Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.13 Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’”
Michal had to convince David to leave and he only did so in order that she would not be killed in the melee. Saul was not afraid to refer to David as his enemy to his daughter. He had grown to hate David with an intense fear and was determined to kill him no matter the cost.
When David left he headed for Samuel, the Prophet of God because he was the one person he knew who could protect him from Saul, who knew everything about the king, and who worshipped the One True God wholly. In Samuel and Saul’s hometown of Naioth in Ramah, where Samuel had a school of prophesy similar to Elisha’s to train prophets in the Lord David was able to rest for a time. But it didn’t take Saul long to hear he was there. Verses 20-21 read,
Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.
It doesn’t say here what everyone was prophesying about, but I have a feeling they were prophesying about David being the chosen king, the Davidic line, and the Messiah who would save the world. Saul must have been frustrated and furious to hear it. Verses 22-24 read,
Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
God’s power completely overcame Saul against his will to the point that all day and all night he lay naked and prophesying. God spoke to Saul and probably told him how futile his wrath against David was. He might have warned him about the outcome of his plot to kill his anointed. Samuel didn’t take heed. David escaped and Saul went home without having accomplished his objective. Just as God used Saul unwillingly to glorify Him, He used Pharaoh of Moses’ day. In Exodus 9:16 The Lord spoke through Moses to Pharaoh and said,
But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
When you give yourself to God, He will have His way with you. His purposes for you will be achieved. God had great plans for David and He has great plans for you. Believer, you are just as able to do great things as David, in fact more so. You have Jesus Christ; you are indwelled with the Holy Spirit! In John 14:12-17 Jesus said,
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever ,even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
God chose you. He called and you answered. Salvation begins there but it doesn’t end there. It goes on as He transforms you into the image of Christ. If God can take a prideful, mad, and vengeful king and cause him to prophesy for a day and night against his will, don’t you imagine that He can use you when you are willing, humble, and faithful? Philippians 2:12-16 reads,
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
Doing all of God’s will requires you obey Him. To obey, you must know what it is He wants. As you work out your salvation, God works in you and makes you more and more like Jesus, Perfect Love, so that you will please Him by doing His will. Acts 13:22 reminds us that being a person after God’s own heart means we will do all His will. Ask yourself, are you living out your faith and doing all God’s will? I don’t mean earning Salvation, you can’t do that, it is yours freely given. I mean are you tangibly loving as Jesus loves, are you pursuing the Kingdom of God and His righteousness above all else, are you being sanctified, are you fulfilling the Great Commission? That is not done sitting in a pew. It is done by authentically worshipping God with your whole life. It is done by going, making, and teaching in Jesus’ name, and being faithful to God. It is done by knowing God and so knowing Love.
Believer, God has a plan. He has a purpose for you. His plans and purposes will be accomplished. Will you take up your cross daily, be an agreeable participant, and do great things? Or will you like Saul fight him every step of the way and be miserable as you watch God do what He will?