Scott Wiley here, the Executive Director of Wisdom International. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. What began as a radio programme in a single city has grown into a global ministry now in sixteen languages. We're hosting a banquet to celebrate all that the Lord has done and you're invited. Please visit wisdomonline.org slash twenty five.
That's wisdomonline.org slash 25. There's a link in the show notes. And now here's Stephen with today's message from Wisdom for the Heart. In other words, David didn't dodge one spear, but. Two.
Saw through it two different occasions. A spear, David, or it could mean that he missed the first time and grabbed another spear. I mean, you duck once, how do you come back? See, here's the downward digression. of a man who's eaten alive.
With envy. I think it's well said by Francis Bacon that envy is the worst of all passions because it never gives you a holiday. It begins with hurt. which leads to hate. Which leads to hostility.
which can lead to harm. The Celtic religions believe their goddess created this. Ancient Romans believed their goddess Minerva. Created it. For several thousand years, the Hindus have believed that their goddess Saraswati.
created it. The Greeks believed it came from Zeus. For generations. Not only has mankind struggled with the idea of the origin of the human race. Of course.
For those who follow the scriptures, it's answered. But along with everything else, they struggled with what human beings are observably. capable of Doing, acting, thinking. In a word? Wisdom.
Where did wisdom come from? Where did the ability that is uniquely human To rationally consider the past and the present And the future. The ability to constructively create civilizations with justice. And equity. and grace and law.
The ability to apply knowledge with insight. to relational ethical, financial. Moral Spiritual issues. The Greeks believed that This Found out his wife was expecting, he wasn't too happy about it. In fact, he became so enraged he swallowed her whole.
That's how you take care of it, I suppose. And then somehow she remained alive, and when it came time for her to deliver the baby girl, Zeus developed this intense headache. And cured it by taking an axe and hitting himself in the head. This makes a lot of sense, I know, but stay with me. Anyway, through that opening in his head, out walked fully grown, developed.
Athena. Athena would be the goddess of wisdom coming from the head of Zeus. Athens would be named in her honor. In fact, they would build the Parthenon. In her honor.
As most gods and goddesses of the pantheon of the Greek and Roman world, they would choose and be represented by an animal, Athena. Chosen was represented by the owl as her sacred bird that gave rise to the popular belief that owls are wise birds. That superstition exists to this day. We talk about Sony being wiser than an owl. In fact, I do a little study as I did.
It's all there, wikipedia.com. I get paid for this. A group of owls is not referred to as a flock of owls. but as a parliament. And that word, of course, is used.
for that gathering of what we would hope to be wise Parliamentarians. According to the Bible, that delivers to us The answer, wisdom comes from two sources. The word wisdom simply refers to applying the knowledge you have to your life, and it can be positive or negative, it can be holy. or it can be unholy. Listen to what James says.
He writes, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, Do not boast. This is not the wisdom that comes from above. But this wisdom is earthly, unspiritual. Demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, There will be disorder in every vile practice.
And then he contrasts. vile wisdom with another kind. He said, But the wisdom from above is pure. Peaceable. Gentle?
Open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. I can't think of a better More clearer. Flesh and blood illustration that contrasts vile wisdom with pure, peaceable. Holy, heavenly wisdom. Then 1 Samuel.
Chapter 18. If you have your Bibles, go back there. And let's pick it up where we left off with the biography of the singer of Israel. David.
Now in this particular chapter, You're going to actually follow. David's rise and the demonstration of godly wisdom, and you're going to watch the digression of Saul. and his demonstration of earthly Wisdom. And what we're going to do as we go through the chapter is, we're going to ask and answer the question: what does it mean to walk with wisdom? That word wisdom appears several times.
It's never translated wisdom in my text, it may be in yours. translated successful or success. But it has to do with behaving wisely. And it's going to appear several Times. In fact, as we go through this chapter rather quickly, we're going to answer the question by showing three defining characteristics of.
heavenly or pure wisdom. And let me define it by giving you the first of three now, and then eventually we'll get to the text. Walking wisely means, first of all, responding to promotion with humility.
Now let me set the stage. As you arrive at chapter 18. David has just gained instant Popularity. It's killed the giant. He is, one author wrote, and overnight.
Celebrity. He's the young giant killer in his Head must have been swimming. I mean, think about it. He left his father's little flock of sheep. to take some cheese to his brothers.
And 48 hours later, he's the giant killer. How's that for a change in life? It's like winning American Idol, the X Factor, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? I'm not sure if that's even on anymore, but you get the point, and Jeopardy. You know, all at the same time.
In fact, if he were living today, he would be a guest on Duck Dynasty. Yeah. He'd be wearing camo and he'd be teaching those guys how to use a slingshot, you know, to hunt. Truth is, everybody has David's. name on their lips.
He has launched Into the stratospheric realm. Where he was a nobody and now he's... He's a national hero. I agree with one author who wrote that very few people would would be able to take all of this in stride. It would be easy to let all of this Go to his head.
But it did. All right, with that, let's begin at verse 1. As soon as David had finished speaking to Saul, answering his question about his family and clan. The soul of Jonathan was knit. to the soul of David.
Jonathan loved him as his own soul. You might wonder, where was Jonathan when David went out to fight Goliath? We're not told, but from his reaction, it seems that Jonathan would have probably done it himself. not willing or wanting to embarrass his father, he He didn't do it. Look at verse 3.
Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword, and his bow, and his belt. This is symbolic of a number of things, but first and foremost, you grab the fact that there's a deep friendship that just takes off as well. As David is being introduced to his father Saul, this young man who without any training in war takes a slingshot and goes and marches against a giant. And kills him, Jonathan is effectively saying, this is my kind of guy.
This guy's soul is my soul. This guy's heart is my heart. His character. It's my desire to honor the God of Israel. By the way, the foundation for any friendship, any deep friendship, is not compatibility.
Or chemistry. It is shared character. It's shared vision. It's shared. Faith and trust in the living God.
That's why you might not know much about the people that sit around you, but there is a kinship because you share Christ and this common life. You get on a plane and you're sitting next to somebody and you find out they're a believer and immediately there's kinship. This is the foundation. of their friendship, certainly faith in the living. The living God.
By the way, I do need to address this just for a moment. There are those who would shamefully twist this text into something sexual. Homosexual. Because we're told that Jonathan loved David. For those who would hold that view, all they need to do is read the rest of the Bible, the rest of this chapter, even in English.
The same word for love is going to show up. four times in this text, all from the same Hebrew verb. In fact, in verse 16, we're told that all Israel and Judah loved God. David.
There's nothing sexual in that verb. In verse 20 and also 28, we're told that Michael, the daughter of Saul, loved David, and that's before they consummated their marriage. Back in verse 22, the verb shows up again where we read that all the servants of the king loved David. I mean the point is obvious, isn't it? Everybody loved David.
Furthermore, this particular Hebrew verb for love, and there are several, this one has. Political overtones to it. It's interesting to discover this in my research. You can use the word to talk about conspiring together in some alliance. And that's the idea.
You need to understand that when Jonathan took off his robe and gave it to David. When the servants of Saul and the daughter of Saul loved David, they are effectively transferring. Even in a sense, prophetically or presciently, their loyalty to this one who we know is the heir apparent. Later on in chapter 20, Saul is going to condemn Jonathan for as much as handing the kingdom over to David. He's going to say, Jonathan, you're out of your mind.
Because of his love. This has political overtones to it. In fact, what we really ought to be doing is We ought to be. is sort of amazed at a Jonathan. His humility.
If anybody ought to be giving a cold shoulder to David, it's Jonathan. If anybody ought to be threatened with somebody else that might take the throne, it would be Jonathan. And it isn't. in any way intimidated. He loves the heart of David in his faith.
I have an old book in my library, Well Out of Print, by a Puritan author. by the name of Blakey. Who commented on this moment when these two young men are introduced? And he says this: No shadow of jealousy darkens Jonathan's brow. Self-seekers and self-pleasers Look at him.
And be ashamed. Never were hands more cordially grasped. Never were congratulations more warmly. Shared. First five.
David went out. And here it is again, and was successful wherever Sauce center. That is From this Hebrew verb sacal. It's often translated, in fact, in the Old Testament. wisdom or wise.
It simply is saying this. Samuel is telling us that David Walked wisely. Success, I think, is an unfortunate translation because success has nothing to do with money or promotion or prestige or family. Or connections, it has to do with walking. with wisdom.
And that's what David was doing. In fact, the same word will show up again in verse 14. David behaved wisely, you could render it, in all his undertakings. For the Lord was with him.
So, what does Saul do with a wise, prudent? Young man who has exercised such faith in the living God. I know what you do, you promote that kind of guy. And so David, verse 5, tells us, is promoted by Saul, he is set over the men of war. That's amazing to me.
David hadn't had any practice swinging a sword, but now he's the general. He would be certainly second in command to Abner. He just kind of soars to the top of the heap. And everybody is okay with that. Even all the soldiers, as we see.
And nowhere in this chapter do you find David admiring His own reflection.
Nowhere in these early days does he send a message home to his brothers, especially Eliab. You remember Eliab? Who told David when he came out with the cheese, what are you doing out? You just want to be a hot shot. Go back to those few sheep.
I mean, can't you see David sending a postcard from the palace back to Eliab? And one message, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, whatever that is in Hebrew. Look at me now! Your little brother. None of that.
Listen, walking wisely means you are able to discern what moment is the perfect time to keep your mouth open. Shut. Problem is everybody else is talking. Look at verse 6. As they're coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women.
Came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with With musical instruments, they're coming back. Could even be a later campaign. If listing could be a general usage of one more campaign against the Philistine. But this is common in ancient times, victory celebrations, normally led by the women who meet the returning troops. With dancing, Singing.
The singing, the Hebrew text informs us it's antiphonal, that is, a group of women would sing one thing and another group would sing back to them. We'll see how the lyrics are shared between them in just a minute. But according to historians, you also need to understand that. When it says they're out there dancing, they're not doing some random shuffle. This isn't some unrehearsed two-step.
twirl or whatever. This is actually very well organized. In fact, you need to think in your mind of a parade. And they're dancing the war dance, the victory war dance of Israel. Details which have not survived the centuries.
We're only told they're doing it. But typical of every culture There are symbolic. culturally rich.
Songs and dances that kind of embody the heart and the soul of that nation. In our Western world, we dropped the choreographed dance and we have the national anthem. And that alone stirs our hearts whenever we hear it.
Some Or we sing along. By the way, as a side note, and I got to be really quick about this: this was the issue in Judges chapter 16 where the Philistines had captured Samson, put out his eyes. He had given away his secret to Delilah. They have him now captured. The King James translates it that they brought him out when they were celebrating this banquet in this temple.
supported by these columns. The ESV says they brought him out to entertain them. King James translates it to make sport. It's the same verb found here in 1 Samuel 18. What they did effectively was they brought Samson out into the courtyard near supporting pillars and then made him, to mock him, dance the victory dance of Israel.
And to sing the national anthem of this nation that had been defeated, and more importantly, the God that had been defeated.
So they make this man dance and sing their victory dance and song, and they kind of revel in the fact that he's been and his nation and his God defeated. And they laugh and they jeer until Samson, of course, brings the house down. God is not vindicating Samson's sinful stupidity. God is effectively judging the Philistines' utter blasphemy.
Now back to Samuel, you have this victory parade. the victory dance and the chant and it's going back and forth. And they have some lyrics that they've added. And these are the lyrics given to us. Here's what they're singing, verse 7.
Saul has struck down his thousands. David is 10,000s. They go back and forth. Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. Talk about raining on Saul's parade.
That did it. Verse 8. And Saul was very angry. And this saying, these lyrics. displeased him.
And he said to himself by the way. They have ascribed to David ten thousands. And to me they've ascribed thousands, and what more can he have? Here's the issue. but the kingdom.
And Saul eyed David from that day on.
Now, whether or not David picked up on the suspicion of Saul, we're not told, and I would doubt it. because of the way the chapter bears out, at least until near the end of the chapter. But what we do know from this chapter is that David isn't saying anything. He's not poking Saul in the eye. He's not going around the palace humming the new lyrics to this song.
I love that new chorus. Let me sing it for you. You know, none of that. Behaving wisely means responding to promotion with humility. Secondly.
Behaving wisely means tolerating the weaknesses of others. with grace. Let me show you what I mean, verse 10. The next day, An evil or harmful spirit from God rushed Upon Saul And he raved within his house. while David was playing the lyre as he did day by day or whenever he was called upon.
Let's stop for a moment because this needs a better understanding. God isn't. doing evil. He doesn't. Or does he tempt evil?
He's not worked out a deal with some demon. The word spirit, it might help you to write on the margin of your Bible, can be translated. Breath. Breath. This is The breath of God.
Now the question is, it says evil or harmful. I think it's a better translation. It could be translated unpleasant. You could actually translate it as well miserable. In fact, the words rushed upon Saul or fell upon Saul is from a word that means to literally overwhelm.
He's overwhelmed by this miserable breath from God. What does that sound like?
Sounds like conviction to me. It's exactly what it is. In fact, Job will use the same verb to talk about his despair, and it'll be translated. Terrified. What's happening to Saul Is the a deep Despairing, terrifying, miserable, depressing conviction over his sin.
Not to mention the crumbling of his self-made plans and his self-made kingdom and his self-made throne and the promise of Samuel, where he's been told it won't be your dynasty. Your throne is going to go to your neighbor. Just didn't name them.
Now he's contending with the rise of this young man who may very well be the man to take his place. And did you notice we're told this takes place the day after the parade? With this new song ringing in his ears. Tearing away at his pride, the convicting work of God in his heart because he refuses to repent. It's eating him alive.
That's what's happening.
So what do you do when you try to silence a guilty conscience? What do you do when you refuse to repent? I'll tell you what you don't do. You don't get along where it's quiet. You turn up the music.
You get distracted. You don't want to drive to work in silence. You don't want to think. The moment it's quiet around you. It becomes even more miserable.
So find something to distract you. to forget. To help you forget. And just about anything will do. I'll never forget hearing Howard Hendricks.
in class. Talk about his neighbor. Who owned a boat? He spent every spare minute. On that boat.
He would spend his day off waxing and waxing and polishing his. His boat And then he would come over to Hendricks. He came over to him one time and he said, I've got 37 coats of wax on my boat. Hendrix would look at us. And say, you know, I never disparaged him.
In fact, I didn't even say anything negative to him. Because I knew that my neighbor's boat was his only form of anesthesia. to deaden the pain. of an empty life. Had to find something to distract me.
Might not be bad in and of itself. Nothing wrong with the boat. If you feel convicted, want to give it to me? Great. See me after the service.
All right? That's not the point. The point is, we got to do something with our hands. We got to turn up the music. We got to get distracted.
We got to be entertained. We got to do something because we cannot be quiet under the breath of a convicting God.
So where is that musician? Only now he recognizes them. Verse 10. While he's raving in his house, David's playing the lyre that's a small hand-held harp. the forerunner of a guitar.
Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. David evaded him. This is the most shocking word of all. Twice.
Twice. In other words, David didn't dodge one spear, but Two. More than likely, this phrase summarizes the fact that Saul threw it two different occasions. Two different times, a spear David, or it could mean that he missed the first time and grabbed another spear. I mean, you duck once, how do you come back?
Later, Saul will throw a spear at his own son Jonathan. See here's the downward digression. of a man who's eaten alive. With envy. I think it's well said by Francis Bacon that envy is the worst of all passions because it never gives you a holiday.
It begins with hurt. You're hurt. which leads to hate. Which leads to hostility. Which can lead to harm.
Hurt? Hate. Hostility and harm. But again, no word from David, no angry retaliation. David doesn't whistle that liar back in Saul's head.
I don't know what he does. Ducks. And by the way, what do you do when somebody throws a spear at you? Dog. And then second of all and more importantly, don't pick it up and throw it back.
Because when you do. You lose. You join them. in that digression. There are plenty of people.
out there that are skilled. At spear throwing. Don't learn that art. don't join them in that downward spiral. It will never give you a day off.
Don't rush to the wrong interpretation here. I think David is unaware of Saul's. True intention, and I think the chapter bears it out, which is why I principalized this second observation in the way I did. Evidently, in the eyes of the people in the court and in David's own mind. This spear throwing.
It's categorized as, well, Saul's raving again. We don't know what brings it on, but Maybe it's a dark mood, or maybe it's the pressure. Maybe he can't help it. He doesn't really mean anything by it. In fact, one author said that everyone at this point in time would have believed that King Saul was dangerous, but not.
Malicious. Again. We're the ones that are let in on the inside scoop. We know. What's happening?
They don't. Haitians think that Saul is overwhelmed by something he can't control. He's overwhelmed by some dangerous.
some difficult, some depressing episode. But this means then, especially for David to get back on that little stool within spear reach. is that David is making allowances for Saul as well. Even though he's the one used for target practice. David, I think if he if he were a part of our assembly.
Or if he were in your family. or where you work. He would probably be the kind of person who is insulted. And then he says... They really didn't mean it.
You know, there's something else going on. I'm sure they didn't intend that. giving the benefit of the doubt, which by the way is an evidence of true love. This is not naivety. This is the oil of relationships.
This is what salves Relationships. That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart, a production of Wisdom International. Learn more at wisdomonline dot org.
