A Man That Could Play Well

1 Samuel 16:14-17  "But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me."

Some of the most difficult passages in scripture are those that show God using the devil or evil spirits for His purpose. We know that God is not the cause of wickedness, so it goes against our understanding to think of Him sending evil spirits hither and yon to do His bidding. Yet, we examine scripture and there they are. Let us see if we can make sense of this biblical teaching.

-First, we must understand that God is not the source of wickedness. The "evil" He creates in Isaiah 45:7 refers to bad things like earthquakes and floods, not to sin or wicked acts.

"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."

The Bible teaches that sin originates from the devil in 1 John 3:8:

"He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. "


-Second, though God is not the source of wickedness, He often uses the wicked to perform His own purpose. 

Psalm 76:10 "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." 
Here we learn that God will take man's wrath toward Him and turn it into praise. That wrath which is not to be turned into God's praise will be restrained.

But how can God use the devil and evil spirits to do His bidding? 

-On one hand, God is clearly the cause of death. 

Deuteronomy 32:39 "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." 

Certainly, God is in charge of taking life.

However, on the other hand, Hebrews 2:14 says, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil..."


Christ came to die on the cross that He might "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." The next verse say that the devil holds the lost in bondage through the fear of death. But the problem is clear. If God is in charge of death, how can the devil have the power of death? The answer explains a lot about how God uses the world of the wicked to do His bidding.

a. The devil by nature is a murderer  according to John 8:44. His rebellion against God changed his character and has made him a force that naturally kills and destroys all that comes under his power. 

b. In Revelation 9:11 he is called Abaddon and Apollyon. Both names mean Destroyer. 

c. Paul understands that someone may be delivered "unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh" in 1 Corinthians 5:5.

d. When God turns Job over to Satan the second time, He states, "Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life" in Job 2:6. If God had allowed him to do so, Satan would have killed Job. Earlier in the story, God did allow Satan to kill the sons and daughters of Job (Job 1:18-19).

So, who killed the children of Job? You say, Satan. But even this is not so easy. After they were killed, Job said, "the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" in Job 1:21.


He gave God the credit for taking his children (also the cattle and other possessions). And, if we reflect on it, we can see that both are true. Satan killed Job's children but God was responsible for allowing them to be killed. He took them away.

So, what about the sending of evil spirits by the Lord? This may be more common in scripture than you think. 

Psalm 78:49 "He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them." 

Judges 9:23 "Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech..."


1 Kings 22:22 "And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persude him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so." 


God sent a "lying spirit" in the mouth of the false prophets to send Ahab to his death. 

In my text tonight God removed His Spirit from the disobedient Saul. This opened the door for an evil spirit to come and torment Saul. Though in this passage, it is only the servants of Saul that said the evil spirit was from the Lord, in other passages what we see in the rest of Saul's life follows a pattern. When God removes His protective hand, he often turns the person over to Satan for destruction or to an evil spirit for torment. The devil and the evil spirits do the work, but God has allowed them to do what come natural to them for His own purpose. I know that some will have trouble with this concept, but it is thoroughly established in scripture. God does not commit wickedness, but He uses the wicked for His purpose. In the end, God will have His glory. How much better it is for us to submit to Him and obey Him willingly.

-A man that could play well.

Verses 16-18 "Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him."

Three things happen here in these verses.

-First, as I have already mentioned, the servants of Saul recognized his troubles came from an evil spirit allowed by God to torment him.

-Second they knew only one source of comfort and that was the anointed power of spiritual songs.

-Third, they knew just the right man for the job-a man who could play well and was very versatile in many areas- David. 

Verse 23 "And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him."

David was a man who played well.

-His music was so anointed that it caused the evil spirit to stop tormenting Saul.

-His playing was so refined that he never missed a note.

-His life was marked by the music he played, sang, and wrote.

-Nothing about his life was ordinary because he was a man after God's own heart.

God is still looking for warriors who can play well.

-Those that are prayed up.

-Those that are prepared.

-Those that are pliable to the Master's touch.