Last night at Men’s Group I share one final message from the life of Jonathan. We have been studying the story of 1 Sam 14:6-12 for the past 10 weeks.
6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”
7 “Do all that you have in mind,” his armor-bearer said. “Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” 8 Jonathan said, “Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, ‘Wait there until we come to you,’ we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands.”
11 So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outpost. “Look!” said the Philistines. “The Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in.” 12 The men of the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up to us and we’ll teach you a lesson.”
So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up after me; the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel.”
The question we covered last night was How Do You Know God’s Will? Jonathan had a very important decision to make. He could have easily agreed to the opposite… “if they say ‘wait there until we come to you’ then the Lord has given them into our hands”
KNOWING GOD’S WILL
1. Press into God’s Presence. He will shape your desires in the secret place.
Psalm 37:4 — Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
2. God’s will is a mystery at times, but He wants to reveal it to us. It is His pleasure and He reveals His Will to us ON PURPOSE.
Eph 1:9 — He made known to us the mystery of His will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ.
3. God’s will is not a mental, calculated, logical formula. His will is spiritual and comes thru revelation.
Col 1:9 — For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
#1 and #3 are sometimes huge obstacles for guys. It doesn’t compute for us to find God’s Will waiting on Him, seeking Him, in His Presence. We would rather DO something. Let me balance this post by saying that our Men’s Groups have studied for 10 weeks on the core idea of “do something BIG for God.” That is a core. But sometimes direction comes simply through prayer and worship.
#3 is hard for guys because we like to have everything figured out in our minds. But often times, God’s will comes through revelation, or as Paul says in Col 1:9 “spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
Is there an area in your life that you need God’s will and direction?
Which of these three key scriptures can help you identify His Will?
Kate’s sister, Kelly, is getting married! For an engagement gift, Kate and I gave them this book.
