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“Saul replied, ‘I saw my men scattering from me, and you didn’t arrive when you said you would, and the Philistines are at Micmash ready for battle’” (1 Samuel 13:11, NLT).
Insight
Fear can be a powerful motivator. It can effect decisions and impact the future. It can cloud judgment and press people to act contrary to what is known to be right and good. Fear’s tactic is to draw attention to what surrounds a person and make predictions pointing to likely doom ahead. Believers must guard themselves from being driven by fear.
In First Samuel 13:7 – 14 Saul was driven by fear. He faced a looming war with the Philistines. His soldiers were in a tight spot and “were hard pressed by the enemy” (13:6). So they hid in caves, holes cisterns and thickets because “they were trembling with fear” (13:7). Looking around, Saul realized his troops were “rapidly slipping away” (13:8) and scattering from him. The Philistines were ready to march!
Driven by fear, Saul breaks God’s law (Deut 12:5 – 14) and Samuel’s specific instructions (1 Samuel 10:8) demanding “’Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!’ And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself” (13:9). He took matters into his own hands and disobeyed God. He did a good thing (offering a sacrifice to God before a crucial battle), but in a wrong way. His fear drove him to act foolishly. Furthermore, his fear based decision and action cost him the kingdom (13:14).
Is fear driving you? Is it pointing to “evidences” all around you of impending doom and destruction? Guard yourself, your decisions and future!!! Fix your eyes on Jesus. Commit to following Him and refuse to give up hope. Don’t waver… stay fully convinced in Him (Rom 4:18 – 25).
Prayer
Father, I do not want to be driven by fear. Expose the fears that are behind my foolish decisions. Help me to keep my eyes fixed on You. I refuse to give up hoping in You. In Jesus name, AMEN.
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Jonathan’s bravery – 1 Samuel 13 & 14
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 13 Jonathan essentially picks a fight with the Philistine oppressors (v3). The Philistines decide to put down this rebellion. So the scene is a massive Philistine army against the Israelite army which is now only 600 people because most had fled because they were afraid. The Philistines, having won a great victory against the Israelites while Eli was high priest, had not allowed the Israelites to have blacksmiths in their land to prevent them from making swords and spears. Only Saul and Jonathan had weapons and the rest of the men were forced to fight with whatever they would find.
Where do we find the leader of the Israelite army? “And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron.” Having now fallen out of favor with God because of his impertinence by offering a sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel, King Saul, the leader of the Israelite army, pulls back from the area where the battle will take place and SITS under a tree. He keeps with him one of the Lord’s priests Ahijah now that Samuel has left him. It is interesting this priest Ahijah who Saul now turns to is from the family Eli whom to Lord rejected just as Saul has now been rejected by the Lord as king. The scene is of two rejected men sitting idly and perhaps depressed under a tree surrounded by a trembling army. They have no direction and simply don’t know what to do. They are parallelized.
Contrast that scene with Jonathan and his armor-bearer. Like Caleb and Joshua who saw the giants in the land but trusted the Lord’s power to deliver it into their hands, these two men go bravely into the camp of the Philistines. He reminds his armor-bearer that the Philistines are uncircumcised and that “nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.” What he does is almost crazy. Two men taking on the entire Philistine army. But Jonathan trusts that the Lord will make it clear what He is to do. The enemy is panicked as Jonathan and his armor-bearer kill 20 men. The Lord sends an earthquake to further panic the enemy. As the Philistine army begins to retreat Saul and his men along with those who had hidden themselves come out of hiding and began to pursue them in battle. “So the Lord saved Israel that day”.
It is exciting and challenging to see Jonathan’s bravery. No one around him would have encouraged him to do what he did. That is why he snuck out of the camp without telling anyone. Sometimes the Lord would have us to do what to others seems foolish or crazy. To take on a challenge that seems impossible. Jonathan doesn’t even seem to be aware of how impossible this task should be. He seems oblivious to the odds against him. Only he can do is think about how powerful the Lord. That's amazing to me. In the midst of a what appears to be an impossible situation, Jonathan's faith is the Lord is on fire. Perhaps that is exactly what the Lord wanted – to save Israel in such a way that everyone would have to acknowledge that such a thing could not have happened unless the Lord did it. It is easy to join in the fight once the enemy is already on the run as Saul and his army did. It is easy to join in a work once it is already underway and someone else has already started it. May the Lord move our hearts to trust in Him with the same reckless abandon of Jonathan and his armor-bearer!