Directional Decisions

It is in moments of decision that your destiny is shaped – Tony Robbins

I can remember the very moment and the decision that I made that caused me to turn in the direction that led, fifteen years later, to attempt suicide.  I can see the exact moment:  All I needed to do was say something to someone, but I hesitated.  “What if I’m rejected?” was my thought.  That decision to hesitate, compounded by other bad decisions I made along the way, led to the despair and loneliness fifteen years later.

That decision of hesitation was a directional decision.  Not all decisions are active decisions sometimes not making a decision is decision enough.  That isn't to say that making better decisions can’t reverse those decisions, because eventually I made another directional decision that turned me onto the path that I’m currently on.

Today, I want to post on directional decisions.  This is something we, as Christians, need to be aware of, because even though sometimes it seems to be a minor decision, an obvious, or even right decision it can be a decision that turns us from the will of God.

1 Samuel 13:8-14 (NKJV)
^13:8 Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. ⁹ So Saul said, "Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me." And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. ¹¹ And Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ¹² then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering." ¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."

Directional Decisions

What has happened here is that Saul has made a directional decision.  He has, in a moment of weakness and fear, made a decision that has actually changed his destiny.  This is the moment when Saul turned off the path that he was on, which was that his family would rule over Israel forever, to the loss of the kingdom, which would be given to another: A man after God’s own heart.  In Tony Robbins’ vernacular this was a destiny shaping decision.  God, literally changed his mind as a result of Saul’s decision to burn the offering without waiting for Samuel’s arrival.  This was not to be done.  Offerings were the job of the priests and no one else.

I believe there are some decisions that we make that cause a fundamental change in our hearts.  There is something that happens as we act in our own counsel that can cause us to compound the problem by making more bad decisions.  This isn't Saul’s only bad decision; this is Saul’s first bad decision.

In Chapter fifteen Saul refused to utterly destroy the Amalekites, even though God told him to do that.  It was another decision that moved him out of the path of God’s destiny for him.

At that time Samuel made this observation about what caused Saul to make these decisions:

1 Samuel 15:17 (NKJV)
^15:17 So Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?

The phrase “when you were little in your own eyes…” speaks of a humble Saul.  Saul has risen up in pride and this is the root of his problem for the rest of his life.

When we act in pride we act against the will of God.

James 4:6 (NKJV)
^4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."

When we begin to make decisions in our own understanding that impact God’s calling on our lives, God resists us.  These are decisions made in pride and pride continues to grow as we continue to act on our own.  We fall victim to more decisions that turn us, or move us further away from God’s will.  When we make decisions for less of God in our lives it is because we have filled that space with something else.  We have elevated something else and placed it into that place where God once resided in our lives. 

Look at what God gives to Samuel to tell Saul after this incident:

1 Samuel 15:10-11 (NKJV)
^15:10 Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, ¹¹ "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.

Saul has “backed off” from serving God.  God isn't number one in his life anymore.  He has other concerns – The concerns of a king.  He took Agag, the king of Amalek prisoner. Agag is a symbol of Saul’s dominance and power over Amalek.  He saved the sheep to make a big show of offering it to God.  He’s saying, “Look at the wealth and power of the king.  I can offer all of this to God.”  He’s proud and his pride is propelling him out of the will of God and out of God’s grace.  These are directional decisions.

At the end of Saul’s life God’s no longer even responding to him and he ends up at the witch of Endor’s house trying to get advice from Samuel who has already died.  This all started with one bad decision; one directional decision to act on his own outside of the will of God.  I’m sure that decision seemed reasonable, even right at the time. 

He thought Samuel was late.  The people were scattering.  He had to do something to hold it all together.  In his mind, he thought that he had to do something to move God’s agenda forward.  So, he acted.  But Samuel wasn't late; he arrived at the end of the burnt offering.  Saul violated God’s command about offerings, that’s sin.  Sin will never result in God’s blessing.  When you put God aside for your own will you step out of the will of God and into the will of you, and lose out on God’s power and ability to overcome circumstances.  You become dependent on your own power and your own ability and the question becomes, “Who are you serving?”

Matthew 6:24 (NKJV)
^6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Mammon is often used to refer to money or wealth, but really, it’s whatever you put before God.  In Saul’s case it was his pride; his unwillingness to lose face. Mammon for Saul was himself and his appearance before the people.  What is it in your case?

Decisions Affect Destiny

Life is the Sum of all your Choices – Albert Camus

How often do we make decisions that we think have no relation to the will of God for our lives?  Saul made a choice to do the burnt offering based on military and political decisions.  He couldn't go into battle when all his men were deserting so, he offered that offering to keep them together.  I wonder if he gave any consideration at all as to how that decision impacted the will of God for his life.

This is a moment of extreme tension.  They’re facing a enemy that outnumbers them by a huge amount – 36,000 plus “the sand on the seashore’ in multitude, against three thousand Israelis.  We can understand the reluctance of the men of Israel, they probably thought they were all going to die.  Saul is making his decision in light of those circumstances and left God’s power out of the decision.

I've seen this over and over.  I know people who were offered a job that paid one US dollar an hour more than they were making…but they had to move to a different city…and they left.  Some of them wound up in fellowship churches in other cities, but never really did anything for God, and others drifted completely out of the church and back to the old life.  That was never God’s destiny for them.

Saul made his decision without considering God’s power.  He never thought about what God had done before.  Gideon, in Judges Chapter seven,  faced the same size enemy, “As many as the sand on the seashore,” with only three hundred men, armed with only a jug, a lamp and a trumpet. God is able to bring about a victory beyond our abilities…if we trust Him.

I think it’s interesting that Saul panicked and couldn't wait for Samuel – The man of God.  He could have used his counsel.  He could have used the word of God to help him, but he was the king.  In his mind, he knew what to do and that decision cost him the kingdom.

Samuel wasn't a great general.  He wasn't a battle-hardened veteran, but he heard from God.  Any counsel Samuel gave Saul would be God’s counsel.  Besides, who knows that God didn't want to do something like he did with Gideon, so Israel would know it was God that delivered them, and that He was with them.  People have this great capacity to assign their victories to themselves and their defeats to the devil, and most often it’s a move of God that brings victory.  God used Gideon and his three hundred men to defeat Midian so Israel would know that it was God moving on their behalf.

In First Samuel Chapter fourteen, Jonathan and his armor-bearer defeated a number of Philistines and then God brought about an earthquake that drove the rest away in fear, because he acted in faith and trusted God.  Jonathan’s decision to trust God was a directional decision.

I have a friend who overcame a poor education by trusting God.  He’s now the number two man in a multi-national electronics firm with only a high school education.  He had dropped out of high school and returned to get his diploma at thirty-four years of age.  This was after he became a vice-president.  This is the power of God to move on our behalf.  In the process, he made several decisions that proved to be directional decisions, as he gave and supported his church, and was involved in all the church’s activities. (A practice he continues to this day.)  Can you imagine the CEO of your company recommending to the board of directors of the company to make a high school dropout a vice president?  Only God could make that happen.  This man could have stepped away from the church while he was earning minimum wage but he decided to trust God for the increase, a directional decision.

I know a family that trusted God through a huge financial tragedy.  Their entire business burned to the ground.  They lost everything and, in addition faced fines for environmental impacts and fees for City fire-fighting services.  Expenses of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they continued to give and made a decision to put God first.  They were at every service, every outreach and every revival service.  Through this crisis, God brought them even more business.  Now, they’re successful enough that they can turn the business over to their children, so they can be available to go out and pioneer…they’re in their mid-forties.  They could have stopped giving, thinking they needed to hold on to their money, but they made a decision to release and trust God for their provision.

These types of decisions are directional, they’re “God first” thinking.  The problem is that often people don’t make these types of decisions.  They make “me first” decisions.  They are also directional.  If you’re making decisions that move God out of the center of your life, I don’t care how much you've prayed over them, they’re not God.  If it means that something replaces God, then it isn't God – it’s pride.  It’s the same kind of thinking that Saul used in Gilgal.

That decision moved Saul away from God’s will and the result was that Saul lost the kingdom that God had given him.  If we make those kinds of decisions then we are also in danger of the same result. 

We Can Reverse Course

You write your life story by the decisions you make – Helen Mirren

One day I walked into the Door Christian Fellowship Church in Colton, California and heard a sermon on commitment.  After the sermon there was an altar call.  I raised my hand, but when it came time to go forward, I hesitated:  Not out of fear but because I wasn't sure what to do.  One of the brothers came over and asked me if I wanted to pray and I said, “Yes,” and followed him to the altar.  This was another directional decision that put me back into a relationship with and led directly to my being in Taiwan.  The decision to respond to the altar call reversed the bad decisions that led to the destruction of my life.

Saul could have changed the course of life that he had placed himself on.  He could have made another directional decision and placed himself back into the right direction.

David did exactly that, so let’s take a moment and examine his life:

2 Samuel 11:1 (NKJV)
^11:1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

We probably all know what happened here.  David made a decision to stay home rather than go to war.  It could be another prideful decision, “I’m king, I don’t have to go.”  This decision, a directional decision,  took him in a direction that led to great sin in his life.

2 Samuel 11:3-4 (NKJV)
^11:3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" ⁴ Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house.

That decision led to other bad decisions, eventually resulting in the murder of his friend and mighty man, Uriah the Hittite. 

Nathan the prophet pointed out his sin through a story and David realized what he had become. 

2 Samuel 12:13 (NKJV)
^12:13 So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

David had gone from being a man after God’s own heart to God was going to kill him, but he repented  Repentance is directional; it changes the course of your life.  In this last illustration, I wrote about answering the altar call and how it changed my life.  It moved me out of the path of destruction and brought me into a relationship with God.

David changed his life at that moment.  We read throughout the chapters that deal with David’s life that he made decisions after consulting with God.  He examined the decisions that he made in light of the will of God for Israel and for himself.  The good decisions he made after that moved him further away from sin and folly and closer to God’s will. Directional decisions don’t have to be kingdom-losing decisions they can also be kingdom-gaining decisions.  It’s the direction that the decision propels you that’s important.  Does it take you onto a path closer to God, or does it take you onto a path closer to the world?  Are you making decisions to further the will of God in your life or to further the will of you?    Directional decisions:  Which way are you heading and how did you get on that path?

Weiji 危機: Danger and Opportunity

The Chinese word translated in English as crisis is weiji 危機 (way gee).  The word is made up of two distinct characters wei (危 = danger) and ji (機 = opportunity).  So, in the minds of the ancient Chinese, all crises are made up of two components, danger and opportunity.  As we face a crisis, many times, our reaction to that crisis will determine whether we see catastrophe, which is the result of the danger, or victory, which is the result of opportunity.

Today, I want to post on crisis and our response to it.  Let’s look at our text:

1 Samuel 13:1-7 (NKJV)
^13:1 Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, ² Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the mountains of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent away, every man to his tent. ³ And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear!" ⁴ Now all Israel heard it said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had also become an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal. ⁵ Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven. ⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. ⁷ And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

The Crisis

  

In order to begin we need to define the word crisis in English.  The word crisis according to Funk and Wagnall’s Standard Dictionary can be defined as a crucial turning point in an affair or in a series of events:  A critical moment, favorable or unfavorable.  In simple terms this is the moment when the outcome of a particular circumstance or a set of circumstances is dependent on the action that you take at the moment.

An example of a simple crisis might be that you are driving down a road at a high rate of speed.  You’re heading toward a fork in the road, where you must make a decision to turn either right or left.  Turning one way will take you to a beautiful resort hotel, and turning the other way will take you to an unpleasant swamp.  You have no idea which place is in which direction.  You must make a decision to turn either right or left.  When you have reached that point where you MUST take action and turn the wheel one way or the other you have reached a crisis.  The way you turn the wheel will determine the outcome of events that takes place after that time of crisis.

In our text we see the unfolding of a crisis in the lives of two men, Saul and Jonathan.  Both of them have reached a moment of crisis, where action must be taken.  In this situation they had very different responses to that crisis and because of their responses they had very different outcomes.

Saul has taken three thousand men, two thousand he kept with him and one thousand he sent with Jonathan.  Jonathan attacked a garrison of the Philistines.  This was a declaration of war.  It was as if Saul was saying to the Philistines that he was willing to make war on them; that he would no longer remain under rule by them.  The Philistines, for their part responded to this declaration by coming to Michmash prepared or all out war with Israel.

Look at their responses:

Thirty thousand chariots

Six thousand horsemen

And so many foot soldiers they couldn't be numbered

This mighty army, armed to the teeth was sent to face three thousand Israeli soldiers, none of which was prepared for war, especially to face an assault of this magnitude. 

1 Samuel 13:22 (NKJV)
^13:22 So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.

The Bible tells us that as a result the men of Israel were frightened and began to melt away, hiding in caves and trembling.  We see their reaction in verses six and seven of our text.  The number of men following Saul had deteriorated from two thousand men to about six hundred. 

So here is Saul’s moment of crisis.  The Philistines have gathered to face him with an army vastly larger than the force he commands.  His people have become frightened; they’ve begun to desert and hide themselves.  He’s left with about six hundred men to face all of these enemy troops and his response will determine the future of his kingdom and his rule of Israel.

This is an all out assault on the people of God.  The Philistines are holding nothing back; it’s an overwhelming assault by the forces of Hell.  The enemies of Israel represent the forces of Hell in the Bible.  These are the enemies of God.

Today, as God’s people we face an almost daily assault by the forces f Hell.  We’re in a position that’s not unlike that of the people of Israel.  We, as the church, are also facing an assault as we all face crises in our own lives.  What made Saul’s situation so dire is that the men of Israel began to desert and hide under the pressure of the confrontation.  They were unwilling to face the forces of Hell, individually in their own lives.  This is the pressure point that led to Saul’s response to the crisis.  Our individual responses to crises will affect and determine the response of the church.

That response will either bring the realization of the danger or the realization of the opportunity.  We will all face crises throughout our Christian walk because we will all face tribulation or spiritual persecution throughout our lives.

Acts 14:21-22 (NKJV)
^14:21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."

So we must be prepared to endure tribulations and in enduring them be ready to respond to crises.

The problem for the people of Israel at this time is that they were under bondage to the Philistines.  The Philistines had rule over them.

1 Samuel 13:19 (NKJV)
^13:19 Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, "Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears."

So as a result the Israelis were unprepared for war.

1 Samuel 13:22 (NKJV)
^13:22 So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.

They didn't have weapons of warfare.  They couldn't have effectively fought even a force that didn't outnumber them, little less this overwhelming army that they faced.  This lack of preparation also influenced Saul’s response to this crisis.

As you face crises are you prepared for the battle that will ensue if you stand and fight, or are you so unprepared for battle that your only recourse is to withdraw.  These men who deserted weren't cowards, they knew that they were unprepared to fight and face certain death.  So their response to the crises that they faced was to desert their positions, but what if they had been prepared for battle, would their response be different.  I believe that preparation for crisis will help us to respond in a manner that will bring victory rather than defeat.  We can prepare for spiritual battles and crises in our lives with the proper equipment.

Ephesians 6:14-18 (NKJV)
^6:14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--

Our Weapons:

     Truth – Jesus Christ ther way the truth and the Life

     Righteousness – We are made righteous through Christ

     Preparation of the Gospel – That we are ready with the Gospel.  This is what got Jesus through the      assault on him by Satan in Luke 4 – “It is written;” He knew the scriptures.

    Faith – Small faith can move mountains

    Salvation – our minds are renewed in the will of God

    Prayer – What you ask in my name will be given

This is our weaponry; this is what we’re given to fight battles with.  Are you pared to fight or are you allowing yourself to be ruled over by the forces of hell?  Not having the liberty of the Gospel at hand is bondage, isn’t it?  Not having the weapons of our warfare at hand, not being prepared to repel the enemy is bondage to that enemy.

During he cold war, people called Ronald Reagan a warmonger because he refused to negotiate with the enemy on the Strategic Defense Initiative.  This was a system of satellites that would destroy incoming missiles.  He always said that peace came through might.  He called America’s nuclear weapons “the Peace Keepers.”  SDI and an aresenal of nuclear missiles meant that we had the weapons to protect ourselves from our enemies aggression.  We were prepared to meet that enemy in battle.

The real problem is that a lack of preparedness will force you into a response that will be fraught with danger because you’re not able to seize the opportunity.

In 1967, the enemies of Israel attacked.  Israel is a small nation surrounded by enemies on all sides.  Those enemies are larger countries with much larger population, but Israel was prepared for war.  They knew that their enemies wanted to destroy them and they responded and not only defeated their enemies but increased the land of Israel.

They seized opportunity out of crisis because they were prepared.  Our response to crisis will be made out of whether or not each of us is prepared for all out war.  If we’re prepared for war we can see the realization of the opportunity presented by the crisis.  If we are unprepared we will see the danger realized.

Two Responses

In our story Israel is faced with a real crisis, and there are two leaders during this time, Saul and Jonathan.  We see here two different responses to the same crisis.  Let’s examine each of them

Saul’s Response

1 Samuel 13:8-12 (NKJV)
^13:8 Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. ⁹ So Saul said, "Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me." And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. ¹¹ And Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ¹² then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering."

Saul’s men had scattered, he was facing an enormous army with a small force, and the men were beginning to desert and scatter.  We can see the outline of his response in his explanation to Samuel in verses 11 and 12:

“And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ¹² then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.’”

First he tells Samuel, “I saw the people scattering from me.”  He’s thinking that it’s up to him, that he has to do something to keep it all together; that he had to do it on his own. I can see his thought process here, “I’ve got to do something to keep these people from leaving, it’s all up to me.”  This is not a response of faith this is panic.  So, what he does he do?  He takes it upon himself to offer the burnt offering, but he should have waited for Samuel.

Who does Samuel represent?  He represents God, he’s the man of God.  So Saul is not waiting on God’s plans or purposes.  Samuel told him to wait  seven days at Gilgal and I will come and make the offering.  Look at this verse:

1 Samuel 10:8 (NKJV)
^10:8 You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do."

Samuel told him, “I will make the burnt offerings,” but what else did he tell him?  “I will show you what you should do.”  In other words God has already given him a plan.  God already had a purpose for what was taking place. “I will come and show you what to do to end this crisis according to the will of God.”  So, Saul isn’t looking for God’s counsel, either.  He’s thinking, “Samuel’s late. God’s not here when I need him, so I’ve got to suck it up and do what I think has to be done.” 

1 Samuel 13:12-14 (NKJV)
^13:12 then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering." ¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."

The Kingdom is taken from Saul.  His response to the crisis resulted in the danger being fully realized.  He’s lost the kingdom, he’s lost it all and that was hwhat he was afraid would happen if he didn’t act on his own anyway, wasn’t it.  That’s what drove him to make the decisions he did.  “I can’t fight without the men, so I have to act to keep it all together.  It was the action that he took to keep the kingdom together that cost him the kingdom. 

Contrast this with Jonathan’s response:

Jonathan’s Response

1 Samuel 14:6-12 (NKJV)
^14:6 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." 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." ⁸ Then Jonathan said, "Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. ⁹ If they say thus to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 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." ¹¹ 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." ¹² 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."

Jonathan is facing the same crisis.  He’s hopelessly outnumbered; his men are just as unprepared.  In fact, as we saw, only Jonathan and Saul had any weapons.  But look at his response in verses 8-11:

1 Samuel 14:8-11 (NKJV)
^14:8 Then Jonathan said, "Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. ⁹ If they say thus to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 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." ¹¹ 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."

The first thing he does is look for the will of God.  “What’s God trying to do in all this?  What’s God’s purpose.”  It’s an attitude of faith that God can use to bring His plan to fruition. 

Before he did anything he looked for God’s counsel.  “Let’s show ourselves to the Philistines and how they respond will be a sign from God as to what we should do.”  They’re standing on the promise that God has answered and will deliver them according to his word.  He knows that God can deliver despite the circumstances, if he will act according to God’s will.  In his response Jonathan sees the opportunity part of the crisis fully realized as the Philistines’ great army is destroyed not by Jonathan’s action but by God’s action.

Facing Crises in our Lives

When a church is facing a crisis, like trying to increase the presence of the church in the community by doing new and different things to reach people.  There is an opportunity to move forward and to cause the church to grow.  There are also risks.  There will be more pressure placed on us as individuals.  There will be more assaults from Hell on us as individuals; financial pressures, health pressures, marriage pressures to name just a few.  The devil will assault both the church and the individuals that make up the church.  There are two possible responses to crisis.  As in the scenario of our illustration, we can 1) put on the brakes and stop all forward momentum, or 2) we can press on turning either to the right or the left.  Turning either in panic or in faith. We can either wind up in a stinking pit of despair or in the will of God.

James 4:7 (NKJV)
^4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

This is the appropriate response to crisis.  Submit yourself to the will of God, like Jonathan as he faced the garrison of the Philistines.  “God I know you have a purpose in this, and I’m looking for your purpose and will.”  That’s Jonathan’s response.  That’s the response that wills ee opportunity realized. 

What happens if we see the danger realized?  We lose dominion, we become like Israel hiding in our holes.  We miss out on the promise of God.  There’s no deliverance, there’s no fruitfulness.  Fear doesn’t win battles, so the church struggles to stay together, forget about moving forward.

What happens, though, if the opportunity is realized?  1) We continue to gain power and dominion over the spirits that rule our city and 2) Opportunity will result in more visitors, growth in the church and revival.

Much of how the church responds is dependent on the response of the individuals who make up the church’s response to individual crises.  After all, the overall assault on the church will be made up of smaller assaults on individuals in the church. 

How are you going to react?  Like Saul, in panic, or like Jonathan in faith?  Are you prepared for battle or dominated by the enemy? 

We need to react like Jonathan.  Look for God’s will.  Look for what God is trying to do.  Desire to be a part of what God’s doing.  Be the fuse that ignites deliverance.  God can deliver by many or by few.  Either way it is by individuals responding to individual crises in faith that ignites the movement of God.  Jonathan’s action brought about God’s deliverance.  Our actions will bring about God’s promise.