On Sunday, in my intro sermon to the book of I Samuel (which we will be going through over the next few months, through the end of the summer), I talked about the image of the Ebenezer—the “stone of help” that Samuel erects in chapter 7. Following the defeat of the Philistines, Samuel set up the stone as a physical monument to how God had helped them: “Till here the Lord has helped us,” he says, indicating the point at which the stone is raised. The Ebenezer, therefore, is a sign of the faithfulness of God.
At the end of my sermon, I said that a question to bring into our study of I Samuel is: How will God be faithful to us? What this question asks can be teased out by several related questions:
- How has God been faithful to me in the past?
- What has God promised, and what is yet to be fulfilled?
- What is uncertain and unsure in my future?
- What does God want to do in and through my life?
- What do I want God to do in and through my life?
Of course, these questions should be considered both on the individual and collective level—my life and the Chapel as a whole. As you ask and answer these questions, you begin to anticipate and walk into the faithfulness of God.
Let’s revisit the story we went through in the sermon—Jonathan and his armor bearer going up alone against the whole Philistine army. In this story, you can see how Jonathan thinks through and answers these questions, and what it leads him to expect from God.
The story is taken from I Samuel 14. The Israelites are fighting the Philistines, and as usual, the odds are stacked against Israel by any human measure. Saul has around 600 men, up against a much larger invading force of Philistines who are occupying the high ground on a ridge. To make matters worse, the Israelites are poorly armed, with only a few possessing swords. Saul is clearly uncertain what to do—it would be challenging to withdraw, but the Philistine positions are too strong to assault with his small and poorly armed force.
Jonathan, however, takes a different approach—he tries to understand the situation as God sees it. Let’s walk through how he might have thought through those questions.
How has God been faithful to me in the past?
Too long to recount, of course, but relevant would be recent victories over the Philistines under Samuel, and before that, Samson. More broadly, God had been faithful to the armies of Israel, going before them to clear the Promised Land of their enemies. Their whole land had been given to them by God in the past.
What has God promised, and what is yet to be fulfilled?
The whole land had been promised to them intact—promised first to their father Abraham, and then renewed at Sinai. A great many promises had been made about their tenure in the Promised Land, and the Philistines’ very presence indicated that these promises were, in part, yet unfulfilled.
What is uncertain and unsure in my future?
The battle currently stands in doubt—the Israelites’ victory is unknown. They do not know what will happen if they take up arms against the Philistine army on the other side of their battle lines.
What does God want to do in and through my life?
Here, of course, we grow more speculative, but what Jonathan says provides insight. It seems clear that he thinks God wants him to risk—to step forward and take a chance. He believes the Israelites should attack, and that it is offensive that the Philistines are allowed to remain in the land.
What do I want God to do in and through my life?
This is fairly clear. He wants God to use him to fulfill His promises. He wants to be an instrument for the defeat of the Philistines and their expulsion from his land—and God’s land. There is a clear alignment between his sense of what God wants to do and what he wants God to do through him.
This leads to his immortal line, one of the most memorable in I Samuel. Addressing his armor bearer, he says: “Perhaps the Lord will work for us, for nothing can stop the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”
This is the character of faith—it is the settled belief in the promises of God and in His power to enact those promises, which produces a laying hold of what is promised. This is why faith always acts, and why faith apart from action is dead. Faith always goes out to the faithfulness of God. It always answers the question: “How will God be faithful to me?”
I am praying for this spirit of faith in our church—a bold laying hold of God’s promises that produces action.