It is one thing to believe it. Many people believe the truths about God. Many will say “Amen” when a great truth about God is preached to the church.
It is another thing to believe it to the extent that you act on it. It is another thing to change your life. It is another thing to “push all of your chips into the middle of the table” as a result of the truth that you have believed.
Those are two separate things altogether.
Jonathan was Saul’s son. Saul was the first king of Israel and Jonathan fought in Israel’s army. He believed the truth about God based on how God had led and saved the Israelites before.
But Jonathan didn’t just believe. He acted upon what he believed. He moved. He went to work. His life was lived based on his beliefs in his God.
So while his father, Saul, was camped under a pomegranate tree, sitting with the nephew of Ichabod, the man whose name means “the glory has departed”, Jonathan instead moved forward. He acted on his belief that God would be the one who would gain the victory, if the victory was to be won at all.
Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few. ”
1 Samuel 14:6-7
The two of them, Jonathan and his armor-bearer, climbed up to the outpost of the Philistines and were able to kill twenty of the Philistines. Two of them defeated twenty, and that seemingly small victory started an even larger fight that would send the Philistine army into a great confusion with itself, even causing them to fight against one another.
At that point, once they heard that the Philistines were in confusion and were on the run, the rest of the Israelites joined the fight. But in truth, the hard work had already been done. God had already won the battle. God had already used those Jonathan and his armor-bearer to set off the chain reaction that would bring the great victory that Saul, the king, would eventually claim for the Israelites.
All because one person believed and two people went to act on that belief.
Jonathan didn’t have any guarantees that God would move. He didn’t know for sure that God would act on their behalf. In fact, he told the armor-bearer that “perhaps” the Lord would act. But he didn’t know for sure. He took a risk based on the character of God. He took a risk knowing what God had already told them to do. He hoped that it would work out and that they would achieve a victory, but he didn’t know.
What about us? Do we risk to accomplish what God has already told us is his plan? Do we step out and do what God has told us to do? Or do we listen and say “Amen” then go home and sit ourselves underneath the pomegranate tree? Let us pray that God would raise up more people who will act upon what we say that we believe. And let us be a people that not only listen to the word of God, but act upon it.
