“Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer. “Perhaps the LORD will help us, for nothing can hinder the LORD. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!”
1 Samuel 14: 6
Faith
It was only two guys, Jonathan and his armor bearer. But he recognized, knew, and wholly believed that God wins battles with a few or a lot of warriors. Jonathan was all in. That’s why he went.
“All right then,” Jonathan told him. “We will cross over and let them see us.
If they say to us, ‘Stay where you are or we’ll kill you,’ then we will stop and not go up to them.
But if they say, ‘Come on up and fight,’ then we will go up. That will be the LORD’s sign that he will help us defeat them.”
1 Samuel 14: 8-10
Depending On the Lord for Direction
Jonathan didn’t say, “we’ll get up to the outpost and attack.” He said, we’ll show our selves and if they say x then we won’t fight and if we say y then we will fight.
This required faith – to show themselves before the enemy – but also it displays Jonathan’s approach. He left it up to God to decide if they should pull the trigger or not.
I believe we can learn a lot from Jonathan’s approach. It is wise.
Jonathan took initiative – without telling his father Saul. It says earlier in the chapter that he left with his armor bearer and did not tell anyone what they were going to do.
Israel was at war with the Philistines. On this day, Jonathan went out to pick a fight…. or… to maybe pick a fight depending on what God decided.
How can we apply this to our lives?
I’m no preacher, no trained teacher, nothing of the sort. But I read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to teach me what I need to learn.
3-Steps we learn from Jonathan’s story
From this passage about Jonathan, I boil it down to 3 steps.
- Walk by faith – take the initiative / get after it / get started
- Ask God for guidance and then wait and listen for Him to direct which way you should go and/or to open a door of opportunity
- Execute
Example: You do not like your job/work at all. You know you would like to do something else. You have always wanted to start a business, income stream, etc.
- Start looking for and applying to other jobs, get new skills, start learning about other industries, figure out what kind of business you’d like to do and start small. Start! Walk by faith.
- It’s up to God to open a way for you. God will open a door of opportunity for you – be it a job offer, promotion at work, your first client etc. Don’t try to kick a door open, let God open it for you. This is waiting on God. But while we wait, we are walking by faith by doing what we reasonably can.
- When God opens the door of opportunity, pray about it and then take it! As long as it is not a moral right/wrong issue, trust that God is leading you and that you’re not doing something wrong by taking that opportunity. It’s not a coincidence!
Just as God was with Jonathan in this story, God is with you!
Push forward in the name of Jesus – for if He is with you, who can be against you?
Your brother in the trenches,
Dave
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