Abject Apology

May has turned out to be even more busy than April. We closed on our new house, graduated a daughter from college (with all the family in town), entertained a visitor from Nigeria, and helped the kids move home from college - all while trying to move ourselves! However, we are beginning to see the light at the end of the move. I hope to be able to return to my regular schedule of weekly posts by next week. However, I have a lot of writing to do in the next couple of days and I need to get back on track with preparations for the August trip to Africa. Please pray for God's gracious assistance.
Thank you for your patience.
Dan.

1 Samuel 20:41,42

And Jonathan said to David, “Go in safety, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the Lord….” Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went in to the city.

1 Samuel 20:42

Separation from those we love is a part of the Christian’s reality.

Jonathan and David have now come to their final parting. They would see each other no more. Jonathan returned to the city, to King Saul and to his duty as a prince of the realm. His duty will keep him there to the very end – loyal to his God-forsaken father. David departed to begin seven years of exile, being constantly hunted by Saul. But his trial will eventually bring him to the throne, as a wise and battle-tested king. Although neither man knew what God had in store for them, they seemed to know that this was their final goodbye. And though their sadness was deep, neither man shirked his duty. Both stepped forward into what God had planned for them, confident that He was with them.

Sometimes even best friends and family are separated in the Lord’s service. I’m not talking about separation of the heart, although (sadly) that also happens because we are sinners. Based upon this passage, I’m referring to a separation in location. I can look back and see this reality played out in my own family. My grandparents left friends and family for mission work in Bolivia, where later my father was born. It was a move that shaped their lives, and the lives of the generations that followed them. My parents also felt the call to missions and I was born in Brazil. Others in the family were also called to leave home and, as a consequence, I have cousins who were born in Germany and Ecuador. No doubt the separation was difficult, but it was part of God’s plan for good.

Each of us has a place of service, and God moves us according to His requirements, not according to our hearts’ desires. From God’s perspective, separation is good and it brings increased blessing. Those who are trained in the faith in one location often serve Christ’s Kingdom in another location. In fact, there is a sense in which all of a Christian’s life can be understood as a preparation for the next step – the next move.

This doesn’t mean that separation is easy. The disciples were deeply troubled when Jesus told them He was leaving them and that they could not follow Him. And even though He told them it was good for them that He went away, they couldn’t quite believe it. Not until they were endued with the power of the Holy Spirit did they begin to grasp what Jesus meant. And even then, you can detect the longing for reunion with Jesus that permeates the New Testament. It’s a longing that all true Christians share because, as Hebrews reminds us, we are “strangers and exiles on the earth…seeking a country of our own.” (Heb. 11:13,14) We live as reluctant expatriates, hungry to return to a home we have never seen. Amazingly, this life of separation is what makes God “not ashamed to be called our God.” (11:16) Jesus Christ, after all, experienced this separation more profoundly than any man who ever lived. By the will of the Father (and with His own total concurrence), Jesus left heaven for exile on earth. He lived as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” and His life culminated in ultimate separation as He took our sins upon Himself and the Father forsook Him. We live eternally because of Christ’s experience of separation. It is our family heritage.

So, we should not be surprised when God calls us, as His children, to undergo earthly separation. It is good for us; it is the school of Christ; it prepares us to fully appreciate our final homecoming.

In this passage, Jonathan and David show us how to handle separation in a God-honoring fashion. First, they recognized and expressed their sadness by weeping together. But they also expressed their love for one another as they kissed each other. Jonathan said to David, “Go in safety,” implying clearly that he would pray for David. But equally importantly, they reaffirmed the covenant bonds of their friendship: “The Lord will be between me and you…” They reminded each other that what bound them together was eternal, and so this separation was only temporary. Then they sent each other away without hesitation.

Earthly separation is a true test of faith. Do we really trust in the wise providence of our Father? Are we prepared to follow our Lord? What is the real source of our comfort and security? May your life affirm the sufficiency of Christ in this realm as well.

1 Samuel 20: 35-40

But the lad was not aware of anything; only Jonathan and David knew about the matter.

1 Samuel 20:39

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts nor are His ways our ways.

When we read this chapter, we often focus on the two men and their friendship. We consider, as I did in the last devotion, the willing sacrifice made by Jonathan. Or we look at David and contemplate the beginning of seven years of exile. These are the big issues going on in this account, and we are correct to consider them. However, there is someone else in this account whose involvement is often overlooked – the young man Jonathan brought with him.

This “little lad” didn’t have a clue about the REAL purpose of what happened on that day. In his mind, he was out there to fetch arrows for Jonathan. As far as we know, nothing else ever occurred to him. He was being obedient to what he understood. And even though great events were going on about him, he didn’t know about them. He was only a small player in a much larger plan. The lad followed Jonathan’s directions to run get the arrow that was “beyond him” and then took his master’s weapons back to the city. With that, he disappears from the Biblical account.

I think we are often like this little lad. We are involved in great things without even being aware of it. God is using us for His purposes, accomplishing His will through us, and we have no idea until much later (if ever!) of what God was doing. A chance meeting, a word spoken in passing, a small act of kindness, the faithful following of our daily routine – all such things are used by God accomplish far more than we can imagine.

God doesn’t have to reveal to us the purpose for every event in our life. Sometimes, He simply allows us to carry on, oblivious to the great spiritual events that are taking place around us. Often, our ignorance is for our own protection. If this young lad had known about the meeting between David and Jonathan, he would have been in big trouble. But, in his ignorance he played an essential role in making the meeting possible and in allowing Jonathan to communicate to David safely. There is safety in obedience and we only need to know enough to obey.

Job wasn’t told until afterward about the dialogue between God and Satan. He knew nothing except that things were really difficult for him. Yet, he remained obedient and faithful in the midst of the difficulty. It was his insistent questioning of God that resulted in a rebuke – God told him, in essence, that He was free to do whatever He pleased.

Don’t spend your time asking why. (Deut. 29:29) Sometimes we are like the disciples during Christ’s Triumphal Entry – right in the thick of the action – and at other times we are like the owners of the donkey Christ rode and only given the terse explanation, “The Lord needs it.”

Samuel Rutherford often wrote, “Duties are ours; events are the Lord’s.” God’s actions and plans are not subject to your review. May the Lord give you a heart like that described in the old hymn, “…content to fill a little space, if Thou be glorified.”