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.”