Complimentary Story
March 2025King Saul hoped that David would die at the hands of the Philistines. Saul offered David his daughter’s hand in marriage for 100 foreskins of the Philistines. David brought Saul 200 foreskins (pretty sick, but I am just telling the story). “Saul knew the Lord was with David... Saul became David’s enemy continually.” (1 Samuel 18:28-29).
David was not trying to take Saul’s throne. Everything David did for Saul was good. Sometimes the reason we are angry at people is because we are jealous of them, not because they did anything intentional against us. Jealousy, anger, and fear lead us down dangerous paths.
One day David was playing music for Saul. Saul threw a spear at David to kill him (1 Samuel 19:9-10).
Saul’s son, Jonathan, was friendly with David so Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, saying, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”
Jonathan answered, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?” Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David (1 Samuel 20:30-33).
In the last paragraph, Saul did not refer to David by his name but rather as “the son of Jesse.” Have you ever been so angry at someone that you can’t even say the person’s name? I was hurt by someone and if someone else mentioned this person’s name the word “putz” automatically popped into my head. Sometimes the person was not even referring to “my” nemesis, but just someone else with the same name as the person I chose to be angry at, and yet it reminded me of the person who hurt me, sometimes months after the initial hurt, yet the anger still showed itself again.
Time alone will not remove anger or hurt. It needs to be confessed to God so the Messiah’s death can remove it from us. This does not excuse their wrong, nor release the wrongdoers from being punished, but it releases us from choosing to hold on to anger or hurt, which will only destroy us.
In Saul and David’s case, David did no wrong, yet Saul chose to be jealous and angry. David beautifully and successfully kept from retaliating and being angry by trusting in God and forgiving Saul.
I was to start a new job when one person said, “Oh no, not another Jeff.” She didn’t know me, but apparently she knew another Jeff that she did not like. Anger at one person can cause us to take it out on other people. By God’s grace, I successfully worked very hard to gain this person’s friendship and hopefully saved the name for all the other Jeffs she might run into.
Saul fell so low, he killed the Levites who gave David some bread. Have you ever been angry at someone just because that person was nice to someone with whom you were angry? Have you ever been short-tempered, mean, or discourteous toward your spouse or your children because you had a bad day at work or school? Thankfully there is forgiveness in the grace of Messiah and God can give us humility to confess those actions to the ones we hurt. Apologize to that person. Doing so will be good for both you and them.
Anger and depression can be the opposite sides of the same coin. We get angry with those we feel we have power over; we get depressed when we feel we have no power over the situation.
That is why we keep our mouths shut in front of our bosses, or those who can cause us harm, but yell at our spouse, children, work subordinates, or other people we feel we have power over or think will not retaliate against us.
If we have a healthy fear of the Lord we will treat others as we want to be treated, we will not take out our anger on others for we know that God takes pity on the “little” ones, and we will realize that we are all under God’s authority. Thus, no one is greater or lesser than we are — we are all equal under Him — so we don’t have to fear the “big powers over us” nor do we have to take out our frustrations on others. Thankfully, we can surrender all our fears and aggravations to the Lord and not become angry or depressed.
Saul and David’s lives have some similarities. Both were kings of Israel, both were anointed by God, both had very real issues facing them with very real fears and very real troubles. Both made some terribly bad mistakes. Saul chose to rely on his own strength and abilities, and on those of other people. David chose to rely on God and use his God-given talents and abilities, and benefit from the strengths and abilities that God blessed other people with. Saul chose not to repent of his sin. David chose to accept rebuke and he repented. Saul chose to be angry and vengeful. David chose to forgive. Saul chose to be afraid. David chose to trust God.
Whose life do you want to be more like, Saul or David? The choice is ours. God will mold us into His character if we allow Him to.
Learn more about other depressed people of the Bible, in the book “Depressed People of the Bible,” available where most books are sold.
Author’s Disclaimer: The information I will be sharing is not intended for diagnosis or treatment of depression. It is a biblical reflection on people throughout the Scriptures who dealt with depression and how God carried them through it to healing and purpose.
