I Samuel 14: 1-23: Debbie Downer or Debbie Dreamer?*

 

Read I Samuel 14:1-23

In chapter 11, Saul rallied an army of 300,000 in no time. He was right off the heels of seeing the hand of God moving in his life. He had spent time with priests singing and prophesying. Then Ch. 12 was the coronation, which was a bit of a let down for him. Samuel blasted the people for even wanting a king in the first place! Not the glowing coronation one would imagine. Ch. 13 Saul now has 3000 men, and his fire of his faith was fading. He can't wait for Samuel and takes matters into his own hands, offering a sacrifice, and was immediately punished. Now, in Ch. 14, he is down to 600 men, under a tree. And Jonathon gets an idea.

1.Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.
⁶ Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few."

 Jonathan was proposing something crazy! He and his buddy, going up against a lot of Philistines, but you can't argue with his logic. The battle belongs to the Lord. (I Sam. 17:47)

⁷ So his armorbearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.”

At first read, I was focused Jonathan and his courage. It was not blind stupid courage, but it was courage under control, faith with focus. Only if the Lord showed him for certain would he continue with confidence.YES! I want that!! But then as I read, and re-read, the Lord knocked on my heart.  There was someone else in this story I needed to pay attention to. The armor bearer. You see, I am married to a Jonathan, and do I respond to his dreams and his visions like that? What would happen if I used those words, "Do all that is in your heart. Go then: here I am with you, according to your heart." Wow. Major Conviction. Because to be honest, that is not my natural instinct. I am a numbers gal. I love logic. I analyze till my brain hurts and consequently get stuck quite often. And God gave me this visionary. Truth be told a large percentage of men have this gift, this gift of dreaming. And sadly a lot of us women have the gift of dream killing. I saw a special on the man who invented the super soaker, Lonnie Johnson and one thing stood out to me. He spent 7 years trying to get someone to buy this toy. He was a genius inventor. He was married. And I wondered what his wife was saying at about year 6 and 11 months. I know what I would have been saying sadly. Enough with the water gun!! How many years? But it is a good thing for him, and children all over the world, that he didn't give up. That invention has grossed over a billion dollars! What? I want to be like the armor bearer, not only to my husband, but to my friends, to my family. I want to listen to their dreams, that are grounded in God's word, and say, I am with you, according to your heart. Those two men went on to defeat 20 Philistines. I imagine it played like a scene out of many movies we have seen. Those two men, against so many. But "nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few!" He is faithful to lead, and to guide, and to fight for us!  Let us be courageous when the time comes, with courage under Christ's control and let us also be armor bearers for our loved ones when called up. Amen!

*title by Julie :)