1 Samuel 20:30-33 -- On Power, Prestige, and God's Will

"Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness?
For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.
And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David."
1 Samuel 20:30-33


Saul is one of the great people in the bible, until he moves against David I think. He was chosen of God, but then God chooses another, and it makes him scared at first, and then angry, but instead of correcting his ways and/or accepting God's will, he fights against it and determines to murder David. Here, he confronts his son basically accusing him of sabotaging his own inheritance, and dishonoring all that his parents did for him, because he can't get it through his head that David is going to take the government away from their family, and make it so that Jonathan is never king.

It turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy because Saul sabotages himself by going after the chosen of God. David was never planning to take over the kingdom and harm that family, because he loved them, was married into the family... but circumstances led to all of this because of the blind hatred that Saul had for someone he felt was threatening his power and prestige.

Today, perhaps we can learn from this not to resent others, especially to the point where we take action against them. God's will be done, and if he wants to pull some power or prestige away from us, then let's be humble, accept God's will, and go forward, knowing that if we stay close to God and put his will before our own, we are still chosen, and still loved, and that God will have something else amazing in store for us.