The Love of God or the Love of Man

God has my heart growing fonder and fonder for David, and extracting themes I would have never thought of. In 1 Samuel 16:23, it says, "Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him."

There is so much to unpack here. First and foremost, as I read this passage, I couldn't help but see a reflection of humanity in Saul and a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ in David.

Saul disobeyed God and became arrogant and envious of those who were better than him. He went around God, thinking that he was a god. He didn't search after God and seek Him with everything he had. His love for man, or rather himself, was exalted higher than his love for God. God also gave him many chances to turn from himself, but no, he felt justified in his actions.

David, who truly loved God with all of his heart, searched for God and sought God in all he did. Spending time in the pastures tending to the sheep, all the peaceful time he had spending with God, he embedded God into his heart and fell truly in love with Him.

As believers in God, we must ask ourselves: Are we so far away from God that we feel justified in our actions, so much so that whenever we enter God's presence, we feel free?

Just because the music or the presence of God is present and there is relief doesn't mean there is a life lived in holiness and repentance. It doesn't mean that there is a continuation of seeking God and basking in His love for you.

And if I am being honest, I feel like that is the scariest part of this Christian walk: to be so in love with yourself or with man that you feel justified in your actions.

God is not a God who will allow you to feel your own hell every second of every moment, but He wants you to find Him and fall in love with Him again.

Don't enter His presence at church, don't go to these conferences, don't fill your head with the voices of church and godly leaders or Bible studies just to feel relief from your own sinful self with no desire to repent and resurrender your spirit and soul.

The danger is that that's how many of us live. Almost in a sense, dormant, distracted by everyone around us.

Saul experienced relief when David played the lyre, but Scripture doesn't tell us that this relief led him to repentance. And that's what stood out to me. We can experience moments of relief without allowing those moments to transform the way we live.

David was a man after God's own heart because he knew God was all that he had AND saw God's power shown in the stillness of his life as a shepherd.

How else did he have the courage to face Goliath?

He faced Goliath because of how Goliath was disrespecting God, not to show bravery or show how strong he was, for he was just a young boy, but because he was defending his Father out of his love for Him.

David had already experienced God's faithfulness while tending to the sheep. He had seen God deliver him from the lion and the bear. What David experienced privately prepared him for what he would confront publicly.

And even David wasn't perfect. He sinned, too. But his story also shows us what it means to repent and return to God.

What are you defending today? How in love are you with the Lord that you defend His love, His honor, and His glory?

The way we lead our lives is evidence.

Don't be like Saul, who experienced temporary relief without surrendering his heart. Be like David, whose relationship with God shaped the very way he lived.