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Soon after, there was a new war
with the Philistines, and David went out and conquered them; and then
Saul's jealous temper returned. One day, Saul was sitting in his
house: the evil spirit was in him, and David was playing to him upon
the harp. Saul had a spear in his hand, and again Satan tempted him
to throw it at David to kill him. But David saw what Saul was doing,
and escaped out of the room; and the spear went into the wall, and did not
hurt him. Then Saul sent servants to take David in his own
house: but Michal let him down out of a window, and he escaped to
Samuel at Ramah. David had
a sad story to tell Samuel about Saul. It made the old prophet very
unhappy, because he remembered that in past times Saul had been humble and
obedient, and Samuel had loved him then. There was a school of the
prophets at Naioth in Ramah; and there Samuel went, and he took David with
him. It must have been very pleasant to David to be with these holy
people, talking and prophesying of the things of God, far away from cruel
angry Saul. But Saul soon heard where David was, and set messengers
to Ramah to take him prisoner. And did God let the enemies of David
hurt him? No—when the messengers came to Ramah, God gave them the
spirit of prophecy; and instead of taking David, they stood by him, and
Samuel, and the other holy men, prophesied too. Then Saul sent more
messengers to Ramah, but they began to prophesy. At last Saul went
himself; for he was very angry, and determined that David should not
escape. But when Saul came to Ramah, the spirit came upon him, and
he prophesied too, with all the others, before Samuel: and Saul's
wish and power to hurt David were taken from him. But
was Saul's heart made new now? Was his sinful temper gone, and was
he beginning to love and serve God? No: Saul praised God, and
said many holy things, perhaps, when he prophesied at Ramah, with his
lips, but he did not feel them in his heart. He did not repent, nor
ask for pardon, nor pray for a new heart; and therefore the evil spirit
soon came again, and Saul was cruel and passionate, as he was
before. Many people, like Saul, know much about God, and the Bible,
and the holy things we read there, who never go to Heaven. Knowing
and talking about these things cannot save our souls. We must love
God in our hearts, and have our sins washed away in the blood of Jesus
Christ, and be made new and clean by the Holy Spirit, and then we shall be
taken to Heaven; but knowledge alone will never take us there. God
sees our hearts; He knows if we truly love Him, or if, like Saul, we only
pretend to love Him. We cannot deceive God: let us ask Him,
then, to teach us to serve Him in truth.
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