I don’t know about you, but I hate going to doctors. And for most of my life, I was able to avoid them. But then I got diabetes. One of the worst thing about diabetes is the needles. Now, I’m fortunate in that I don’t need to get insulin shots. All I take are pills. But every three months, I need to go get a blood test, which means I’m getting stuck by a needle and getting blood sucked out. Lots of fun!
Still, it is necessary for us to get poked by needles sometimes, and not just to have blood tests. Sometimes we need them to receive medicine or vaccines. In these days, I’m sure many of us know what that’s like.
But medical injections are not the only kinds of injections we need. Sometimes we need spiritual ones as well.
In this series, we’ve talked about the different keys God has given us for our lives. And one of those keys is faith, and the obedience that comes from faith. But to be honest, it’s not always easy to have that kind of faith, is it? We’re human. We’re weak. We struggle. We fail. And so sometimes we need injections of faith. Maybe some of you feel like you could use an injection of faith right now. But how do we get them? I think we can find the answer in some of our family history in the Old Testament. Let’s take a look at 1 Samuel chapter 14.
We’ll be looking at the lives of two people today, but we’re going to start with a man named Jonathan. Jonathan was the oldest son of the first king of Israel. For a long time, the nation of Israel was without a king. Instead, God was their king. But eventually, the Israelites said, “We want to be like all the other nations. We want a human king that we can see.” (I Samuel 8:5)
So God appointed them a king, a man named Saul. If there was someone who looked like a king, it was Saul. He was handsome and taller than any of the other Israelites. On the other hand, though, he had some severe character flaws as well. Why would God appoint such a man? I don’t know. But perhaps it was because the Israelites were not willing to wait for God’s timing. God had made provisions in his law for crowning a king. (Deuteronomy 17:15-20)
And perhaps from the beginning, he had in mind the man he wanted as their first king, a man after his own heart. But when the Israelites insisted on having a king right then and there, God gave them one, even though this king was fundamentally flawed.
There is a lesson in that, I think. If we keep begging God for something, even though he warns us it’s not good for us, sometimes he just might give it to us. Why? To show us that what we want is not always what is best. God warned the Israelites that they would regret asking for a king. But when they insisted on having one, he gave them Saul. (1 Samuel 8)
Saul did have his good points. At times, he could be quite courageous (1 Samuel 11, 14:47-48). But many other times, he lacked the courage he needed. And often times, he could be quite rash, as we’ll see in this story.
In today’s passage, Israel is in a time of trouble. The Israelites were being oppressed by the Philistines, and were almost helpless to defend themselves. The Philistines didn’t allow them to have blacksmiths, so the only people with a sword or spear were Saul and Jonathan (1 Samuel 13:19-22). Saul, it seems, wasn’t willing to take any offensive action against the Philistines. But Jonathan couldn’t just sit there, so in chapter 13, we see him doing some guerilla warfare against the Philistines. But because of Jonathan’s attack, the whole Philistine army came against the Israelites, and ultimately, the Israelites all went into hiding. (13:5-6)
Meanwhile, Saul really messes up. He was supposed to wait for the prophet Samuel to come and offer sacrifices, seeking God’s favor against the Philistines. But when Samuel was delayed and a lot of Saul’s men started running away, Saul panicked and disobeyed the Lord’s command by making the sacrifices himself. As a result, Samuel told him, “Your kingdom is not going to last. God wants a king who is a man after his own heart, someone who trusts and obeys him.” (13:8-14)
Does this sound familiar? It goes back to the keys we’ve been talking about. Anyway, Samuel leaves, and so Saul is left to lead the people all by himself, but he is basically just hiding with everyone else. And so we come to chapter 14.
Actually, let’s start with the last verse of chapter 13.
Now a Philistine garrison took control of the pass at Michmash. That same day Saul’s son Jonathan said to the attendant who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s cross over to the Philistine garrison on the other side.” However, he did not tell his father. (13:23-14:1)
For a second time, we see Jonathan taking the initiative in a situation where his father refused to do so. Why was Jonathan so proactive? I think we find the answer in verses 6. Take a look.
Jonathan said to the attendant who carried his weapons, “Come on, let’s cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will help us. Nothing can keep the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” (14:6)
If there was one major difference between Jonathan and his father, I don’t think it was courage, although Jonathan was certainly more courageous. Rather, I think the main difference was Jonathan’s faith. In his words, we see two things he was certain of. First was his identity as one of God’s people.
It might sound strange to us that he would call the Philistines “uncircumcised men.” But circumcision was a sign that God had given the Israelites to identify them as his people. By his words, Jonathan was basically saying, “These guys aren’t God’s people. We are!”
The second thing Jonathan was certain of was that God could give them victory even when it seemed humanly impossible. There’s a famous quote by a Christian named John Knox: “One man with God is always in the majority.” That’s what Jonathan believed. And because of that, Jonathan was willing to challenge the Philistines. But he did want to make sure it was God’s will that he do so. So he said to his attendant in verses 8-10,
All right…we’ll cross over to the men and then let them see us. If they say, ‘Wait until we reach you,’ then we will stay where we are and not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come on up,’ then we’ll go up, because the Lord has handed them over to us—that will be our sign.” (14:8-10)
So Jonathan and his attendant go out into the open and they wave hello to the Philistines. Well, not quite, but they did make sure that they were seen. When the Philistines saw them, they said, “Well, those Israelites are finally crawling out of their holes.” And they shouted to Jonathan, “Come on up here and we’ll teach a lesson.” (14:11-12)
So Jonathan told his attendant,
“Follow me…for the Lord has handed them over to Israel.” (14:12b)
They then climb up the cliff, and with God’s help, take on 20 Philistines, defeating them all. Not only that, God sends an earthquake, and now the whole Philistine army is in a panic. They’re running around, even fighting each other in the confusion. Saul’s army sees this, and they come join the attack. When they came, some of the Israelites who had defected to the Philistines suddenly rejoined Saul’ army. And on top of that, many of the Israelites who had been in hiding also came out to fight the Philistines.
We talked about having faith injections. That’s what Jonathan gave the Israelite through his actions. He turned their fear into boldness and victory. So everything was all happy, happy, joy, joy, right? Not quite.
What should have been a decisive victory by the Israelites ended up being something much less, mostly due to Saul’s foolishness. Basically, he told his army, “No one eats until I get revenge on all my enemies!” But by depriving his troops of food, they were to weak to finish the job against the Philistines. Even worse, Saul was this close to killing Jonathan for breaking his “no eating” rule. The only thing that saved Jonathan was the people standing up to Saul and saying, “There’s no way you’re going to kill Jonathan. He was the one that brought us this victory!” (14:24-30, 43-46).
Time passed. In chapter 15, you see Saul again failing to trust and obey God, and so the prophet Samuel said, “God has now officially stripped you of your kingship, and is going to give it to someone else.” (15:26-28)
God’s Holy Spirit then departed from Saul, and even worse, an evil spirit came and was causing Saul all kinds of spiritual and emotional distress. (16:14)
And then once again, the Philistines came to cause trouble. They sent a huge warrior named Goliath to challenge the Israelites to a one-one-one duel. Whoever’s side lost would surrender and become the others’ slaves. What was the Israelites response? Take a look at chapter 17, verse 11.
When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified. (17:11)
I want you to think about this for a minute. The Philistines sent their biggest, strongest man as their champion. Who should have gone to face him? Israel’s biggest, strongest man. Who was that? Saul. He was a head taller than everyone else (1 Samuel 9:2). But Saul was too afraid to face this giant. Now in a sense, that wasn’t so surprising. While he had sometimes showed courage, many times before he had given in to fear. Not only that, God’s Spirit had left him and Saul knew it.
But have you ever wondered, “Where was Jonathan in all this?” Here was a man who in the past had showed great courage in spite of terrible odds. Here was a man who had trusted God and seen God reward that trust. Why wasn’t Jonathan doing anything?
I don’t know. But I’m guessing he was discouraged. I mean the last time he risked his life to fight the Philistines, he almost lost his life. But it wasn’t the Philistines who almost killed him. It was his own father. And now it seems that his earlier victory had accomplished nothing. The Philistines were back and stronger than ever. More, he undoubtedly had heard what Samuel had said to his father. And he saw how God was no longer with his father. Samuel certainly wasn’t visiting Saul anymore. And maybe he was wondering, “What’s going on? God, why is this happening? Have you left us? Have you abandoned us?”
But into the midst of all this comes a young man named David. This is probably most one of the most famous stories in the Bible, so I won’t go into the details. But this young shepherd, who had no war experience, went to battle against the Philistine champion armed only with 5 stones, a sling, and the Spirit of God on his side, and he defeated the Philistine, giving Israel a great victory.
And after the battle, Jonathan went up to David, and look at what he did.
When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan was bound to David in close friendship, and loved him as much as he loved himself…Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as much as himself. Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt. (18:1,3-4)
Why did Jonathan have such love for David? I think it was because he saw in David the same kind of faith in God that he had. And that was something Jonathan couldn’t find anywhere else, not even in his own father. When you go home, read chapters 14 and 17. You’ll find many similarities between Jonathan and David and the things they experienced. But here are the main ones.
We see their confidence in their identity. “We are the people of God, not these uncircumcised Philistines who are threatening us.” (I Samuel 14:6, 17:26)
They both had confidence that the Lord could save them despite the odds. (I Samuel 14:6b, 17:27)
They were both taunted by the enemies of God. (I Samuel 14:12, 17:44)
They both had the same battle cry of faith: “The Lord will hand our enemies over to us.” (I Samuel 14:12, 17:47)
They both inspired faith in those who were fearful and without faith. (1 Samuel 14:22,31-32, 17:52–53)
Is it any wonder that Jonathan was so drawn to David? At a time when Jonathan’s faith was at its lowest, David injected Jonathan with his own faith. And his actions reminded Jonathan: “Remember who you are. You are one of God’s people. And remember who God is. He is faithful. No matter who is threatening you or what problems you’re facing, he will give you victory.”
And the thing is, the day would come when Jonathan would return the favor. Saul, out of jealousy and fear that David would take his throne, had started to chase David all across the country in order to kill him. And after several close calls, David had become really discouraged. It started to seem inevitable that Saul would eventually catch up with him and kill him. But at David’s lowest point, Jonathan made the effort to go and find him. And it says in chapter 23 verse 16,
Jonathan…encouraged him in his faith in God.
I like the English translation there. “He encouraged him in his faith in God.” Jonathan reminded David of who God is. That he is good. That he is faithful. And because of that Saul would not be able to kill David no matter how hard he tried. And he reminded David of who he was. “You’re God’s chosen one. You will be king. Even my father knows it.” (1 Samuel 23:15-18)
Jonathan gave David an injection of faith when he needed it the most.
What can we learn from this? The truth is, we all need people who can help inject faith into us. Because all of us are weak. None of us are strong all the time. There are times when our faith falters. There are times we give in to fear. There are times we get discouraged or depressed. Why does that happen? Mostly because we start to forget who we are in Christ. And we forget who God is. That he is good. That he is faithful. In those times, we need people to support us and remind us of these things.
Let me ask you a couple of questions. First, who are the people in your life who inject faith into you? Are there any? If you don’t have someone like that, I encourage you: start looking for them. Look for people who share the same faith you have. That’s what Jonathan did. He had no friends like that for a long time. But then he saw David and what David had done against the Philistine champion. Jonathan saw the same kind of faith that he had in David’s life. And so he made the effort to get to know him. He took the first step to reach out in friendship. And when David responded, Jonathan found a friend for life.
I was the same way. When I was a teenager, I had no Christian friends for a long time. I had a lot of Christian acquaintances. But I didn’t know anybody that was really on fire for God. To be honest, I can’t say I was on fire for God either. But I saw some people around me who really seemed to love God. I saw something in them that made me want to get to know them. So I reached out to them. I called them. I made the effort to talk to them and really get to know them.
Honestly, most of them thought it was a little weird at first. “Why is this guy calling me?” For some of them, we remained friends, but we never became close friends. They never really opened up to me and let me into their hearts. But I found three people that did. And in different ways they all injected me with faith. They encouraged me in my faith. Sometimes they challenged me in my faith. They prayed for me. They prayed with me. I can tell you now, I probably wouldn’t be here without them. And even if I were, I wouldn’t be the person I am now.
But it was scary for me to reach out to them at first. I’m naturally shy anyway. It goes against my nature to reach out. And especially at first, it was against my nature to open up to people, to open up about my struggles and weaknesses. But God knew I needed these people. I knew needed them. And so I took a chance. And God blessed.
Can I encourage you to do something? If you’re looking for faith injectors in your life, get involved in one of our Plant groups. There are Plant groups meeting online even in this time of pandemic. So if you’re interested, contact us through our website or through LINE and ask us for information about it. We’d love to help plug you in.
Second question: Who are the people you can inject faith into? They may be people who are younger in their faith than you. Or they may be people who are perhaps having a hard time in their faith right now. Make the effort to inject faith into them. Call them. Text them. Pray with them. Share scripture with them. Share songs that you’ve heard with them. As the apostle Paul put it,
Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16)
Paul wasn’t just talking to the pastors and church leaders. He’s talking to everyone in the church. He’s talking to each and every one of you.
That’s what church is all about. It’s not just people sitting down singing worship songs and listening to Bible messages. It’s people injecting faith into each other. It’s reminding people who they are. And it’s reminding people who God is. And it’s those people then going out into this world injecting faith into a faithless world. That’s the church. That’s you. At least it should be. Is it?
These are difficult times. As I said, we live in a faithless world. But God has given us his church to support us. He’s given us each other. So let’s take advantage of this great gift God has given us and encourage each other. And be humble enough to let others encourage you too. Let’s close with this word from Hebrews. For all you watching online, please read it aloud with us. First in English:
And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Sunday Messages 