Saturday, August 15, 2009

Today's Passage: I Samuel 14

Have you ever had a "crazy" idea that you were just sure was going to work because you had faith in God for it to happen. Well, here in I Samuel 14, we read about Jonathan and his "crazy" idea to go up against some Philistines with only him and his armor bearer. Now, if you only read today's passage once, you may want to read it again after reading this post. I had to read it a few times so that I could get a better understanding of everything that is going on here. To give you some insight, the gist is this: Jonathan and his armor bearer slay some Philistines. An earthquake occurs, of which Saul and the rest of the army hear/feel the quake. Saul recognizes Jonathan is gone when the quake happens. Saul requests for the ark of the covenant to be present, but before that can happen, the fight gets a little intense on the Philistines side and the Israelites jump ahead. All is going so well for the Israelites that Saul decrees that no one should eat any honey until its over. Jonathan, not having received the word about this new oath, has some honey. So, when Saul attempts to find out from God whether or not it is His will for them to continue pursuing the Philistines, he receives no clear direction. Saul then concludes there must be sin among the camp. The lots falling to Jonathan because of his eating the honey out of turn, his death is required. However, the Israelites plead with Saul not to take his life. So, after a long day of battle, snacks eaten at the wrong time, the pursuit of the Philistines and the battle is over until a later time.

Although a long story with many things happening, we can see a few major things are happening in this story. The first is Jonathan's enthusiasm to go after the Philistines with his armor bearer. Verse 6 tells us that Jonathan knows that God is capable of accomplishing anything. So they take on the unthinkable and God shows up! As Brett often tells the church: "We want to see things that only God can do." This was surely one of those things. Their lashing out kills 20 men and God causes and earthquake to happen.

The second thing I wanted to point out was the in-the-heat-of-the-battle, a rash decision was made that turned out for the bad. I want say much more on this, but I think that it is a lesson we all can learn that quick decisions can sometimes come back to "bite" us as it did for Saul. Jonathan was not trying to disobey, but was rather caught in the mix.

So, the challenge today is, what are you having faith in God for to show up in? Are you just waiting around for God to show up? Or, are you proactively going at the things that God wants you to do and praying and seeking God so that He can show up and do things only He can do!! It's at these times that when God shows up, we can revel in His awesomeness!