Jonathan's Cave 1 Of 2 Series

Title: How To Behave In A Cave – 6

“Jonathan’s Cave – 1”

Text: I Samuel 13:6

Way out west a cowboy was driving down a road, his dog riding in back of the pickup truck, his faithful horse in the trailer behind. He failed to negotiate a curve and had a terrible accident. Sometime later, a state police officer came upon the scene. An animal lover, he saw the horse first. Realizing the serious nature of its injuries, he drew his service revolver and put the animal out of its misery. He walked around the accident and found the dog, also hurt critically. He couldn’t bear to hear it whine in pain, so he ended the dog’s suffering as well. Finally he located the cowboy – who suffered multiple fractures – off in the weeds. “Hey, are you okay?” The cop asked. The cowboy took one look at the smoking revolver in the trooper’s hand and quickly replied, “Never felt better.”

The past few weeks we have been talking about being in some rough spots in life. This cowboy was at one of those times.

I have some bad news and some good news today: The bad news: The average American only has $83.42 in their bank account. The good news: The Average American is $4.6 trillion richer than the U.S. Government.

We learn from these statistics that how fast you come out of your cave is determined by your attitude. We all have good news to share.

We have been talking about caves. A cave is a type of a dark hour, a struggle, or a serious valley that you are facing. This series has been so powerful to me. It is so encouraging knowing that no matter what cave we are in, God is going to bring us out. Over the next few weeks, as we wrap up this series on “How to Behave in a Cave,” I know that God is going to continue to teach us some principles that we can put into practice to help us come out of our cave victorious. This cave is not meant to last forever; it is just for a season of your life just like it was only for a season in the life of David. So far we have learned some principles from David to help us know how to behave while in the midst of this cave. We know from Psalm 57 that there are some things that we need to put into practice just as David did in order to come out of our cave victorious. We finished up on David’s cave last week but I want to take just a moment to remind you of the lessons that we have learned from David.

I. DAVID LEARNED TO TAKE REFUGE IN GOD

II. DAVID LEARNED TO CRY OUT TO GOD

III. DAVID LEARNED TO DECLARE THE PROMISES OF GOD

IV. DAVID LEARNED TO EXPECT VICTORY

V. DAVID LEARNED TO PRAISE HIS GOD

Today we are going to begin on another caveman found in the Bible and learn from his behaviour while in the cave. His name is Jonathan. Jonathan was the son of King Saul. King Saul was the reason David ran to his cave. Now we want to find out what King Saul’s son, Jonathan did while he was in the midst of his cave. If you study the life of Jonathan at all, you find that Jonathan and David were best of friends. By anyone’s standards, Jonathan was a good man. Yet this good man found himself in a situation where he and his army had to flee and hide in a cave. I want to bring you the Scripture that gives the background of this story:

I Samuel 13:1-4; ¶ “Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, 2 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel; whereof two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. 3 And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. 4 And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were called together after Saul to Gilgal.

During the second year of Jonathan’s father’s reign as king, Saul chose an army of 3,000 men. Two thousand were with him in Michmash and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah. Listen to what happens next:

I Samuel 13:5; “And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.”