Daily Devotional for Thursday 16th November
Finding the right way
Notice that Saul is testing his son here – it is Jonathan that he asks to kill David (in verse 1). He wants to see if Jonathan is still really on his side. But Jonathan tries to reason with the unstable king: his moral dilemma is resolved in favour of his friend rather than his father, and for a moment it seems to work – Saul swears that David will not be harmed. But it’s not long until the mad king is hurling spears at David once again. David has to get away from Saul – and the story continues in tomorrow’s reading. Have you ever been faced with a situation where someone you would normally respect and revere asked you to do something you weren’t happy with? A family member or a boss at work? Jonathan doesn’t lose his ‘moral compass’ here, even when the person asking him to kill David is his king and his own father. What should root us, anchor us, in our lives when we are under pressure to do something wrong? When we are forced to ‘take sides’? I’ve never faced anything a dramatic as Jonathan – but I have had sleepless nights wrestling with what was the right thing to do in certain situations – and I suspect you have too.
Time to reflect…
Can I suggest that a good ‘vaccination’ against being dragged off the true path is to study and read the Bible regularly. Coupled with regular, sincere prayer that goes a long way to guiding us through life’s obstacle course. And regularly meeting with and discussing spiritual things with friends who share our faith – people at church who we respect. Saul would have done well to heed a scripture from his own era, Proverbs 11 v14: “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.” The book of Chronicles repeats the history contained in Samuel and Kings and comments on it. Here is 1 Chronicles 10 v13: “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance” Hope that’s not a plot-spoiler for future Devotionals, but it does matter who we turn to for advice!
Pause to pray…
We can hear God’s voice from the Bible, from our prayer time, and from Christian friends. A prayer for today might be that we find the time to listen!
