Bible Reflections From Scripture Union Volume OneSample

An Unstable Leader Read 1 Samuel 19:1-24 "He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?" 1 Samuel 19:5 Unstable leaders tend to be insecure, fearful and unwise. They are untrustworthy and inconsistent in their dealings with people. Saul had become an unstable leader. One minute Saul was telling his son, Jonathan to kill David and the next he was taking an oath before Jonathan never to kill David (vs 1, 6)! Did Saul suffer from mood swings? Whatever the case, when Jonathan spoke well of David, he seemed genuinely repentant (vs 6-7). Notice that Jonathan was as stable and consistent as his father was unstable and inconsistent. This is a comfort for those of us who come from dysfunctional families and have difficult parents. We don’t have to be like them! Another victory for David was all it took to destabilise Saul once more. Sitting down with spear in hand, he did not need much provocation from the evil spirit to try and kill David again (vs 10-11). And when David escaped, Saul became so paranoid about finding and killing him that neither his family nor his nation mattered anymore. But his pursuit of David was short-lived. Overwhelmed by the Spirit of God, both Saul and his men could do nothing but prophesy (vs 19-23). Kings are to be honoured but Saul was mocked by the common people as he lay naked, prophesying (v 24). Unstable countries are usually led by unstable leaders. North Korea, the only Stalinist regime in the world is like a time bomb waiting to go off. Paranoid about preserving the status-quo, the leadership has suppressed it’s people into submission, causing them great hardship. At the same time they train their missiles at neighbouring countries, threatening the peace of Asia. Pray that God will intervene in North Korea and transform the leadership so that they will neither be a threat to their own people nor the rest of us.