What method can we consistently use to identify the literal verses from the non literal?
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There is no surefire, mechanical, grammatical method, because Scripture was constructed so as to require patience, wisdom, personal holiness, the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and personal experience in order for one to understand it fully.
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. (Matthew 13:34)
To his disciples, Jesus explained the sense of things and the deeper meaning. To the crowds, he spoke in parables. If you want to move from tripping over parables with the rest of the crowd towards understanding the Bible plainly, you must become a disciple.
Taking your 1 Kings example, yes, God did send the deluding spirits to the king. He did deceive the king. And yet God did not lie. Both are true and there is no contradiction or paradox.
The demons are a writhing mass of evil and vile volition, constantly seeking to advance on the world and bring destruction and torment. God perpetually restrains them. When he sees a situation where punishment must be meted out to fulfill his will, he temporarily releases his grip on a few demons that specialize in a certain type of mayhem and lets them loose. He sets up fences to keep them from attacking anyone who is not His target. Then those demons use their normal means - in this case lying - to address the many false prophets. The demons are responsible for their lies - not God. God's responsibility here is passive - for the results of the lying that he permitted, which is the just punishment of a wicked king. God's active response is to send a true message to a true prophet. God is merciful because the king is given a choice, a way out. But the King had the habit of surrounding himself with false prophets, so his bad habits stacked the deck against him.
Thus God can set up situations where he permits a person to be deceived. The immediate cause of the deception is not God, but instead the free actors that participate in the drama. The ultimate cause is subject to God's sovereignty, so you can say that God deceived, because he permitted the strong deception to be opposed by a weaker advocate for truth. Isn't that our world? Lies are broadcast on TV and in the papers and in our schools all the time, and the truth is whispered by a few. God is permitting it, as judgment against those who refuse to listen to the truth, but he makes sure that truth is broadcast so that some will hear and believe.
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