Psalm 8: Saul Becomes Israel's First King

Consequences of Saul Disobeying the Lords Commands

 Read 1 Samuel 15:1-35    Saul offers sacrifices—not waiting for Samuel

   
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 

Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the   Lord.”  But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

Saul Rejected as King  1 Samuel  15:10-11

Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying,  "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.”

A Distressing Spirit Troubles Saul

1 Samuel 16:14-17   Then the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you.  Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp.  And it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well.”  So Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.”

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We all have enemies.  But as  followers of Christ our enemies are most often in the unseen realm. Satan is the accuser and the one who most misrepresents us.  

When our praises ascend to God— it silences our accuser. Praise naturally came from the lips of David—no matter what the situation.  Praise invokes the power and presence of God.

1 Samuel 16:21-23  So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he also became his armour-bearer.  Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.”  And so it was, whenever the distressing spirit from God was upon Saul, David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.

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Psalm 8    David's Music Calms Saul

¹     O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

     Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

²    Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants,

     You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence 

    the enemy and the avenger.

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³     When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars,

      which You have ordained,

⁴     What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?

⁵     For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him

     with glory and honor.

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⁶     You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands, 

      You have put all things under his feet.

⁷     All sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field,  the birds of the air,

     and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.

⁹    O Lord, our Lord,   How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

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