11
an attacking lion (14:5,6), also thirty of the Philistines of Ashkelon and in the next chapter 1000 more (15:11-15).
Yet what a contradiction he was, swayed as he was alternately by the flesh and Spirit! In spite of this, the God of all
grace and longsuffering used him to carry out His purpose for Israel's need at that particular time and we must not
forget that his name occurs in the list of overcomers given in Hebrews eleven. Truly God's judgments are very
different from man's, for He looks not at the outward appearance, but on the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). God is first
concerned about the mind with its motives, its plans, its hopes and fears and all is naked and open to Him (Heb.
4:13). Such an assessment is impossible by a human being and this is one of the reasons why human judgment is so
often wrong and unjust. How good it is to realize that all we are and all we have done will be assessed one day by
the righteous Judge (2 Tim. 4:8) Who is free from all bias and makes no mistakes, and Whose overriding motive is
love.
We have another problematic character in Saul, who started so well, like Solomon of a later date, and ended so
badly. God did not withhold the Holy Spirit's enabling from him. Once again Israel became involved with their
enemies, this time the Ammonites who threatened to destroy the Israelites at Jabesh-gilead. It was at this time of
danger that the Holy Spirit came upon Saul and so strengthened him that he was enabled to lead his people to victory
(1 Sam. 11:6). So much so that the Ammonites were slain and scattered `so that two of them were not left together'
(verse 11). This was not Saul's first experience of the Spirit's power, for the previous chapter recalls Saul's ability
to prophesy among the company of prophets who met him (10:10), given again by the enduement of the Spirit of
God.
It is clear then that this man's declension was not due to any lack of enabling of the Holy Spirit, but rather his
refusal to carry out the Lord's will and to put Him first in all things. God finally said to Samuel:
`... How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with
oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse, the Bethlehemite: for I have provided Me a king among his sons' (1 Sam.
16:1).
A little later on we read `But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD
troubled him' (verse 14). Once the Holy Spirit's power was removed, this man went down hill rapidly and finally
ended by having dealings with spiritism, so strongly forbidden by the Mosaic law.
God's choice of a king for Israel centred upon David. Samuel was divinely guided, for when David as a youth
was brought into his presence we read that `the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he ... and the Spirit of the
LORD came upon David from that day forward' (1 Sam. 16:12,13). Nor did the Holy Spirit leave him all through his
life, for, in spite of his failures, his heart was right with the Lord and this is the first thing that comes under God's
scrutiny as we have seen. David knew that he deserved to lose the Spirit's influence, for, after his sin with
Bath-sheba, he said `Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me' (Psa. 51:11). The Reformers, not realizing the change of
dispensation, brought this prayer over into the morning prayer of the Church of England and each Sunday those who
worship here ask God not to take the Holy Spirit from them. But, as we shall see, this is what the Lord never does in
this age of grace. `Right division' can save us from many mistakes in doctrine. The Holy Spirit is now a permanent
indweller in the believer. The Lord Jesus said:
`I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever ... for He
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you' (John 14:16,17).
This is one of the great differences between the Old Testament dispensation and the present one.
The Holy Spirit in His relationship to the world
The Lord Jesus dealt with that relationship in John 16:7-11:
`Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will reprove the world
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I
go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged'.