Little Chats With God

 “… You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you …” 1 Samuel 23:171 Samuel 23:17
English: World English Bible - WEB
17 He said to him, Don’t be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows.

 Lord, how sad this verse is in the light of what was to follow! Here were two young men with such enormous potential. And not only did they each have that potential, but they could recognize it in each other. They could have been such a strong team, each building on the other’s strengths and compensating for his weaknesses. As David’s right-hand man, Jonathan would surely have come into greatness himself; whilst he, in turn, might have been able to deflect David from some of his more foolish decisions.

 Of course, David went on to greatness anyway. Even though he never dishonored his family or his background, he managed to separate himself from them and become his own person; to find his own identity and destiny.

 Jonathan never quite managed to do that. In spite of his recognition of Your anointing on David’s life, and in spite of his personal love for David, he clung to his loyalty to his father and the old order of things. Never able to make the break and stand firm in his new loyalty to David, he instead remained with his father and suffered the same fate as him.

 I find that sad, Lord - how much more sad must You find it? But then, I think of so many people that I know today, and wonder whether they are really much different from Jonathan … people who can see clearly the kind of things that You want for Your Church, but hold back from moving into them … people who have such enormous potential, but choose to cling to the past and the old ways rather than growing into that potential.

 Lord, teach me when to hold on and when to let go. Help me to grow in a loyalty to You that overrides all other loyalties.

Do you like Little Chats With God? Buy the book at http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback_book/my_little_chats_with_god/6099303.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live…”  Deuteronomy 30:19Deuteronomy 30:19
English: World English Bible - WEB
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed;

Pardon my saying so, Lord, but sometimes Your Word does state the obvious! Given the choice between life and death, of course anyone is going to choose life. Even more obviously, the reason for their doing so is that they want to live…

Yet it seems to me that the choice between life and death is presented to us every day, many times a day. Trouble is, it is rarely presented as bluntly and obviously as it was by Moses to the people of Israel on that long-ago day.

Every lifestyle choice we make each day is a choice between health and sickness, therefore ultimately between physical life and death. But that extra slice of choccy cake doesn’t look like death - and it sure doesn’t taste like death - so we make the choice and don’t even stop to think of the consequences.

Far more importantly, the choices we make are often between spiritual life and death, but because we fail to see the consequences of our actions we don’t even think that we are choosing death. Go to the footy instead of church? Can’t hurt, can it? Yet every time we choose something else rather than our relationship with You, we distance ourselves from You. It may be only a little bit, but the little bits add up. A little white lie here and there to avoid embarrassment? Can’t hurt, surely? Yet every sin makes it easier for us to sin again. Sooner or later, our choice for things other than You becomes automatic, and our relationship with You is down the gurgler.

Lord, help me to see past what’s in front of my nose. Help my to see every choice in the blunt terms of “life or death.” Help me to choose life.