May the mumbling commence!
Friendship worth its weight in salt will
stand numerous tests… the test of stress… the test of family turmoil. And there is no stronger friendship than the
one that developed between David and Jonathan.
Their friendship endured the test of family dysfunction and stress.
Jonathan was to be the next king, after his
father Saul. That’s the way the world
does it. But God had anointed David with
the Spirit.
David was to be the next
king. Everyone knew it. Saul did.
Jonathan did. David did. The knowledge ate away at Saul’s soul like a canker
sore. Jonathan accepted David’s eventual
kingship. And David honored the Lord’s
anointed in King Saul. Just read about
how this unlikely triangle of relationships unfolded in First Samuel chapter
twenty:
So David hid himself in the
field, and when the new moon festival began, the king sat down to eat. He sat at his usual place against the wall,
with Jonathan sitting opposite him and Abner beside him. But David's place was
empty. Saul didn't say anything about it
that day, for he said to himself, "Something must have made David
ceremonially unclean. Yes, that must be why he's not here."
But when David's place was
empty again the next day, Saul asked Jonathan, "Why hasn't the son of Jesse been here for dinner either yesterday or
today?"
Jonathan replied, "David
earnestly asked me if he could go to Bethlehem.
He wanted to take part in a family sacrifice. His brother demanded that
he be there, so I told him he could go. That's why he isn't
here."
Saul boiled with rage at
Jonathan. "You
stupid son of a whore!" he
swore at him. "Do you think I don't know that you want David to be king in your place, shaming yourself
and your mother? As long as that son
of Jesse is alive, you'll never be king. Now
go and get him so I can kill him!"
"But what has he
done?"
Jonathan demanded. "Why should he be put to death?"
Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan,
intending to kill him. So at last Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill
David. Jonathan left the table in fierce
anger and refused to eat all that day, for he was crushed by his father's
shameful behavior toward David.
The next morning, as agreed,
Jonathan went out into the field and took a young boy with him to gather his
arrows. "Start running," he
told the boy, "so you can find the arrows as I shoot them." So the
boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
When the boy had almost reached the arrow, Jonathan shouted, "The
arrow is still ahead of you. Hurry,
hurry, don't wait." So the boy quickly gathered up the arrows and ran back
to his master. He, of course, didn't
understand what Jonathan meant; only Jonathan and David knew. Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the
boy and told him to take them back to the city.
As soon as the boy was gone,
David came out from where he had been hiding near the stone pile. Then David bowed
to Jonathan with his face to the ground. Both of them were in tears as they
embraced each other and said good-bye, especially David. At last Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, for we have made a pact in
the Lord's name. We have entrusted
each other and each other's children into the Lord's
hands forever." Then
David left, and Jonathan returned to the city. (Verses 24-42)
Saul not only lashed out at David
he also lashed out at his firstborn son, Jonathan. Saul only thought of himself… If he was thinking about the future of Jonathan,
why did he try to murder him? Even so,
Jonathan made good on his promise – at great risk to himself.
And good friends were separated by a gulf of
distance, but they never forgot about one another or the pact they had
made. What a good model for friendship! It’s the mark of having the best of the Spirit
– not some pathetic imitation. Read from
Acts chapter two:
On the day of Pentecost, seven
weeks after Jesus' resurrection, the believers were meeting together in one
place. Suddenly, there was a sound from
heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them, and it
filled the house where they were meeting.
Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on
each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,
as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
Godly Jews from many nations
were living in Jerusalem at that time. When
they heard this sound, they came running to see what it was all about, and they
were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.
They were beside themselves
with wonder. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people
are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking the languages of the lands
where we were born! Here we are –
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus,
the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya toward
Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and
Arabians. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the
wonderful things God has done!" They
stood there amazed and perplexed. "What can this mean?" they asked
each other. But others in the crowd were mocking.
"They're drunk, that's
all!" they said.
Then Peter stepped forward with
the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, "Listen carefully, all
of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about
this. Some of you are saying these people are drunk. It isn't true! (Verses
1-15a)
Fill us, O Lord. Help us to know the difference between the
spirits of this world and Your Holy Spirit.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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