Perhaps you are faced with a crisis today. Your resources seem to be so inadequate in light of what looms before you. I hope the story from 1 Samuel Chapter 14 will encourage your heart just now.
“You’re crazy,” Jonathon said to himself. “Since when did a king’s son and his bodyguard ever decide to take on an entire army? Have you seen those Philistines? They’re no wimps! They are massive brutes – warriors that know how to fight. Those guys live to fight, and they’ve been at it for years! You don’t stand a chance. You’re good, but not that good. Kill the thought in your mind right now – before your thought kills you. You can’t do it! Don’t even try.”
No ‘official’ record exists that such doubts and internal struggles ever plagued Jonathon, King Saul’s son. Perhaps he didn’t experience surges of doubt, dark clouds of pessimism or the waves of fear. Maybe he was never swamped by feelings of inadequacy or frozen by fear. He was an exception if he was never immobilized by fear or stunted and hampered by doubts. But on this occasion, His confidence was in the Lord alone.
The story in 1 Samuel 14 is an uplifting account of a king’s son who humbly but confidently moved forward against the enemy, knowing that God’s victories did not depend on the size of human armies, their level of training, the lethality of their weapons or the sophistication of their battle strategies.
King Saul himself panicked when he saw the Philistines mustering their armies and flaunting their strength. His army retreated into rocks and caves. (1Samuel 13) But now the King’s son, Jonathon, looks at the situation, and his thinking seems to evolve along these lines:
“Just a second here. Why are we in retreat mode? Who’s side is God on anyway? Our side or the enemy’s? If He is on our side, why should we cower in fear? He doesn’t need the biggest and best-stocked military arsenal and the longest-range missiles or the most destructive bombs. He is GOD. He’s all-powerful. Our equipment and devices are puny and small, but He has all power at His disposal.”
How honouring and pleasing to the Lord when one of His children entertain such thoughts of His omnipotence in the depths of their hearts. How dishonouring to God when we think otherwise of Him.
Jonathon says to his personal guard:
“Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us, for nothing can hinder the LORD from saving by many or by few.” And his armour-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.” 1 Samuel 14:6-7
And Jonathon and his bodyguard went forward and defeated the Philistines – yes, defeated!
Have you ever realized, dear Child of God, that God does not suffer from limitations? He is not curtailed by small armies or dumbfounded by the clever strategies of the enemy. He doesn’t have to resort to Plan B. If you are in the path of His will, He can use you powerfully to accomplish His purposes if He so chooses.
Jonathon knew that God is not only omnipotent (all-powerful) but also He is the Sovereign and does as He chooses. “If He chooses to work through us, there will be no restrictions on what He can do with just me and my bodyguard. My responsibility is to put myself in the path of His will, to make myself fully available and to be at the right spot at the right time.” And so — the two of them went and positioned themselves to be used by God, and He used them. They were victorious over the enemy.
Dear Child of God, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds…” 2 Corinthians 10:4. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31
Does God need a big army? Give Him one ready and willing humble Christian, and there is no telling what He will accomplish through that surrendered believer – even you!
Don’t hesitate to share a thought from your personal experience or a verse that has been a blessing to you – in the comment section below. Or, if you would like to reach out privately, click below.
