• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sermo Humilis

Humble Speech

  • Home
  • Topics
    • Just a Thought
    • Who we Are Instead
    • Life in Christendom
  • Series
    • Topical
      • Words that Matter
      • Jesus Through all of Life
      • 8 Weeks Before Marriage
      • Life and Times of Jesus
      • Rock of Ages
      • The Ten Commandments
    • Bible Book
      • Proverbs
      • The Book of Ezra
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / Life in Christendom / The Servant of the Lord

The Servant of the Lord

July 22, 2022 By David Trounce 1 Comment

Reading Time: 4 minutes
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The Servant of The Lord - Sermo Humilis

In 1 Samuel chapter 13-14 we have the account of the battle at Michmash (great name!). Saul has been king over Israel for two years and has gathered 3,000 men to come against a Philistine army of over 60,000 men.

Jonathan is with his father Saul, and so far he’s been the only captain to take out a Philistine Garrison.

As the Philistine army draw near, many of Saul’s men begin to panic.

The Philistines had done the leg work. They had taken out Israel’s blacksmiths and thereby removed Israel’s ability to make weapons (1 Samuel 13:19). With only a few rusty farm tools with which to do battle, the Hebrew soldiers run into the hills and are hiding among the rocks.

King Saul, who is also hiding in a cave, now finds himself with only 600 men.

At this point in the story the Israelites have become sitting ducks. There’s no shame in that. Sometimes the smartest thing to do is duck (Isaiah 26:20).

But Saul is Israel’s king, the appointed servant of the Lord, and right now Israel needs saving.

What occurs next in 1 Samuel 14, teaches a great deal about the characteristics of a faithful servant of the Lord.

And Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armour, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised ones. It may be that Jehovah will work for us; for there is no restraint to Jehovah, to save by many or by few. (1 Samuel 14:6)

The servant of the Lord has His eyes in his head. He sees the odds stacked against him, but he’s not playing the odds. His hope is fixed on what God can do. And so, unlike his father, Jonathan chooses not sit in a pomegranate cave picking the lint from his belly button. He grabs his loyal sidekick and heads out to do battle.

Like Jonathan’s armour-bearer, the servant of the Lord carries His masters armour. He is not swayed by outward appearances. He does not rely on his own smarts but on the gear his master has given him.

Moreover, the servant of the Lord is at ease, knowing that the one who sends him is also the one who does the work. “…The Lord will work for us… [For] there is no restraint to the Lord, to save by many or by few.”

Unmoved by appearances, the servant of the Lord is moved by faith in what God can do, not what man can do.

It’s important to notice at this point that Jonathan had not received any specific word from the Lord about victory. He’s not heading out to battle because God has reassured him that he will win (Though God will provide this assurance along the way, cf. 1 Samuel 14:8-12). He’s gone out to do battle on the grounds that God is able to save and inclined to save His people.

Anyway, Jonathan and his armour-bearer head up the rocky cliffs of Michmash and manage to knock off around 20 Philistines. It’s only a small victory but it has significant consequences.

The Philistines fall into a panic, followed by a great panic which is then followed by an even greater panic that leads to more and more panic – at which point the Philistines start attacking each other (1 Samuel 14:15, 19-20).

When people rebel against God it’s not uncommon for God to send disaster. But throughout history, God has not only sent the disaster, He has also sent the ensuing panic.

What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. (Proverbs 10:24)

We see this going on in the world around us right now. Food shortages, financial insecurity, godless, draconian laws, drought, the threat of spooky wee viruses and no doubt, more danger (real or imagined) to come. People have become disoriented and confused and worry that God might be judging the nations.

But the panic and the confusion are the judgement. It makes no difference whether the danger is manufactured by man or not. Above all the current craziness is God who is shaking heaven and earth so that the things that belong to Him may remain. And, it’s under such judgement that the people, eager to save their own skin, are all the more ready to fall down with trembling reverence before any nefarious overlord who offers them the appearance of safety from the growing panic.

There’s this story that at the end of World War I Lawrence of Arabia took some of his Arab friends on a tour through Paris. He showed them things like the Arch de Triumph, the Louvre and Napoleon’s tomb. But none of these things impressed them. The thing that really interested them the most was the faucet in the bathtub of the hotel room.

Likewise, the servant of the Lord is not taken in by the current scenary. His eyes are fixed on those things which make for life. His eyes are on the throne of the Lord.

The servant of the Lord lives in the world, but does not rely on its counsel. He knows the world is being shaken and in some parts collapsing altogether, but he is not panicked by its appearance. He sees the heroes of the city of man on parade, but he is not distracted, much less impressed.

While the world is busy doing what it does best – tearing itself down in a confused panic – the servant of the Lord has his garden tools and is busy building the unshakable house of the Lord.

Related...

Women Who Bake
What to do with Your Junk
Upon This Rock
Because Time is No Healer

Filed Under: Life in Christendom Tagged With: Battle, Servant, Soldier


Writing Ideas on Sermo HumilisWhat do You Want to Read About?

 

Nothing like real-world issues to focus the mind. If you have something you would like me to write about, send me a message and let me know.

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David TrounceLucas says

    July 25, 2022 at 8:41 am

    Very encouraging David, might stop picking lint out of my bellybutton too

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Sermo Humilis

For the love of all things true, beautiful and good.


Welcome to Sermo Humilis, a digital home for biblical discipleship and cultural Christianity. A few new thoughts every week.

Please remember to like, subscribe and share. It really helps me out.

Categories

  • Life in Christendom
  • Just a Thought
  • Who we Are Instead

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Medium
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Series

Sidebar Series - The Book of Ezra Sidebar - Words that Matter Sidebar - Jesus Through all of Life Series

The Most Popular Guff

A Good Lament

The world and its religions have no rival to the Psalms. Buddha has no

Jesus, Worship and Work

Jews and Samaritans did not speak to each other and did not worship

#19 Jesus and Mourning

Mourning and grief over loss are universal experiences. And even

Patriarchy

God is our Father. He is the penultimate Father and He rules the

The Sin of Believing a Lie

Most believers understand that lying is a sin. Not so many know that

Breaking Bread with Strangers

When believers gather, we gather as a result of the death and

Jesus, Our Anchor

For your typical godly Jew, life was always anchored in something

See and Hear

On the move? Weekly content can also be seen and heard via Youtube.

Topics

Beauty Charity Children Covenant Creation Death Discipleship Evangelism Faith Faithfulness Fear Fellowship Gospel Grace Grief Guilt Holiness Hope Idolatry Jesus Joy Judgement Kingdom Law Liberty Life Love Man Marriage Mercy Money Obedience Power Redemption Rest Resurrection Righteousness Sacrifice Salvation Sin Suffering Truth Victory Wisdom Worship

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe to Sermo Humilis

Find us on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support Sermo Humilis

If you enjoy Sermo Humilis and want to say thanks you can support me here.

Support

Copyright © 2023 · Sermo Humilis

Thor's Oak

Around 723 AD, a missionary named Boniface entered Hesse in Germany. Upon finding a sacred tree named Thor’s Oak, he took an axe to it, cut it down and built a church. Many in the town, believing that the God of Boniface must be greater than Thor, left their paganism behind converted to Christianity.