It is important to realize that the words we speak to others and over ourselves are game changers - atmosphere shifters.  Just like words can change the shape and beauty of a crystal, words – those we speak, hear or read - can transform our lives both positively and negatively. 

Our words, our language, can be lethal, or live giving.  When we speak words of life - words that encourage and uplift another person; words of grace, solace and inspiration – our words no longer belong to us.  Instead they become a gift to the recipient.  What might seem, to us, to have been an insignificant word of praise, to another person can often become an extraordinary word of hope that is remembered and recalled time and time again.

The average person will speak to between 7-10 people per day and utter approximately 75,000 words.  Words once spoken are permanent, they can never been retrieved.  We may leave a conversation physically, but our words linger in the receiver’s memory.  With each person we speak to, we have the opportunity through our words to give them a gift of ongoing beauty. 

Think about the people you come into contact with on a daily basis.  See them all in your mind.  Then consider how you can encourage them with the gift of beauty through words.  Now do it!
 

Often we hear God’s voice or know what direction He wants us to go in, but once we hear
this, we try to go about it on our own instead of relying on God to lead us for us. If God
has given us a vision, won’t He surely provide and direct us?

We also see that because of David’s faith and the fact the he resisted the temptation to do
evil (kill Saul) that God will reward this. He recognises that Saul is God’s anointed one at
that time, and to kill him would be sinful - 1 Samuel 24:10 “ ‘I will not lay my hand on my
lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ”

As I am deciding what to do with my future, or rather, what God has planned for me - this
helps me realise that not only do I need to listen and hear what God has planned for me -
but also that whatever He plans, that He will fulfil it in His own time, and not mine. Faith
and patience are the key.

In the above verse we see David asking God for guidance. In fact, he pretty much 'commands' God to tell him what will happen. And the best part is when David asks, God answers clearly. He doesn't make David wait for the answer or tell him to figure it out himself, He tells David exactly what is going to happen.

So how come this doesn't happen for me?

Yes God speaks to me, but I certainly don't hear a clear voice every single day telling me exactly what God is planning to do.

Is it because we don't live in David's time? That doesn't make sense, surely we should hear from God more clearly than David ever could because we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So why is it that David would get clear direction from God, but God leaves us to find our own way?

To be honest I think God wants to speak to us just as much as He ever spoke to the incredible people we read about in the old testament, we are just too busy to hear Him.

At this point in his life David was in the cave of Adullam, literally the 'cave of refuge' - David had left everything else in his life behind and was living in a cave. There's not much to do in a cave other than sit and listen to God! It was when he let go of all the distractions around him and actually listened to what God had to say that he heard His voice most clearly.

How many times have you prayed that God would reveal His plans to you, but never actually given Him a chance to speak? We get so busy that we allocate a few minutes at the end of the day for prayer right before our heads hit the pillow. And God isn't going to be able to break through and speak to us if that's all the time we give Him.

If you want to hear from God, create space for Him. Find your own personal 'Adullam' - a place where you can find refuge in God and hear what He wants to say to you. If you take the time to listen I guarantee He will have something to say.

Sadly his character continued on a downward spiral. So much so that we are told the Spirit of God left him and he was tormented by evil spirits.

He also knew God was with David and yet despised and hated him. So much so, that he called him ’the son of Jesse’. He couldn’t even bring himself to say his name!

Saul chose this path. He could have repented but chose to harden his heart and walk in bitterness and resentment.

We as children of the Most High God must guard our hearts. Times will come when we may disagree or realise that others are more gifted in certain areas than we are. Others may get a role or position that we wanted or think we deserved.

What do we do? We pray that they grow, multiply and increase in their gift and God, who is in complete control, reveals Himself to us. Or we could grumble and complain. Maybe even stomp of down the road and ‘bless’ others with our resentment and bitterness. What will it be?

Remember we have fullness in Christ... there is no need to be jealous or bitter! We must not allow our hearts to be bitter or resentful. Why?

Like Saul we will miss God’s Blessing. Imagine being so hard hearted that we can’t call each other by name. It’s as pathetic as it is sad. You know something? It happens it really does!

Be mindful that bitterness is a form of hate. It will leave us shattered and broken. Wholeness will be beyond us. Bitterness brings only hopelessness and despair. That is not what we are called to. Jesus gives us abundant life, resurrection power is ours! Our mind should be on things above where Christ is!

Rather than being bitter we should walk with grateful hearts thankful for what our Father has done for us, what he has made us and can make us.

Therefore we must have a loving heart. Like Jonathon and David in the story, Jonathon chose to love David despite his father. He could have sided with his father and been influenced for evil but he chose to have God’s mind and heart.

So it is with us if we want wholeness.
 

Saul made some bad choices. He struggled with the fact that David did things well, was loved by the people and had great success. His dislike of the young man became hatred, which gave way to fear and obsession with his downfall.

What really irked Saul was that God was with David. It says, ‘It was clear that God was with David and had left Saul’ (v12). We read recently about Saul’s choice not to completely destroy the Amalekites as God had ordered. This act of disobedience was the root of the soul-destroying jealousy that occupied Saul’s thoughts. Conversely, David’s dedication to God meant that ‘everything he did turned out well’ (v14).

In our New Testament passage Jesus tells his disciples that anyone ‘who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead end life’. He encourages them to believe in him and live in freedom.

Dallas Willard writes:

‘We speak of feelings as if they were imposed from the outside and irresistible. People nearly always act on their feelings, and the will is then left at the mercy of circumstances. We are in fact very active in inviting, allowing and handling our feelings.’

We are at liberty to choose what thoughts to dwell on, how we feel about other people and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Saul chose initially to disobey God; he then chose to be threatened by David and to obsess over his feelings of inferiority and fear. David chose obedience and his life is a testament to God’s grace and protection.

Nothing good can come from living at the mercy of our circumstances. By choosing to honour God with our thoughts and feelings, we will experience greater freedom and victory.   

An  impasse – Does this sound familiar? But God had a way out. 

God used the little guy who was back in the fields that they had forgotten about.  David could not mess about when his sheep were attacked by lions and bears.  He had learned some brilliant self-defence skills which took everyone by surprise.  His job was supposed to just bring 10 cheeses to the soldiers on the front line. 

One of the best ways to learn skills, is to be thrown in the deep and learn to survive.  David’s brothers were angry with him for attempting to take on the giant, but he had the confidence of the Lord and he just knew it was right.  His talents were leaner and fitter than those of the fighting soldiers on the front line.  He even refused to wear his armour because it would slowed him down.  The last thing Goliath expected was to be hit by a stone from a sling.  His techniques were unconventional but it is the element of surprise which wins battles.

God gave David a brain and he used it decided to trust in Him rather than the advice of his brothers.  He was also promised that he wouldn’t have to pay taxes if he slew Goliath.  That’s a good incentive.  For David the risk was not as great as people had thought because he had learned faith in his adversities.  David knew God would deliver him from the hand of the Philistine.
 

Sure he’s landed himself the job that every English manager dreams of, as well as a multi million pound contract but with the perks come the..press! Poor Roy has been subjected to a torrent of abuse thanks to the English press, once they found out that he got the job. The press have handed out incredibly harsh criticism from all quarters simply because the man they wanted as England manager, Harry Redknapp, didn’t even come close and to make matters worse, not one member of the press knew about it!

The press were simply outsmarted by the English Football Association, who decided that they were going to choose the man that best suited their criteria for the role of England football manager, not who was the most popular with the fans or the press.

The book of 1st Samuel in the Old Testament, says this,“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Roy Hodgson got the job because his bosses didn't look at the things that people look at and God does exactly the same with us. God cares so much about us that He looks beyond what people see and say about us, even what we have to say about ourselves and looks at our hearts.
 

Surely the victory over the Amalekities was an indication that the Spirit of God was upon Saul…but no, God was less interested in his outward achievements and more interested in the inward, the obeying of Gods voice rather than the spectacle of burnt offerings 15v26 .

So what about us?

Are we sometimes too quick to single out our significant achievements as an indication of Gods blessing? Do we hold up in high esteem our triumphs over the Amalekities?  Let us be careful in what we celebrate, it can be misleading. God doesn’t merely judge the outward but looks at the inward.

Do we have a heart that seeks and obeys his voice? A voice that can be a ‘still small voice ‘ 1Kings 19v12.  A voice that can be easily drowned out in the clamour for achievements.
 

This passage could be summarized ‘why do they never learn!’

Right from the days of Moses the people had been easily disgruntled and were quick to forget God’s mercy and blessing. Samuel reminded them of Gods faithfulness and the blessing they received through confession to God.

The old pattern soon emerged however, and at the first sign of trouble they wanted to rely on human strength and have a king. How often do we do likewise. When things are going badly we blame God, when things are going well we forget God, we believe in our own strength and fail to recognise or remember that every breath we take and every second we have belongs to God.

Saul, the appointed King of Israel, soon showed the same pattern of human failings. He failed to listen to or draw close to God. His leadership was weak; the fact that he failed to motivate the people to follow a cause and had to conscript soldiers, led to his eventual humiliation and the people once again returning to commercial slavery under the Philistines.

When God says to us wait, how do we cope? Do we follow Saul’s example and take the ‘Law’ into our own hands. He waited for 7 days for Samuel and every day saw more of his troops slip away. As we see our things of this world slip away we do we have the faith to wait on God and his timing and plan?
 

I imagine this would have been a similar act as what happened that day to Saul. 

It most definitely had the same spiritual element. The anointing ceremony was to remind the king of his great responsibility to lead his people by Gods wisdom and not his own. 

This also is very similar to what God expects of Keith now he is an elder. 

I had the privilege of joining the Catalyst young adults with the elders one evening lately where the elders were asked specific questions.  They spoke on how they chose Keith and how they believe God had directed them to Keith.

Keith had aligned himself to the will of God over every aspect of his life over these past years and was prepared when he was asked to join the elders, but Saul wasn't prepared. 

We read in just the previous chapter that Saul says to Samuel "but I'm only from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel".. Saul did not believe that he was significant enough to be spoken to in this manner by Samuel.  God had to give three different prophecies to prove to Saul that what Samuel was saying was from God.  Samuel told him that the Spirit would come powerfully on him and that he would start to prophesy too and Samuel went on to say that he would become a different person.  Verse 9 says ' As Saul turned and started to leave, God gave him a new heart'

And here is a picture of two ways God can call upon you to be used for His purpose. He can supernaturally change you like he did Saul, in an instant, or as for Keith, a journey of knowing and growing in God thorough diligence in his spiritual disciplines.

Have you ever received a prophecy and it just rings right with your spirit but you just do not see it ever coming true?  Do you feel inadequate and not prepared because like Saul you are from the ‘least’ and you don't believe you could be used for such a huge role?  Keep praying.. .Bring it before God now!

I believe that God today still calls people and changes them like Saul in an instance, just as he turned to walk away God gave him a new heart, but I also know that like myself we need to sort out our pasts first.

God still has used me in different areas as I went through a season of repentance and inner healing, which is an ongoing process for us all, but there was significant amount of sin in my life from before I became a Christian so I needed to align myself with the Word and will of God and allow myself to be refined.

The bible says 'I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure, I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold.'

If today you are in that refining fire, being purified, call upon the Lord today to strengthen you as you go through this process.  God is with you... And as the Word says ... 'I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me'.