Soothing Music For A Seething Soul Series

DAVID—A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART

03—SOOTHING MUSIC FOR A SEETHING SOUL

TEXT: 1 Samuel 16:13-23; 18:10; 19:9-10

1 Samuel 16:13-23 KJV Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. [14] But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. [15] And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. [16] 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. [17] And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. [18] 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. [19] Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. [20] And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. [21] And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. [22] And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. [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.

1 Samuel 18:10 KJV And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

1 Samuel 19:9-10 KJV And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand. [10] And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

I. INTRODUCTION—THE POWER OF MUSIC

Jack Tueller was a World War II fighter pilot. He flew mostly on bombing missions over all of Europe but as the war began its final leg in 1944, his flights were mostly concentrated over France and Great Britain. He is now 91 years old and in 2010 he related one of the most troubling times of being a bomber pilot.

He said that they had flown out of the Omaha and Utah beach areas and spotted a large group of German tanks on the move and the orders came over the radio for Tueller and his fellow pilots to destroy them. He said that because they were only at an altitude of 1000 feet he could look out the cockpit window and see the carnage that he was responsible for on that day. While they were battling against the ruthless and wicked Hitler, Tueller said that he knew that a lot of those German soldiers were just like he was. Pulled from farms, mechanic shops, and business counters these young men were thrust into Hitler’s devilish war machine.

Having eradicated the German tanks, Tueller made one more pass over the carnage only to discover that inadvertently their bombs had landed on some homes of the French civilians. But he also noticed that the German tank commanders had forced some of the French women and children to dress in bright clothes and ride on the tanks because they felt like the Allied forces would not fire on these human shields. Tueller said it was only after the fact they realized what they had done on that fateful day. He recounts what took place when he returned to the airfield.

“We got back to the airstrip, on Omaha Beach, and we were all stressed out," he recalled. "I was the only nondrinker of all the pilots. I got rid of my stress with music. It was therapeutic. It does the same thing as alcohol, but with no hangover."

Tueller pulled out his trumpet, a frequent companion, and prepared to play. A friend warned him that trumpet music carried a long distance, and was sure to alert a nearby sniper who had been firing on the camp. The music would make Tueller a target.