Saul Turns against David
10 Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, [e]as usual; and [f]a spear was in Saul’s hand. 11 Saul hurled the spear for he thought, “I will [g]pin David to the wall.” But David [h]escaped from his presence twice.
12 Now Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from [i]his presence and appointed him as his commander of a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. 14 David was [j]prospering in all his ways for the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul saw that he was [k]prospering greatly, he dreaded him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, and he went out and came in before them.
17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab; I will give her to you as a wife, only be a valiant man for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “My hand shall not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.” 18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” 19 So it came about at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.
Saul’s jealousy continued to rage, and he became fearful of David as well. It seems that Saul thought David had the same weakness, and would be jealous and scheming as well.
Instead, he shows humility when he says “Who am I… that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” It should have been a wake-up call to Saul, to see what kind of man God had given Israel to fight her battles. Instead, he takes the opportunity to give Merab to another man as wife and insult David before all Israel.
Don’t ever project your weakness onto someone else. It is easy to do, but damaging to relationships. You might have in front of you someone that God has sent to be a help and a friend to you. But if you insist on mis-interpreting their motives, you can find yourself in a heap of trouble instead.
Take your weakness to God, and ask for His help. And then seek the guidance of those around you, and listen to wise counsel. Most often, God uses other people to help us in our weakness, so do not let jealousy get in the way of the solution to your situation.