Links for today’s readings:
Read: 1 Samuel 19 Listen: (3:43) Read: 3 John Listen: (1:51)
Scripture Focus: 1 Samuel 19:3, 13, 24
3 “I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.
24 He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence.
Reflection: Spirit, Senses, and Sensibility
By Erin Newton
We are probably all aware of the story of the three pigs, each with their own means of building a house. Or the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. Or Dickens’s character Scrooge who is visited by the three ghosts of Christmas.
The triple multiplication of events, often with increasing tension, is a common storytelling trope.
We come upon such a story in 1 Samuel 19.
David functions as a passive character in this chapter, helped by three of his friends in different ways.
In the first act, David’s friend Jonathan attempts to appeal to Saul through sensibility. He tries to reason with Saul. David has been beneficial to you. You didn’t get upset when he risked his life. Saul awakens to this advice and David is spared.
In the second act, David’s wife Michal attempts to save David by fooling the senses of Saul. She bets on the obliviousness of his guards and entourage. She places a very large idol in David’s spot in bed. The original set of guards are too careless to notice. The ruse is short-lived and when she is found out, she pleads self-defense. Yet David escapes.
In the third act, David’s mentor Samuel (the prophet) seeks the Spirit of the Lord to help. The power of the Spirit is such that those who seek to kill David, when close enough to pose a threat, are overtaken and respond in words of prophecy. Not even the king himself can avoid the power of the Spirit.
This story about David’s escape is entertaining to say the least. The use of threes enables the storyteller to amplify the tension, watching David narrowly escape time and time again. The story begins with a simple friend talking sense to his father and ends with a naked king spouting the word of God like a puppet.
Through this engaging tale, we see God at work in a myriad of ways. He works through a simple friendship and ethical means of communication. He works through an idolatrous trickster and a half-hearted lie. He works through his faithful servant and through the miraculous (probably temporary) enemy-turned-converts.
We see that God is sovereign over all events—Saul cannot kill David. God is sovereign over all people—friends, spouses, soldiers, enemies, and kings cannot thwart God’s plan.
And when God works in our lives, it is likely through the Spirit, senses, and sensibility.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are they who trust in him! — Psalm 34.8
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle
Read more: The Lord Who Rescues
The story is also about a God who uses unexpected methods to gain victory…God alone rescues. Be a person who responds.
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