God loved Saul but God also loved David. God chose Saul but God also chose David. They both were good guys until one of them was not.
Saul got real mad that David had God’s new favor. He chased David all over the place. He attacked. He attacked. He attacked. David, bewildered and confused and scared, was hiding out in caves and anywhere just trying to not get killed or beat up by Saul.
David never really went on the attack against Saul. He was a good kid. He was constantly defending himself but he never really retaliated which made him gain more favor in God’s eyes.
This predicament continued for a long time. The longer it went on, the more aggressive Saul became as David continued to be elusive, dodging and parrying attacks. The more this continued the more Saul despised David. His anger was his own undoing though, and he ended up dead. He met a bitter demise. Just like Judge Claude Frollo in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Saul continued to attack. With Judge Claude Frollo, Quasimodo holds on to the cloak to keep the judge alive even after he attacked him and they tumbled over the edge of Notre Dame. It was only when he persisted, that the Judge was smited and falls to his end. Judge Claude Frollo and Quasimodo were men of God oddly enough, just like Saul and David.
Recently, I watched an Oprah video where she talks about reuniting with her mother at the end of her life. In her younger days, Oprah was mistreated by her parent and had set a boundary but returned at the end to release the hurt together with her mom and forgive. A lot of kids do this. There’s a lot of Davids out there that will return despite everything that happened in the past. Kids that were hit. Kids that were assaulted. Kids that were molested or left unprotected. Kids that were trafficked. The parent-child dynamic sometimes can get really toxic.
It was a tragic, sad ending for Saul and no one was happy. Not Saul. Not David. Not God.
Things haven’t really changed much. There are Sauls and Davids all over the place in human society. They are in practically every family, every company, every church, every everything.
The Saul and David dynamic happens alot in romantic relationships. The Saul is the scorned lover that maligns the new girlfriend or boyfriend. Or Saul could be a coworker that doesn’t like the new guy or gal at the office and makes them work hard or puts crazy expectations on them. Saul could be the foster parent that picks on and verbally abuses the kid he or she promised to take in and care for. Saul could be a parent that designates a scapegoat child to be the whipping boy. Saul could be some gossip circle at school or church.
Saul comes in many forms in society and is the good guy or gal unknowingly turned bad by envious thoughts. David is usually the younger, trusting one with a good enough heart to endure suffering without retaliation. There’s a lot of Davids out there too.
If you ever find yourself in David’s position, here’s some advice to help.
1. Set boundaries to protect yourself.
2. Keep your wins and losses to yourself. This is a hard one. But you will find that sharing your accomplishments will be met by crickets while sharing your losses will be met by mockery, admonishments, or smiles and more gossip. Best to keep it to yourself. Less drama equals more peace and harmony.
3. Don’t retaliate. It can be used against you. It can get twisted. Just move on. Lotsa new places to be and 7 million folks in the world to meet.
4. Don’t waste your time or breath people-pleasing. People-pleasing doesn’t please you and it sets you up to be controlled by people that constantly change the goal lines.
If you find yourself turning into a Saul angry about the changing of the guard, stop and reassess and take steps to let it go. Vengeance hurts you more in the long run than the target. Look at what happened to Saul and Judge Claude Frollo. Not worth it. Not worth it at all.
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