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Samuel was now dead. He
died and was buried at Ramah; and all Israel wept and mourned for
him. But Samuel's happy soul went to Heaven, where is no crying nor
sorrow. Samuel began very young to love and serve God, and he loved
and served Him all his life long. He was not like Saul, who began
well, but soon grew tired of doing right. Saul was only pretending
to love God; he did not truly love Him; his heart had never been made new
by the Holy Spirit. But Samuel was a true servant of God. When
he was a little boy, he prayed God to teach him to love and serve Him, and
God heard his prayer. And when Samuel grew older, he still prayed
that God would keep him in the right way. And God never forsook his
faithful servant. He took care of Samuel all his life, He comforted
him in sorrow, He loved him when he grew old; and when he died, He took
his happy soul to be with Him in glory for ever. Was Samuel sorry
that he began so soon to serve God? No; he was happy all his life,
because God was his friend. We cannot begin too soon to serve God;
we should give Him our whole life; we should love Him when we are young,
and love Him more and more every day, till we die, and go to Heaven, to
love and serve Him for ever. David
was now in the wilderness of Ziph, and Saul again went to seek him
there. Had Saul forgotten his promise to be kind to David?
Yes; Saul's sorrow for his cruelty was soon gone. It was not the
right sorrow. Right sorrow makes people turn to God, and ask for
forgiveness for the past, and grace for the future. Saul did not do
this. He went home, but he did not pray; he did not care for God's
pardon; and soon Satan came to him again, and his wicked temper returned,
and he forgot his promise, and his sorrow, and went again to try to kill
David. David saw Saul come
into the wilderness, but Saul did not see him; so he put a pillow upon the
ground, and lay down, and fell asleep, and all his men slept too.
Then David arose and went to Saul. Why did David go? Did he
want to kill him? No; David did not wish to kill his enemy; but he
went and looked at him while he slept. Saul
was lying upon the ground on the pillow; his spear was by him, and the
soldiers were sleeping around him. It was night, all was quiet; none
saw David and his men. Then one of David's servants said, "Let
us kill Saul now; all his soldiers are asleep, and he is in our power; he
cannot defend himself." But David said, "No, we must not
kill him, though he is our enemy. God will punish him when He
pleases, but we have no right to punish him. He is our king, and we
are his servants, and therefore, we must respect and honor Saul." David
took away Saul's spear, and a bottle of water which was near the pillow,
and went to the top of a hill afar off; and then he cried to Saul's
captain, whose name was Abner, and said, "What are you doing?
Why do you not keep your king? See where the king's spear is, and
the cruse of water that was at his bolster." Saul knew David's
voice, and he said, "Is this thy voice, my son David?"
Then David said, "Yes, it is my voice. Why dost thou come,
seeking to kill me? What evil have I done?" Saul again
felt sorry, and said, "I have sinned, but I will no more do thee
wrong." Then David willingly forgave Saul; and spoke gently to
him; and one of Saul's servants came, and took back the spear and the
bottle of water; and then Saul blessed David, and they parted. Saul
and David never met again. It was pleasant to David to part in
peace, and not in anger. But Saul was not truly penitent. He
was at peace with David, but he was not at peace with God.
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