Are you willing to be the Spark?

1 Samuel 14:1-22

Reading the first 22 verses brought to mind a little song we sang in Lay Witness Mission; “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.”  

“It only takes a spark

To get a fire going

And soon all those around

Can warm up in its glowing

That’s how it is with God’s love

Once you’ve experienced it

You spread His love to everyone

You want to pass it on.“

Often God calls a person to be that spark, He may be calling you, and it seems the impossible mission but as Jonathan told his attendant, the one given the duty of carrying 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 can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.”  That is what I would refer to as a spark of faith, not in man, but in a big God.  Now when you have that kind of faith in God others will be watching, and they will go with you, as did his armor carrier.  Verse seven, “And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart.  Do as you wish.  Behold, I am with you heart and soul.”

Now this is the part that many in the modern Church miss, Jonathan was getting his direction from the LORD, as revealed in verses 8-10, “Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men, and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hand. And this shall be the sign to us.”  How we need God to send us Jonathans today, maybe you are one, if so pray for your armor-bearer.

This part of the story is acts of trust and faith, but not in self, but in the LORD.  Picking up the story in verses 11-15, “So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves.” And the men of the garrison hailed Jonathan and his armor-bearer and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you a thing.” And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Come up after me, for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel.” Then Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, and his armor bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer killed them after him. And that first strike, which Jonathan and his armor-bearer made, killed about twenty men within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land. And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and even the raiders trembled, the earth quaked, and it became a very great panic.”

The Lord has called the Church to come out of its hiding place and show the world the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!  Jesus has prayed for you in John 17:20-21, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice