1 Samuel 14:11-14 Faith of Jonathon and Gideon

 ”So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden.” Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something.” Jonathan said to his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them. That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land.“ ‭‭

I Samuel‬ ‭14‬:‭11‬-‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden: At this time of crisis the Israelites hid anywhere they could (1 Samuel 13:6). It was reasonable for the Philistines to think these were Hebrew deserters surrendering to the Philistines because they thought it was better than hiding in a hole.

b. Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel: At this exciting moment God confirmed Jonathan’s bold trust with this sign, and he knew God would do something great.

c. Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armor bearer after him: This was a difficult climb. Jonathan was not the kind to say, “Well, it would be nice to do this. But the rocks are steep and there are a lot of Philistines up there. Let’s just pray instead.” If we only want victory or only want to be used by God when it is easy, we won’t see many victories and we won’t be used much.

d. And they fell before Jonathan: Jonathan knew that the battle was the LORD’s, yet he knew God would use him to fight. When Jonathan saw God’s confirming sign, he didn’t lay down his sword and start praying that God would strike them all down. He prayed, made sure his sword was sharp, and trusted God would use him to strike them all down.

In verse 10: ”But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the Lord has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.”“

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One of my devotionals this morning was about Gideon’s army that faced overwhelming odds and the Lord whittled down Gideon’s army to 300 because He didn’t want them to think they defeated the enemy with their own might.

The Lord uses the weak to confound the strong 💪.

When you feel weak and defeated, have the faith of Jonathan and Gideon and lean on the Lord, allow Him to strengthen you and the Lord will use you mightily.

”The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?“

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭118‬:‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Blessings