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The Danger of Rationalizing Disobedience

The Daily Obliteration of Self

SYNOPSIS: William Barclay wrote, “The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self.” Self doesn’t ascend to the throne of our lives overnight, it inches closer each day over time when we fail to deal with our flaws, cut corners in our obedience, rationalize or spiritualize disobedience, and grow comfortable with our patterns of sin. Don’t do that! To ignore, justify, spiritualize, or minimize sin will lead you to a place that is far away from where you started with God. Thankfully, however, God stands ready to help you to obliterate self and offer a surrendered heart instead—if you ask. I don’t know about you, but I am going to do that ASAP!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 18:6-9

When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David

In reality, you could substitute any other dysfunctional or destructive adjective for “jealous”: A bitter or critical or angry or abusive or addictive heart—anything works there. In this case, a jealous heart was simply the manifestation of Saul’s deeper issues.

So how did Saul get from being a humble, winsome, dynamic leader to this insanely jealous, paranoid, violate man? One thing we know for sure: it didn’t happen suddenly. Over time, Saul failed to deal with his flaws, and began to cut corners on the path to where God was leading him. And he ended up in a place far from where he started—far away from God.

There was not just one mistake he made, there were several patterns of sin he grew accustomed to. But one above all the others stands as a warning sign to the rest of us: Saul learned to tolerate subtle sin.

In the Saul narratives, there are two examples of this. One is in 1 Samuel 13:10-12 when he disobeys Samuel’s order to wait for his arrival so the pre-battle sacrifice could be offered. When Samuel’s arrival was delayed, and Saul’s men were deserting in droves, Saul himself offered the sacrifice.

Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him. “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

Rather than repentance, Saul offers excuses, blame, and justification. Then again, in 1 Samuel 15, Saul is at war, this time with the Amalekites. Samuel told him to destroy everything—beast and human, because of the Amalekite’s sin against the Israelites during their wilderness years. But again, Saul failed to obey the Lord’s command, and Samuel calls him on the carpet. In response to Samuel’s rebuke, Saul says,

The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” (1 Samuel 15:15)

Samuel said, “Stop!” (1 Samuel 15:116,

Saul protested, “But I did obey the LORD. I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.” (1 Samuel 15:20)

Do you see what Saul’s doing? He’s rationalizing disobedience; spiritualizing his actions; blaming Samuel in the first instance and his soldiers in the second—making himself the victim. He’s minimizing his sin. Saul’s disobedience is subtle; it looked like a good thing spiritually and militarily. But in those instances Saul wasn’t trusting God, he was “using” God to give success in battle—and God will not be used!

So Samuel cuts through all the excuse-making with some of the most profound and penetrating words in all of Scripture: “To obey is better than sacrifice.”(1 Samuel 15:22) To have a heart that loves God and cares about what God cares about—that’s what God wants. And the best way that is demonstrated is through loving obedience. To do something that may look and sound spiritual but in reality, doesn’t come from a heart that’s tenderly surrendered and trustingly obedient to God is rebellion and arrogance, and in truth, it is no better than engaging in witchcraft and idolatry.

That is how strongly God feels when we learn to tolerate even subtle disobedience in our lives.

So what about you? Are there any areas of subtle disobedience in your life? My challenge is to call you to seriously think about it! Then surrender it to God. But don’t ignore or justify or spiritualize or minimize it. Don’t turn down that road like Saul—it will lead to a place that is far away from where you started with God.

Going Deeper With God: You will need the Lord’s help on this, but ask him to examine your heart and cleanse you from any impure motives.

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If Past Performance Is Any Indicator…

God Will Do For You Today What He Did For You Yesterday

SYNOPSIS: Ever wonder where David got his courage to fight Goliath? Was he just a naturally brave warrior, experienced in battle, skillful in hand-to-hand combat, and just spoiling for a fight with an oversized blowhard, or was there something else? There was something else! David’s time as a shepherd turned out to be a critical period of preparation for what was to come, because it was then that he had come to experience the continual presence and faithfulness of God. In those moments of distress and danger, the strong help of the Almighty had never failed; time and again, God stood by David, helped him, saved him, and the young shepherd had come to know that the One who walked with him was a covenantly faithful God. When he stood before Goliath he was simply drawing upon the reservoir of God-confidence that had piled up in his heart. He just knew that the same God who delivered him from every past danger would deliver him from this present one. God’s past performance was a surefire indicator of what was about to happen. So what about you, and the Goliath you may be facing today? Has God helped you in the past? Has he provided for you? Healed you? Protected and delivered you? Has he brought you this far? Why would he not do today, and again tomorrow, what he has done in the past?

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 17:32-37

David told Saul, “Don’t worry about this Philistine, I’ll go fight him!” Saul replied, “Don’t be ridiculous! There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.” But David persisted, “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats. When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”

Ever wonder where David got his courage to fight Goliath? Was he just a naturally brave warrior, experienced in battle, skillful in hand-to-hand combat and just spoiling for a fight with an oversized blowhard, or was there something else?

There was something else! David, though he was just a young man, had walked with God in an unusually intimate way. Prior to facing the Philistine giant, David had spent countless hours in the quiet and solitude of the wilderness watching over his father’s sheep. Hour after monotonous hour of herding sheep, passing the time by plinking Coke bottles with his slingshot—well, maybe he had other targets—writing songs of worship and talking to God, were interspersed with moments of sheer danger when wild animals would attack the flock. In those heart-pounding moments, the only thing standing between the vicious animals and the decimation of his father’s livelihood was David—and God!

David’s time as a shepherd turned out to be a critical period of preparation for what was to come, because it was then that David had come to experience the continual presence and faithfulness of God. In those moments of distress and danger, the strong help of the Almighty had never failed; time and again, God stood by David, helped him, saved him, and the young shepherd had come to know in the depth of his being that the One who walked with him was a covenantly faithful God.

So why was David so courageous when he stood before Goliath? He was simply drawing upon the reservoir of God-confidence that had piled up in his heart. He just knew that he knew that the same God who delivered him from every past danger would deliver him from this present one. God’s past performance was a surefire indicator of what was about to happen. How could it be any other way?

So, got a Goliath in your life? I’ll bet you do—a big, hairy, intimidating problem breathing down your neck! You see, Goliath is still around, though he comes in a variety of forms: an impossible financial situation, a nasty boss or a threatening co-worker, a rebellious child or belligerent spouse, a physical problem, or a helpless sick loved one. All of us face Goliaths, and the natural thing to do is what the Israelites did: shrink back in depression, cower in fear and run from the battle.

But that would be to live way beneath the level of confidence, joy, and victory that God has willed for his people. So learn a lesson from David—Goliath may still be around, but so is God. He hasn’t changed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he is still a covenantly faithful God—he can’t help himself.

Has he helped you in the past? Has he provided for you? Healed you? Protected and delivered you? Has he brought you this far? Why would he not do today, and tomorrow, what he has done in the past?

He will! So put your confidence in him. Get your eye off Goliath and on to God, because the One who delivered you from the paw of the lion and the bear will deliver you from that nasty old Philistine. It’s just what God does!

Going Deeper With God: What is your current Goliath? Spend a moment reflecting on how God has taken care of your past giants. Then…go find five smooth stones!

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A Perfect Set Up For Spiritual Growth

So Grow For It!

Synopsis: For most, spiritual growth is a mystery. It is vague, undefined, something that is felt, not measured. Yet according to Peter, it’s a pretty practical matter, and he offers some encouraging insight into it: spiritual growth requires an active partnership with God the senior partner, and you the junior partner. Now, if that puts some pressure for your growth back on your shoulders, here’s the deal: God has done his part in setting you up for spiritual growth. 2 Peter 1:3 says: “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” Did you see the word “everything” in that verse? In Greek, that means — wait for it — “everything!” God has set you up, my friend, to be a growing, godly believer. Me, too!

Project 52—Memorize:
2 Peter 1:2-3

“May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life… In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises… work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen.”

Every authentic, healthy follower of Christ wants to grow spiritually. That’s usually right up there at the top of everyone’s wish list. But just how does one experience spiritual growth? That’s the $64,000 question, isn’t it?

For most, spiritual growth is a mystery. It is vague, not defined, something that is felt, not measured. If it is to happen at all, we see ourselves as the passive recipients of a divine agent that catalyzes growth rather than as the catalyst ourselves. In other words, our development into deeper spirituality, stability, maturity, and Christ-likeness is more up to God than it is to us.

Yet according to Peter, there is to be a pretty active partnership in this business of growth. God is the senior partner, you the junior. And here’s the deal: God has done his part in setting you up for spiritual growth. Notice what verse 3 says: “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” Did you see the word “everything” in that verse? In the Greek, that means “everything!” God has set you up, my friend, to be a growing, godly believer. Me, too!

Now it is up to us to supplement what God has so graciously and completely done in order to move along the continuum toward a deeper spirituality. So what is our growth assignment then?  Look at verse II Peter 1:5-8:

“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Notice the seven key catalytic agents to growth that Peter mentions: moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.

Very simply, when there is a choice between that which is morally pure and anything else, guess what?  You and I have to choose moral purity!  God can’t choose for us. He can strengthen us and prompt us, but we must make the choice. Added to moral purity must be Biblical knowledge, which frankly doesn’t come without regular meditation on God’s Word. Furthermore, purity and knowledge are safeguarded by self-control. Self-control is what teaches you to say “no” to anything that would hinder, hurt or destroy God’s work in you or in another. (See Titus 3:11-13) Adding to self-control is the exercise of patient endurance. Truthfully, there will be times when the only thing we can do is to grit our teeth and hang in there! Endurance must be connected to godliness or it is nothing more than stubbornness. Godliness means to think and act like God; it is to practice the presence of God at all times. Then along with godliness comes kindness and care for our brothers. Finally, to wrap everything into that which causes growth, we must express Christ-like love for all people at all times.

Purity, learning, self-control, endurance, godliness, kindness, and love are the things that you can and must do to grow.  And they are the very things that will make you more productive in your faith and usefulness to your Lord.

That’s your assignment today.  God has already given you everything you need for growth, so get out there and “grow” for it!

“A soul may be in as thriving a state when thirsting, seeking and mourning after the Lord as when actually rejoicing in Him; as much in earnest when fighting in the valley as when singing upon the mount.” ~John Newton

Reflect and Apply: The Lord has given you everything you need to grow into a thriving, useful, God-pleasing saint. Therefore, you have no reason not to grow spiritually. So today, do your part to supplement what your gracious Father has already done for you.

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What We See Isn’t All There Is

Don't Get Caught Up in the Immediate or the Visible

SYNOPSIS: God sees beyond! Will we ever learn to see as He does? Unfortunately, we tend to limit our vision to the surface of the skin. God looks beyond—to a person’s heart. Perhaps you’ve been passed over for a key role because people didn’t see what God did. How sad! Learning to read others accurately—seeking out what’s below the surface of their skin, seeing between the lines of their résumé, intuiting God’s unique design for them—is a great life skill we ought to acquire. Remember that even at your best today, God sees what you don’t in people. So don’t get caught up in either the immediate or the visible. There is always more to them than what you see. As Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 11-12

The Lord spoke to Samuel: “Go to Bethlehem. Find a man named Jesse who lives there, for I have selected one of his sons to be my king.” …When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” …Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, but he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.” Samuel said, “Send for him at once! We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.” So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.”

I think the story of David’s anointing must have been the source for Charles Perrault’s, Cinderella, although I don’t believe he cited 1 Samuel 16. But the story has a familiar ring to it: each of Jesse’s handsome, hunky sons were paraded past Samuel, who was in town to anoint the next monarch. All seven of the brothers were hoping the glass slipper would fit his foot, which would mean, of course, the crown would follow. To match their brawny bods and olive-brown skin, each of them had magnificent, godly names — “God is my father,” “My father is noble,” “Generous and Kind.”

Even the grizzled old prophet Samuel, not known for being a touchy, feely sort of guy, got sucked in by these Bethlehem calendar guys: “Surely this is the one…surely that is the one…it’s got to be that one.” Perhaps he was so deeply disappointed in King Saul, whom the Lord had rejected as king, and for whose manic behavior Samuel certainly felt responsible since he had anointed him, that he was desperate to take the first kingly looking guy that paraded down the runway. Such is the potential for shallowness in even the best of us.

But then comes one of the greatest lessons in scripture—from no less than God himself: “Hey Samuel, what you see isn’t all there is. You are looking at certain qualities that are only on the surface. Fine! But I look deeper; I look at what is on the inside of the person—because I know the heart. You look for immediate talent, a shovel-ready monarch, but I see what a person can become. Don’t forget Samuel, when you anointed Saul, he had all those hunky qualities too—tall, handsome, and a winning personality. How’d that work out for you? Learn a lesson, my man: I look at the heart—and in David, I have found a boy that will become not just a great man and a great king, but the greatest of men, for he will be a man after my own heart.”

“I look at the heart,” says the Lord. And so should we. Of course, we can’t help but see the outward and the immediate also. We are not called to ignore that—that would be unwise. God has given us eyes and a brain, and as we make judgments about the people with whom we need to work or want to do life, those things matter. But they are not the leading indicators of supernatural anointing or prophetic potential. Those are the most important things about a person, and they are deeper than the skin, or the résumé. They reside in the heart.

The point being that in our choices, evaluations and action plans, we see only so far, but there is always more. God sees the “more.” And that is why we need to stay plugged into God’s Spirit and practice openness to God’s thoughts. Whenever we must make an important decision about a person, we should default to asking God, “So what about this person that I don’t see do you see?” And God will be faithful to tell you if you will consistently maintain an open channel of communication with him.

A great skill in life that we ought to develop is reading people. We can get better at discerning people’s strengths and weaknesses. We can even become much more intuitive about the things below the surface. Even more, we should ask for and hone a spiritual gift the Bible calls discernment. But never forget, that even on your best day, God still sees what you don’t. So don’t get caught up in either the immediate or the visible.

There is always more going on that what you know.

Going Deeper With God: Ask God to reveal what he sees, and foresees, about the people in your life. You might be pleasantly surprised.

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What Matters Most To God

Nothing Substitutes For Wholehearted Obedience From A Loving Heart

SYNOPSIS: When we substitute duty, service, or sacrifice for a love relationship with God, it will always lead to disobedience, and therefore it will lead away from divine blessing. But when we obey God out of love for who he is and gratitude for what he has done, then God will pour out his blessings upon us in immeasurable ways. What matters most is our heart—that is what God wants.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 15:22

Then Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”

Unfortunately for King Saul, this sad account of his fall from God’s favor was one of the lowest low points of his life and the beginning of the end of his once-promising rule over Israel. Fortunately for us, reading this story with the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, his example brings us to the bottom line of what it means to walk in intimacy with God:

God wants our hearts more than anything else!

When we substitute duty, service, or sacrifice, as Saul did, for a love relationship with God, it will always lead to disobedience, and therefore it will lead away from divine blessing. But when we obey God out of love for who he is and gratitude for what he has done, then God will pour out his blessings upon us in immeasurable ways. Everything that we hope our duty, service, and sacrifice will bring will be, at best, a poor substitute for walking in loving obedience to God. At worst, the very things we thought would bring God’s pleasure upon us will turn around and cause it to be forfeited.

Do you want a revival of God’s favor in your life? Begin to obey him. Don’t obey merely out of duty—that is, you obey because it is required for divine blessing. Don’t merely obey out of fear—that is, you obey because you know punishment awaits if you don’t. Do not obey from some sort of manipulative motive—that is, you obey in hopes of maneuvering God to give you what you want. Obey him out of love. Obey him because you are grateful for all that he has done. Obey because obedience is simply the only option for you. Obey—early and often, from the heart, through your head, with your hands, and a revival of blessing will flow to you.

A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God. (Charles Finney)

The best sacrifice that you can bring before God is your obedience. Let me say it again: Offer your obedience to God, early and often, with the right heart and from the purest of motives, and watch what God will do for you.

The obedient heart is the one in which God takes the greatest delight.

Going Deeper With God: You can certainly will yourself to obey God by willingly following his laws. But it would be so much better if obedience was simply the overflow of a heart after God. Today, ask God to give you that kind of heart. He is in the heart-changing business.

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Giving Therapy

Give and It Will Be Given to You

SYNOPSIS: To paraphrase the great boxer, Mohammed Ali, “Giving to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” But more than being simply what you owe, giving is, in reality, the path to receiving more. Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given to you.” The Son of God was actually revealing the self-healing properties in giving of yourself to somebody else, especially when they are worse off than you. When you are going through your own hardship, whatever that may be — sickness, loss, disappointment, depression — God’s therapy is to find those who cannot help themselves, somebody who cannot pay back your kindness, and minister His love to them, whether through your time, money, or energy. So on this Giving Tuesday, give of yourself and it will be given to you!

Project 52—Memorize:
Luke 6:38

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Dr. Karl Menninger, founder of the famed psychiatric clinic in Topeka, Kansas that bears his name, was once asked, “What would you do if you thought you were going crazy?”  Without even having to think about it, he said, “I’d go out and find someone less fortunate to serve.”

There is just something so self-healing about giving yourself to somebody else—especially when they are worse off than you. When you are going through your own hardship, whatever that may be—sickness, loss, disappointment, depression—God’s therapy is to find those who cannot help themselves, somebody who cannot pay back your kindness, and minister God’s love to them, whether through your time, money or energy.

To love, serve, and bless the less fortunate is to initiate a spiritual law that we find in Acts 20:35, “And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

When you are the conduit of God’s love and grace, and when heaven’s generosity is being poured through you to those in need, on the way through you, that same flood of love, grace and generosity will leave the Divine fingerprints throughout your own life.

Now that means breaking free of your own legitimate needs and wants in order to give to others. And that is not usually an easy thing to do. Sometimes it is you that needs to receive from another. Yet even in those conditions, God’s Word is still true: Give and it will be given to you—in abundance.

Jesus was a great example of this. In Matthew 14, King Herod had just beheaded Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. When Jesus heard the news, he was deeply affected with unbearable sorrow over the loss of a loved one. And he did what most of us would do: He got away from the crowd for some time alone to pour out his grief before God.

But Jesus didn’t stay there long. He didn’t make the retreat into isolation his permanent address; he didn’t accept the paralysis of grief; he didn’t allow loss to define him. Rather, as other people who were hurting for reasons different than his own found him, he allowed compassion to flow, and out of that, he began to minister to their needs.

“When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. …give them something to eat!” (Matthew 14:13-14,16)

Jesus was setting a pattern for us, don’t you think? Not to minimize the pain that we experience from loss, but to turn it into a productive force that initiates God’s healing therapy in our own lives as we become the conduit of Divine love and grace to hurting people.

Perhaps you are licking your wounds today from a hurt, disappointment, loss or failure. If that is the case, try doing what Jesus did. See the needs of other hurting people around you and love them, serve them, give to them!  You probably won’t feel like doing it, but do it anyway. It won’t take away your own pain, but it will unleash God’s healing therapy for you.

At the end of the day, you will find that your journey through grief, pain, failure and disappointment will be a lot healthier and a whole lot more productive when you practice the therapy of giving.

“By compassion we make others’ misery our own, and so, by relieving them, we relieve ourselves also.” ~ Sir Thomas Browne

Reflect and Apply: Do you know someone in a worse off state of life than you?  Do something for them—give yourself, your time, your energy or even your resources.  You will find it to be an incredible therapy and a conduit to the grace of God that flows directly back into your own life.

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The Heart of a Lion

God Gives Courage To Those Who Ask

SYNOPSIS: What if today you prayed that God would infuse you with indomitable courage and ruthless trust so that like Jonathan and his armor-bearer, you might overcome the Philistines in your life — fear, inadequacy, mean and manipulative people, the lack of resources preventing the vision that God has put in your heart, or even your own sinfulness? God is looking to grant Jonathan-like boldness to those who will ask, and who will then step out in courage and trust to risk faith in the One who is generous with His favor and help.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 14:6

“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!”

This is my favorite story of confidence and victory in the Bible: Jonathan and his armor-bearer boldly talking on a Philistine garrison against overwhelming odds—and routing the enemy in a victory as stunning as they come. The raw boldness, ruthless trust, and risky faith of Jonathan—and his armor-bearer, let’s not forget him—is at an industrial-strength level.

Now there is a fine line between faith and presumption in this story. What if the two warriors would have gotten killed right off the bat? We might still be talking about their boldness, but certainly not their intelligence. Sometimes, as they say, discretion is the better part of valor. When you are taking a risky step of faith at the level that Jonathan took, you really need to make sure you have heard from God. By the way, that requires a moment-by-moment walk with the Lord and not just a “hail Mary”, on-again, off-again spirituality.

Assuming Jonathan walked intimately with God, we can now say that his declaration was an amazing statement of not just high-level faith, but incredible submission to the will of God—something that is even rarer than risky faith. Jonathan was willing not only to take on an enemy that was far better equipped, but he was willing to die for the cause, should God choose that for him. Of course, God honored his faith and enabled him to not only rout the enemy but inspire the rest of the Israelite army to take on and defeat the entire Philistine war machine.

No statement in Scripture is more endearing to me than this faithful declaration by Jonathan: “Let’s go take on these Philistines. Who knows, maybe the Lord might even help us!” Jonathan had such a courageous heart, based on a deep belief in the sovereignty of God, that he was willing to put his life on the line to secure a great victory for the people of God.

Obviously, Jonathan had done a lot of thinking about God before he acted—but act he did when the time came. And out of his heroic effort comes one of the great stories of the Bible. Oh, how we wish for more Jonathan’s in our day—and desperately need them. And how I wish I had more of Jonathan’s boldness.

Perhaps you and I should begin to pray for a Jonathan spirit. What if we prayed that God would infuse us with deep courage and a higher degree of trust so that we might tackle the Philistines in our lives—fear, inadequacy, manipulative people, the lack of resources that stand opposed to the vision God has put in our heart, our own sinfulness?

You know, I have a feeling that God is looking to grant that kind of Jonathan-like boldness to those who will ask—and who will then step out in bold, daring faith to put God to the test:

The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

May God grant us the kind of courage we read about in Jonathan—faith, hope, and such deep trust in his sovereignty that leads us to live heroic lives of risky obedience that inspires others to greater faith and risky obedience.

Going Deeper With God: Let’s pray this prayer together today: God, fill me with your transforming presence and change me into a different person—a mighty warrior for you.