stadia. 

One group was full of joy. Their club had won the league for the first time in nine years. 

The other was full of fury, because they had lost it for the first time in nine years. 

Most of us are good at winning. Once you have already won, being a good winner takes precious little skill, if any.  

But some of us are really bad losers. We throw tantrums. We protest. We pout. We question whether our opponents deserved to win, or if we even lost at all in the first place. 

Losing when we expected to win can be a very bit source of covetousness, along with its attendant bitterness and pain. If we are more driven to win fairly because we lost, that is fine. But if we are driven to win at any cost next time because we lost this time, that is covetousness. 

Saul is a prime example of what I am talking about. We will look at his life in this study to see what we can learn about how not to lose. 

What we will see in Saul is a man who lost. He lost a great deal, but, you see, when you have lost and you crave to get back up and are driven to make it again (neither of which are inherently wrong), what you do is you look at yourself intently in the mirror, you figure out what you did wrong and you put it right. That is the only safe way to get back what you lost. 

That is how you bounce back better. 

But Saul did not do that. Not even close.  

What he chose was a path that led to nothing but pure folly. 

To get to what led him to make that huge mistake, we have to look at what led him there. 

Because that is the first thing we will look at: Power Removed. 

Power Removed 

1 Samuel 13:14 NIV 

[14] But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.13.14.NIV)

1 Samuel 15:22-23 NIV 

[22] But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. [23] For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.15.22-23.NIV)

Have you ever had a situation share someone has been hired to do a job who looks like they might be good – they have the right credentials and skills – but when they are put in the job, they just can’t do it? 

That happens a lot in Glasgow. Football is not a game here. It’s a religion. There are too many players, even those with huge reputations, who just can’t stand up to the pressure here. I have seen this type of thing happen in work too. It’s even happened to me. 

That’s what happened to Saul. 

He was chosen for the role because of his physical attributes (1 Samuel 9:2, 23-24, not at all his character, heart or ability to lead). 

Isn’t that something we have seen time and time again in our countries? 

The result was, as it often is, to be expected: poor quality leadership. 

Twice Saul received powerful rebukes from God about his command. Twice it was because he did not obey God (1 Samuel 13, 15). At the heart of both was a desire to be popular and influential with the people, and the army in particular, rather than loving God, his neighbour and himself. 

It was his ego, not his people or his God. 

As is so often the case. 

And that was the problem. The heart of the problem was the problem of his heart. 

Now, you might wonder why God would raise a man so patently unsuited to the role to be king of Israel. That is a question which I do not doubt has been asked down the ages, and continues to be asked – and not just about Saul either. 

However, I would like to counter this question by pointing out two responses.  

Firstly, who is ever equal to the burden of leadership? Only Jesus Christ has left the position of leader without any stains on his character. Every other leader before or since has been analysed and criticised for their mistakes. These questions are often reasonable and fully justified. 

Secondly, who are we to question God’s purposes? They may seem strange and mysterious at the time. That is true. But the reality is that they should confound us now and again because we are not God: 

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV 

[8] “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. [9] “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.55.8-9.NIV)

So yes, I am happy to admit that I do not understand why God raised up Saul to be the first king of Israel. And I consider that to be a good thing, because that is a sign to me that He is God. 

But what we can say is that this undeserving man was raised to power, and then lost it because he did not love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. That ought to send shivers down our spine. If it could happen to someone who was handpicked by God to be ruler of Israel, how much more could it happen to us? 

Surely this is a warning that we must obey God! 

Apart from power removed, we also see Power Abused. 

Power Abused 

1 Samuel 18:12 NIV 

[12] Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.18.12.NIV)

History is littered with those who have abused their power. If I go into specific examples of it, these may prove controversial for some. It should be enough to know that among those who have abused their power in recent days we have seen TV stars, film stars, directors, sports stars, powerful men and women from multiple walks of life, even religious people. 

No matter who does it, it always carries deep, deep pain – most of all the crushing disappointment that someone we trusted could do something so horrible.  

But I want you to see something very important. If the core of obedience to God is love – which it is – then no-one, absolutely no-one, who abuses their power is obeying God. They are not at all Christ-like. In that moment, they are not acting as a Christian. 

And yes, I know they may have done so while wearing clerical robes and they may have theological qualifications in frames all over their wall, but it all matters for nothing. Abuse of power is never an act of love and always, always an act of hatred and contempt. 

There can be no place for it in the church. 

Yet Saul did it.  

Just even the most cursive glance through 1 Samuel will tell you that for sure. What we see from Saul is a chronic, paranoid and flagrant abuse of power that is both capricious and egregious. 

The shocking thing is that not even David, who had received the anointing as the next king of Israel as a boy (1 Samuel 16:11-13) was seeking to overthrow him. Yet so fearful was Saul of David, which was still relatively young and inexperienced, that he carried out breathtaking crimes against him. 

He tried to murder him twice at close quarters (1 Samuel 18:10-11). 

He set David up for failure, thinking that his enemies would kill him (1 Samuel 18:13-30).  

That failed miserably. 

He himself tried again to kill David (1 Samuel 19:9-10). Since David escaped, Saul sent some men to carry out His bloodlust to capture David, which again failed (1 Samuel 19:11-17). 

In his shocking paranoia, he even tried to kill his own son and insulted his wife (1 Samuel 20:30-33). 

When Saul became convinced that the priests of Nob were siding with Davis against him, he had both them and their entire town massacred (1 Samuel 22:6-19). 

There can be no doubt about it: Saul was unhinged. He was mad.

Astonishingly – and this really does defy explanation – Saul took three thousand men to look for David. Three thousand men (1 Samuel 24:2, 26:2). Imagine that! Saul is looking for just one man, who still is not at all plotting against him, yet in his crazed paranoia he takes three thousand troops from his own army to find David. 

As if to demonstrate the sheer, unadulterated folly of Saul’s decision, David is given two opportunities to take Saul’s life, and refuses to do so (1 Samuel 24, 26). 

Right then and there, on those two occasions, David offers convincing proof that he is indeed a much better man than Saul. 

Why did this madness happen? 

Because Saul fell prey to a double-headed temptation: 

• He was jealous to preserve his status as king (that much is obvious right from when he lost kingship – see 1 Samuel 15:24-31). 

• He was covetous of David’s status among the people and his possession of God’s calling (that much is obvious as soon as David appeared on the scene – see 1 Samuel 18:6-9). 

This double sin led to his rapidly reclining mental and spiritual health, his utterly vengeful behaviour and the ridiculous and obsessive lengths he went to in order to get rid of his rival. 

It reminds me of King Herod, a Hittite king placed by the Roman authorities in charge of the Jews, who even resorted to killing infants to preserve his own status (Matthew 2). 

We would love to say that this is an exaggeration. We would love to say that ordinary people don’t behave like this, that they never lose their cool when tempted by jealousy and covetousness. 

But it isn’t true, is it? 

If we find ourselves with a rival and our rival wins over us, how do we react? 

Do we shake their hand and congratulate them? 

Or do we plot their downfall? 

We may excuse our behaviour by saying that we were righting a wrong or correcting an injustice, but it isn’t true, is it? We are driven by the toxic cocktail of jealousy and covetousness and it drives reason from our minds. We behave irrationally. Vengefully. Wrathfully. And we claim we are administering justice, but we are not. Not one bit. 

We see life as a ladder of souls. Someone has passed us on that ladder. For the sake of our own dignity and self-respect, they must be brought down. 

But it isn’t true, is it? There is no ladder. They are in no way better than us. Our whole idiotic thoughts and attitudes are based on a deceitful premise. 

They are inexcusable. 

Our rivals’ success should never be seen as our failure. Life does not need to be a zero sum game. 

We do not need to give in to the same envy and bitterness as Saul. 

By contrast, look how John the Baptist responded to his declining role: 

John 3:27-30 NIV 

[27] To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. [28] You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ [29] The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. [30] He must become greater; I must become less.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.3.27-30.NIV)

And as James put it: 

James 4:10 NIV 

[10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.4.10.NIV)

And Peter: 

1 Peter 5:6 NIV 

[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1pe.5.6.NIV)

Saul’s bitterness – and so often ours – came from an ego that could not tolerate taking a lower place. 

But if we are truly Christians, that cannot be us. Not when Jesus came to serve and told us to do likewise (Matthew 20:24-28; John 13:1-17). 

The shocking thing is that Saul’s bitterness that drove him insane resulted from jealousy and covetousness and was entirely self-inflicted. It was avoidable. 

We have to take the warning and avoid it too. 

As well as power lost and abused, we also end, rather shockingly, with Power Removed. 

Power Removed 

1 Samuel 31:1-6 NIV 

[1] Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa. [2] The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. [3] The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. [4] Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. [5] When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. [6] So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men died together that same day. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.31.1-6.NIV)

Now we come to one of the most troubling sections of Scripture. Here we see a man who had been anointed by God as king over Israel taking his own life because he had been utterly defeated, not just by his enemies, but also by his own bitterness and sin. At the root of his sin was the thoroughly disappointing reality that this man had allowed his rule to be overtaken by jealousy, envy, covetousness and bitterness. Here is a man who dis not measure up and whose ego compounded his sin by trying his level best to stave off the consequences. 

But ultimately he failed with that too. 

Right at the start of his decline, as the thought was triggering in his head that David would take his place, we see a puzzling verse that may well confound us: 

1 Samuel 16:14 NIV 

[14] Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.16.14.NIV)

Now, we need to understand this correctly as it will help us understand what followed. 

The Spirit of the Lord had left Saul. That was significant. Not only was the Spirit a clear sign and seal of his divine appointment (1 Samuel 10:1-15), and His departure was a sign that Saul had lost the divine mandate to rule (1 Samuel 18:12), but we also know from the New Testament what this Spirit produces (Galatians 5:13-26). We also know from this same passage that we are free to choose between the voice of the Spirit and the voice of the flesh. It doesn’t take a theological genius to work out that Saul already knew the game was up and his kingship was over, so he was likely already keeping an eye out for what came next. He had simply not obeyed Samuel – twice – and came up with pathetic excuses on both occasions to try to cover it up. Those were not actions of someone who is obeying the Spirit of God. 

Could it be that the Spirit had left Saul because he would rather listen to his own slighted ego than to the Lord? Quite possibly, but the Bibke doesn’t say. 

What we do know is that the Spirit of God, the producer of the Fruits of the Spirit, had departed from Saul and left him in the mire of the deeds of the flesh. 

What’s more, we need to understand this ‘evil spirit from the Lord’ a lot better.  

There are two possible interpretations. It could be that God was working out His divine will by sending an evil spirit to torment Saul and lead him to his own destruction. Does this idea trouble you? He did it again – to Ahab (1 Kings 22:1-40). The fact that he only did it twice in Jewish history, and that the second time was to the vile King Ahab, tells you how far Saul must have sunk for this to happen. This was a radical problem needing a radical solution.

Whether this sits well with us or not is irrelevant: God is love and God is just. This was the right thing to do, even if it must not have been the easy thing to do. We must bear in mind what Nehemiah taught in Lamentations: 

Lamentations 3:33 NIV 

[33] For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/lam.3.33.NIV)

The other interpretation comes from a slightly different, if weaker, interpretation of the Hebrew words used here. ‘Spirit’ can also be interpreted as ‘disposition’ or ‘mood’; ‘evil’ also as ‘bad’. This could be a foul and malicious temperament caused by the Lord taking His approval and blessing from Saul – a fit of pique and spite.  

Not many of us will be possessed my a murderous and vengeful spirit. However, we might well find ourselves battling a spiteful and vengeful mood that could settle over us as a dark cloud blocking out the light of the sun. That makes this passage a stark warning about how far we let these dark moods go and how long we allow them to settle. Remember again the extent that Saul sunk: his murderous intent, his fruitless manhunt, and in the end, his painful demise in a battle with his enemies. 

In the end, after acting as if he was lord and not God (see 1 Samuel 15:12), he realised he needed God and turned to Him in fear, only God would not answer (1 Samuel 28:4-6). The reason why was obvious: Saul had disobeyed and rejected God, so now God was rejecting Him.  

In his feverish desperation, Saul turner to a spiritist, who told him of his fate (1 Samuel 28:7-20). 

Sure enough, Saul died on the field of battle, by his own hand, along with all of his sons. His kingship was destroyed. His legacy was gone. 

Saul was no more. 

Conclusion 

1 Samuel 18:6-9 NIV 

 [6] When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. [7] As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” [8] 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?” [9] And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.18.6-9.NIV)

We might think it would have been nicer if there had been a ‘Hollywood’ ending to this story: if everyone had lived happily ever after. But that could not be the case. This story of Saul’s is a sharp warning about the dangers od living a life dominated be egotistical covetousness and jealousy. 

His calling went full circle. It began in fear (1 Samuel 10:22). It ended in fear on Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31:3-4). In between, not much was achieved. Certainly nothing deserving of the honour he had sought for himself. 

And that is just the point. Living a life driven by bitter envy, covetousness and jealousy causes you to chase your tail like a hyperactive puppy until you wear out, having achieved little of note except for exhaustion. 

It absolutely is a fools game. 

Along the way, you leave behind a litany of shattered relationships and anger and disappointment and bitterness. All because you were driven to achieve something that was completely in vain. 

It’s no wonder that we see these verses in Scripture: 

Hebrews 12:14-15 NIV 

[14] Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. [15] See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.12.14-15.NIV)

God’s plan for all of us, without exception and without regard to our status, is to live a life of love for God, our neighbours and ourselves. If we choose to ignore that clear and unmistakable command, and instead live a life ruled by bitterness, unforgiveness, grudge-bearing, anger, suspicion and paranoia, the very foundations on which our life was supposed to be built implode beneath us and rob us of any shred of a quality of life. 

The thing is: it’s a choice. It’s always a choice. It was a choice for Saul. It's a choice for us. We often cannot choose what has been done to us, but we can choose how we react to it. 

We see in this cautionary tale that Saul had power, but it was lost, abused and removed. 

Saul is an example of what happens to a man when he is completely overcome with envy, jealousy and covetousness – when the deeds of the flesh take over and any shred of freedom and life and fruit of the Spirit are destroyed. 

Please, I plead with you: do not choose to live like Saul. 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, Saul’s life frightens me. I do not want to end up like him. Take my pain, my anger, my sense of injustice and, yes, my bitterness. Satisfy them, I pray. Take them from me and help me to live a life of love. Amen. 

Questions for Contemplation 

• Why did Saul lose the kingship? Was it fair? Why / why not? 

• What did bitter envy and covetousness do to Saul? 

• What can we learn from his life? Is there anything you would like to change in your life?