Bible Stories for the Young
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God’s Spirit turned away from Saul after Saul turned away from God. Pretty sad, huh? On top of that, God sent a troubling spirit to be with Saul. It would make him feel all confused and miserable.
Saul’s servants could tell he was a mess. They said, “Let us go find someone who can play the harp for you. The music will help you feel better.”
“Ok,” Saul said, “find someone and bring him to me.”
“I think I know just the guy for the job,” one of the servants said. “One of Jesse’s sons can play the harp really well. He is also a mighty man of courage and discernment. God is clearly with him.”
So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send your son to me — the one who’s out with the sheep.
Guess who? Of course, he was talking about David!
While David had been out in the field watching over his lambs and fighting off the bears and lions, he’d also been making music to God. As the sheep munched their grass, David would play his harp and sing and sing to God, thanking Him for helping him fight the lion and bear, and singing about how God was like his Shepherd. David had gotten pretty good at playing that harp.
So David went to see King Saul. Saul liked him right away. David’s music-playing made Saul feel better.
From then on, David served King Saul. He took care of Saul’s armor for him and helped him carry his weapons. And whenever the troubling spirit came upon Saul and he felt miserable, David picked up his harp and played it. He played some of the songs he used to play in the field for God. At the sound of that music, the troubling spirit left Saul alone, and he’d feel much better. The chaos and fear and trouble Saul felt went away for a little bit when the peace and joy of God’s Spirit with David was nearby.
Now remember that Samuel had already poured oil on David’s head because God had chosen David to be the next king. But here David was being a servant to Saul!
David didn’t come in and say, “Ok, God said it’s my turn to be king now!” He didn’t look down on Saul and act like he was better than Saul. He didn’t pout and grumble because he was having to shine Saul’s armor. No, no, no.
David was quietly waiting until God said it was his turn. He was happily serving the man in front of him. He was not being competitive or impatient or a grabber. God had blessed David, and David was passing that on by being a blessing to others.
When you’re waiting for your turn, have you ever said, “Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet?” to the person in front of you?
Do you think it would be BETTER to be like David, and just wait soooo patiently instead? And you can even HELP the person ahead of you have the best turn they can have! That’s what David did.
Did you know that you can choose to do that the next time you need to wait your turn for something? You can be a blessing to those around you today as you serve others and wait for things. I know you can. And I will too.
