King Saul and His Depression

Remembering always that there are many causes of depression...







Saul was the first king of Israel.  His work as king started out with great hopes and dreams.  The people had wanted a king to lead them and God had relented choosing Saul.  Saul had a personality flaw that made his reign doomed to failure from the very beginning.  He was in it for himself and not for the good of the people.  He was also a man who relied on his own skills rather than God's strength.  When David slew Goliath he became a popular hero and Saul quickly became jealous that David was more popular than him.  As time went on, Saul made decisions time and time again that went against the specific orders of God as relayed through the prophet Samuel.  It was not that Saul wanted to be defiant, but rather that he didn't really trust God.  When Samuel finally relayed the message to Saul that God had rejected him as king, Saul's reaction was not one of repentance and turning back to God, but rather to request that Samuel appear with him in public so as to give the impression that everything was till OK.
As Saul's personal agenda increasingly caused him to be separated from God, his depression increased.  We are told that in the beginning he would call on David to play music and sing as a way of warding off his depression.  At other times the spirit of God would come and overwhelm Saul so as to prevent him from doing some evil. At those moments Saul would become ecstatic spending hours on the ground "prophesying."   At the root of Saul's depression was his separation from God - a separation that was caused by his improper motives - a desire for self-glory rather than the glory of God and the good of the kingdom.  Something to think about...