1 Samuel 15:14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

Do passages like this trouble you? God is good, how can evil come from God? Passages like these feed troubled souls who deny God. They seek to vilify their denial by saying God is evil. What they say is spiteful and wounds us. Do you have an answer for such accusations?

If you look to the word for spirit you will see that the same word is used in both cases, in the Hebrew, ruwach. While some would argue it is the same spirit, they do err. There is a huge difference between the Spirit of the Lord and the spirit of man. God breathed life into man, He did not make man God. One of the base definitions of ruwach is breath, but it is not the only definition. One of those definitions is disposition. Specifically disposition (of various kinds) uncontrollable, or uncontrollable impulse.

The Spirit of God is God and is not controlled by man. Once the Spirit of the Lord departs man is left with nothing but is own disposition, his own uncontrollable impulses. These are the impulses Saul was born with and we delegated to a secondary and suppressed nature by the presence of the Spirit of the Lord. When the constrainer is removed, man is left with nothing but his own disposition.

If conclusions drawn by the text you are reading lead you to an understanding of God that is something other than foundational truths about God, then your understand is imperfect and further prayerful study is required. The five foundational truths about God are: God is love, God is holy, God is just, God is merciful and God is true. Scoffers will not seek to understand. We as believers should.

Proverbs 25:26 A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

When you think of lust, what image do you get? Most of us relate lust to the sexual aspects of desire. Perhaps that is because hormonal responses are so strong. Here John lists two lusts, of the flesh and of the eye. The eye in and of itself is but a way to see. It sees but has no emotions. However we covet that which we see. The issue of lust is covetousness. We want to possess it.

Ever go window shopping? The first time I met my current wife, God said, “Take her shopping.” It was our first date, we were trying to get to know each other. We went to the Outlet Mall and window shopped. It was amazing how much we revealed about each other in sharing what we saw. Our likes and dislikes, our preferences of style and dreams. All this in a non-evasive manner seen thru our eyes.

There is a lot of fantasy involved with window shopping. The rational mind says, “I cannot afford it.” The covetous side says, “How can I possess it?” Rarely does one think “What good would it do to actually have it?” Covetousness does not have a practical side. All it wants is to possess.

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

When you read this verse what image pops into your mind’s eye when you see the words “all these things”? Jesus was talking about basic human needs here. Food, drink, and clothing were the list. That list did not include ten bedroom houses, 200 MPH cars, diamonds, pools, or million dollar motor homes. All those things are more closely related to lust of the eye. Yet somehow they are often seen in the list of “all these thing”.

What’s on your list?