Jealousy Clouds Our Minds
When David and Saul approached
(on David’s return after slaying the Philistine),
women came out from each of the cities of Israel to meet King Saul,
singing and dancing, with tambourines, joyful songs, and sistrums.
The women played and sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”
Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought:
“They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me.
All that remains for him is the kingship.”
And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David. (1 Sm 18:6-9)
Saul has definitely had his problems. For the past couple of weeks, we have been reading through the Book of the Samuel. Not only have we read about the call of Samuel and his response, we have also read about Saul being made a king and his gradual fall to corruption.
Today, Saul adds another major fault to his list: jealousy. Samuel had been called by God to anoint David. David did his best to serve his king. However, yesterday we read the account of David slaying the enemy Philistine. Today’s reading shows us the response of the people. They are unabashed in their praises of David.
While giving credit to their king, Saul, they gave greater credit to David. Immediately, Saul sees this as a threat to his throne. “All that remains for him is the kingship.” Jealously entered Saul’s heart and clouded his mind.
From this moment forward, Saul would interpret everything that David said and did through the filter of jealousy. David would not be able to do anything right. In Saul’s mind, whatever David would do would be an attempt to take over the rule of Israel and he would treat David with disdain. He would see David as the enemy.
Jealousy can so change our perceptions that we no longer see the world correctly. We allow jealousy to fill our heart with fear and mistrust. We not only dislike the person who make us jealous, we often see that person as an enemy.
Let not jealousy enter your mind or heart today. In a Christian, jealousy should never find a home.
FAITH ACTION: If you are jealous of anyone, do all that you can to set those feelings aside today. Pray for that person and pray that you might treat them humbly rather than with disdain.