Singin' In the Rain

We have been studying 1 Samuel recently in bible study. We've been going at about 5 chapters each time we meet. It's very cool. Tonight, one of the chapters we swept through was 1 Samuel 14. The first 14 verses of this chapter tell a story of Jonathan, the son of Saul, verses the Philistines. It's a powerful story of faith. If you read the passages before it, you will be able to tell that the army of Israel was hiding from the Philistines. In their hiding, some abandoned the ranks, and the army size had dwindled from around 300,000 only a couple of chapters earlier (1 Samuel 11) to about 600 now. Even Saul was hiding. They were scared of the Philistines. I don't blame them either. I mean, just prior to this, Saul had offered up offerings to the Lord when he was supposed to be waiting for Samuel to get there first. Samuel rebukes him heavily for this, and tells him that Saul's kingdom will not endure because he had not kept the Lord's command. On top of that, Saul and Jonathan were the only people in the army with swords because the Philistines had all the blacksmiths!! These 600 men of Israel were armed physically with pitchforks and axes! Jonathan then goes out and proves just how well they are truly armed though because the Lord is on their side.

One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man bearing his armor, "Come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side." But he did not tell his father.

Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree in Migron. With him were about six hundred men, among whom was Ahijah, who was wearing an ephod. He was a son of Ichabod's brother Ahitub son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh. No one was aware that Jonathan had left.

On each side of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff; one was called Bozez, and the other Seneh. One cliff stood to the north toward Micmash, the other to the south toward Geba.

Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."

"Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul."

Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands."

So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. "Look!" said the Philistines. "The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in." The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson."
So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel."

Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre

1 Samuel 14:1-14

It's so cool how Jonathan just flat out trusts in the Lord's power to save and provide victory. He goes with courage to the Philistine camp. Upon ascertaining that it is the Lord's will for him to be victorious, Jonathan just goes straight up the side of a cliff to where the Philistines are waiting. He then proceeds to whoop up on them because God delivers them into his hands. Jehovah-jireh. What ends up following is victory for the Israelites. God sends a panic upon the Philistines so that, by the time the Israelite army realized something was going on and got down there, the Philistines were slaughtering each other. It reminded me of the story of Gideon (Judges 7). It's just so cool to see how God rewards those who act faithfully in fullfillment of His will.

I draw hope in my own life from stories like that. I sometimes feel like the acrobat crossing the tight-rope. If I look down, I will become dizzy and fall. I wrote some about this last night, too. I guess it's a subject that is on my mind. That's also why I enjoy so much hearing a story like this one.

It's always good to be reminded how faithful God is. That's why, so many times, God will have his appointed leaders of Israel remind the Israelites poignantly about how He brought them out of Egypt and about all the other things He has done for them, too. 1 Samuel 12 is one such example. I just ran a search on www.ibs.org. In searching the NIV version of the bible, the exact phrase search of "out of egypt" yields 143 results! Throughout the books of the law, throughout Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, throughout the books of the prophets, and all the way into Acts, Hebrews, and Jude. It was a common thing for the Israelites to be reminded of what God has done for them.

I think my memory is probably as bad as theirs was sometimes. I need to be reminded. I need to have an assurance of hope. In Christ's resurrection, we have an assurance of eternal hope, but I'm afraid it is not always the eternal that I am thinking of here and now. I tend to get caught up in the temporal. So, it is good to hear stories of faith, and God's wonderous answers to prayers and trust. I like hearing more and more of them.

My Hope Is You

To you, O Lord, I lift my soul
In you, O God, I place my trust
Do not let me be put to shame
Nor let my enemies triumph over me

My hope is you
Show me your ways
Guide me in Truth
In all my days
My hope is you

I am, O Lord, filled with your love
You are, O God, my salvation
Guard my life and rescue me
My broken spirit shouts
My mended heart cries out...

- Third Day