4 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
1 Samuel 18:28-29 (CSB): “Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him, and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
In 2002, John Maxwell coined the term: “Teamwork makes the dreamwork.”
That statement is just as accurate and relevant today as it was back then. When people work together to achieve a common goal, synergy and other powerful things can happen.
But anyone who has been a part of a team realizes there are more than a few ways to torpedo a good team and keep it from accomplishing its goals. One way to accomplish this undesirable result is for jealousy to arise within at least one heart on the team.
As we read 1 Samuel 18, we observe that King Saul had an ambitious young man on his team whom the Lord was blessing. As a result, that young man, David, was experiencing all kinds of success. The citizens of Israel took notice and celebrated David’s successes. Unfortunately, they did a stupid thing by publicly comparing David’s success to Saul’s, making Saul’s “success” look paltry.
If Saul had been secure in his identity, he could have joined in celebrating David’s successes. After all, David was on his “team.” When David won, Saul and Israel won. And David was clearly not a threat to Saul in any way.
But Saul didn’t see it that way. He was horribly insecure. He couldn’t tolerate anyone on his team looking better than himself. He couldn’t stand it when the masses celebrated someone else on the team, and he seemed to be slipping into the shadows.
If King Saul had been secure in himself, he and David could have worked together. Saul could have rewritten their job descriptions so that David could do what he was good at while Saul could focus on what he was good at. It would have cultivated a productive, healthy team, and Israel would have greatly benefited from it.
But Saul couldn’t see it that way. And because of his growing jealousy and irrational paranoia, Israel would watch as their king was reduced to a childhood bully trying fruitlessly to harm their hero.
Jealousy is a potential problem for all of us. Our sinful nature doesn’t like seeing others doing so much better than ourselves, and it becomes worse if others acknowledge it. We don’t like being left in the dust while someone else is experiencing all sorts of success.
You must be wary of this if you are on a team or in a group that works together (yep, churches are included). Realize that our sinful hearts have the potential to torpedo what God desires to do. So, ask God for humility (Philippians 2:1-4). And learn the joys of encouraging others (1 Thessalonians 5:11). If you do these sorts of things, you will help your team work toward success and almost certainly not be the reason it fails.
Spend Time in Prayer
- Ask God to help you realize if you are jealous of someone who is much more “successful” than you.
- Ask God to help you experience the power of His Holy Spirit so that He can replace humility and the ability to encourage others rather than devolving into jealousy.
Going Deeper
If you want to dig a little deeper into the meaning of 1 Samuel 21:11, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:
Sharing
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Polk City, Florida (fbcpolkcity.com)
Matt’s Musings 