The Pain of Godlessness - 1 Samuel 16:14-23
This may be in fact, one of the most difficult passages to understand in the entire Bible. How are we supposed to understand the spirit departing from Saul? Maybe even more pressing is how are we supposed to understand the harmful spirit that tormented Saul? This passage raises countless questions doesn’t it?
When passages are challenging like this one there is at times a temptation to chase rabbit trails while overlooking the overarching message. Despite the theological complexity of this particular passage, the overall message is quite straightforward: a life that rejects Jesus Christ and lives apart from his holy presence not only leads to spiritual emptiness, but can also lead to pain and suffering in this life.
And so our passage shows us first the consequences of rejecting God’s Word (v. 14), second, we see that temporary relief is not true reconciliation (vv. 15-18), and lastly, we see the contrast between a life apart from the Spirit and a life filled by the Spirit (vv. 19-23).
On a broad, holistic level, isn’t that exactly what we studied in the life of Saul? Throughout 1 Samuel Saul has consistently dismissed and rejected God’s Word. He rejected God’s Word when he offered an unauthorized sacrifice, he rejected God’s Word when he refused to devote the Amalekites to destruction.
And now, the chickens have come home to roost so to speak. His rejection of the Lord has brought upon his own suffering.
The consequences of rejecting God's God (v. 14)
Normally, we don’t think of rejecting God’s Word as a consequential decision. In fact, there seems to be a lot of folks who reject God and live successful lives.
But the truth is, everyone has core beliefs that guide their decision making process. And those beliefs are either centered on God and his Word and will ultimately bring you closer to Him, or they’re not and they drive you further and further from his presence. There’s no middle road. There’s no way to split the difference. Whether you realize it or not, if you’re running further and further away from God, then you’re skating on incredibly thin ice.
Which is exactly what we see play out in the life of Saul! Verse 14 is where the bottom completely falls out for him. We’re told in verse 14: “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.”
Now keep in mind, the writer of 1 Samuel has mentioned the Spirit of the Lord elsewhere. If you remember in 1 Samuel 10, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Saul when he was anointed King over Israel. And immediately after the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Saul he had a miraculous experience where he prophesied with prophets, but most impressive of all was he had a string of major victories in battle, shortly after being anointed.
Throughout the Old Testament when the Spirit of the Lord would rush upon someone, it’s not describing a salvation experience or something along those lines, it’s describing the Lord’s favor upon an individual to use him to accomplish his will – often in powerful, supernatural ways.
A great example of this is the Old Testament judge, Samson. When the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, he killed a lion with his bare hands, and he singlehandedly killed thousands of Philistines. The Lord was using him to accomplish his will in a supernatural way.
So the Old Testament language of the ‘Spirit of the Lord rushing’ upon an individual isn’t so much a reference to their spiritual condition, as much as it is a reference to God’s favor falling upon an individual and using him in a powerful way.
And so, when the writer of 1 Samuel tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul,” he’s telling us that Saul was no longer going to be a useful instrument in the hands of the Lord. The Lord was casting Saul aside. No longer would Saul be this well respected leader among the people of Israel who fearlessly led them into battle against their enemies. In fact, this is a major turning point in the life of Saul. After the Spirit of the Lord departed from him, he didn’t win another battle for Israel.
But it’s not like God woke up one day and decided it was time for him to abandon Saul. It wasn’t an arbitrary thing. Rather, it was the result of Saul’s persistent rejection of the Word of God.
It’s not a neutral thing to reject God’s Word. It’s not a neutral choice that doesn’t matter, like how some people prefer pie while others like cake. Because rejecting God’s Word is ultimately rejecting God himself, and that puts your soul at grave risk.
Jesus made this point in John 12 when he said, “The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” If you reject God then you’ll have to face his judgment and wrath.
There are real eternal consequences for rejecting the Lord and that’s what we tend to remember, but the truth is, there are often present, earthly consequences as well.
Isaiah tells us that “the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.”
In other words, those who reject God are like the restless sea – they’re in a constant state of turmoil. Often their lives are marked by perpetual conflict, restlessness, and dissatisfaction.
Which seems to be what’s going on with Saul! He rejected God and His Word and now his life is “like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.” He’s under God’s judgment, which came in two forms: first, the Lord departed from Saul and second, then He sent a harmful spirit upon him that tormented him. I’m sure you noticed that in verse 14.
This harmful spirit manifested itself as psychological instability, hostility, and at times murderous rage. When the harmful spirit was upon Saul, his demeanor would change to such a degree that his servants could tell. Because they said in verse 15, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you.”
Perhaps the best way to understand the harmful spirit from the Lord is that it’s the opposite of the empowerment and favor that came when the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him at his anointing. If the Spirit of the Lord rushing upon him at his anointing was a sign of his favor and empowerment, the Spirit’s departure and the harmful spirit is a clear sign of God’s displeasure and judgment on Saul.
There’s a real temptation to get bogged down in all details of the Spirit’s departure and the harmful spirit. But I think that misses the point. You’ll miss the forest through the trees.
The point that the writer of 1 Samuel is pressing upon us is that rejection and spiritual apathy can bring about God’s judgment in the here and now. How naive is it to think that there are no negative consequences for running away from, ignoring, and rejecting the living God?
Too many people assume that there are no consequences for their sinful ideologies or beliefs, and frankly, that’s exactly what the devil wants you to think. The late R.C. Sproul has a whole book on this called The Consequences of Ideas.
We tend to forget that there is a real connection between the physical and spiritual realms. What we do and why we do it, not only affects our lives, it affects our souls. If you’re pursuing Christ, that’s going to have a positive effect, but if you’re running from him, it’s going to have a negative one.
It’s incredibly ignorant to think that there is no connection between the two. How many people do we all know who have shipwrecked their lives because they would rather pursue sin than the living God. For so many their god is worldly pleasure.
But even worldly pleasure has a way of turning into a form of God’s judgement. Doesn’t every addiction begin as a form of pleasure before it takes complete control over your life?
Paul talked about the destructive nature of sin in Romans 1:
“Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!”
The truth is, when people persist in sin, God sometimes removes aspects of His common grace, allowing them to experience the consequences of their rebellion.
Isn’t that exactly what’s happening here? Saul wanted control, power, and influence so God in his righteous judgment took his mind.
Temporary Relief is Not True Reconciliation (1 Samuel 16:15-18)
Not that long ago, we had a little injury at our house. Our littlest accidentally fell and busted her chin open. I didn’t see it because I was in another room, but apparently she was bleeding pretty badly. Lauren was trying to stop the bleeding and sent Eli to get me to help the situation, and I responded the way, I think, most dads would have responded to that situation: go put a bandaid on it. It was a step above ‘go rub some dirt on it.’
I was quickly told that a Little Mermaid bandaid wasn’t going to get the job done. So I had to get in there, some super glue may have been involved - whatever, we stopped the bleeding and she’s fine now.
For all intents and purposes, in our passage, Saul is spiritually bleeding out. He’s on the floor, it’s a gruesome scene. People have gathered around him and when a bystander calls out for help and says, “is there a musician in the house?” This man really needs to hear Freebird right now.
Because that’s what you need when your soul is in death throes, right? You need some good music.
I’m of course joking, because what does Saul really need? He needs to get right with God. He needs to repent of his sins and trust in the Savior. He needs Jesus Christ to atone for his sins so that he can be reconciled to the living God.
Saul, the once impressive, promising young leader in Israel has lost his mind. He had become so unstable, so hostile, and so dangerous that his servants were willing to try anything to calm him down. Maybe if you had someone “who is skillful in playing the lyre, when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.”
Lauren and I just finished watching a documentary on Gabby Petito. Maybe some of you remember her name because she was all over the news in 2021, when she went missing during her cross country camper van trip with her boyfriend. It was a profoundly sad situation because her boyfriend ended up taking her life and then his own.
One of the things that stood out to me from the documentary was just how much she idolized the nomadic, freespirited camper van lifestyle. It was this romanticized way of living. They didn’t have any jobs, they didn’t have any responsibilities – they were just traveling the country.
Which I think was the point. The camper van lifestyle was an attempt to avoid taking on meaningful responsibility for as long as possible. It was one big diversion from addressing the important things in their lives. The trip would have to end eventually, but it was a welcomed distraction.
Which is exactly what’s going on in our passage. Whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David would play the lyre, which would refresh him “...and the harmful spirit [would depart] from him.”
David’s music would soothe Saul, and it even earned favor with him. In many ways, David’s music stabilized Saul’s demeanor which in turn provided stability to Israel, but it was all temporary wasn’t it?
David’s music was Saul’s version of a camper van trip. It was a distraction. It was a way to soothe his conscience and avoid his spiritual condition.
Which is exactly what people do today. There are an endless number of options that we can immerse ourselves in, in order to distract ourselves from pressing spiritual matters. Why read the Bible and seek the Lord when you can distract yourself with trivial things? People chase after solutions that ease their pain without ever addressing the root problem: separation from God.
Remember what Jesus said? “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
Rather than dealing with his spiritual condition, he chose a temporary, trivial distractions. He’d rather have a musician play for him than repent of his sins and trust in the Lord.
He’d rather than numb his pain with anesthesia than receive lifesaving treatment.
A life apart from the Spirit vs. a life filled by the Spirit (vv. 19-23)
But I hope as we look at this passage the contrast between David and Saul becomes more clear. Last week, we looked at how David was anointed king. If you have your copy of God’s Word, look at verse 13. The writer of 1 Samuel tells us that, “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.”
What does the very next verse say? Verse 14? “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.”
Again, don’t miss the forest through the trees! 1 Samuel 16 is highlighting the contrast between David and Saul. David was a man after God’s own heart. David loved the Lord and David found favor with the Lord and was empowered by the Lord. While on the other hand, Saul had rejected the Lord and fell under his judgment.
And this is emphasized by the way the young man describes David to Saul in verse 18: “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.”
David had all these amazing qualities: he was a great musician, he was a man of integrity, he was courageous, he was prudent in the way he spoke, he was a man of good presence, but most important of all, the Lord is with him.
What an aspirational list of personal qualities! I wonder how people describe you when you’re not around? But it was known that the Lord was with David.
And again, the writer of 1 Samuel is drawing a sharp distinction between David and Saul. The presence of the Lord had departed from Saul, while on the other hand it was well-known among men that the presence of the Lord was with David.
Saul has the power, the money, the fame – he had it all. By the standards of the world, Saul should be the happy one! By the world’s standards Saul should have peace. What’s so interesting about this passage is the most powerful man in all of Israel is an unstable, tortured man. While the young man who has nothing possesses peace that passes all understanding.
How quickly do we fall for the lie that worldly pleasures are going to give us peace and happiness? The promises of the world are empty! So often the people who appear to have it all are in fact, emotionally, morally and spiritually bankrupt because they lack the true peace and fulfillment that only come through Jesus Christ.
C.S. famously said Mere Christianity, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
Conclusion:
It really challenges our preconceived notions about what makes someone happy and what really brings inner peace. The assumption is that our faith or lack of faith has little to no impact on our overall happiness, but 1 Samuel 16:14-23 proves otherwise. Because when God’s presence left Saul, he didn’t just experience spiritual emptiness—he was tormented. His emotional and mental distress was a direct result of his spiritual condition.
The only way to experience true stability, fulfillment, and peace in this life is in Jesus Christ. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 13?
“For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.”
True healing comes through the person and work of Jesus Christ. It reminds me of the first stanza of that great hymn, Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy says,
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore; Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power.
Saul’s life warns us that rejecting God leads to spiritual emptiness and torment. The world offers temporary relief, distractions and fools gold, but true repentance and faith in Jesus Christ brings lasting peace. What we believe about God doesn’t just shape our eternity—it shapes our peace, purpose, and joy today.
Amen. Let’s pray together.
