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.”
Remember, Israel only had 3,000 men. The Philistines had 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen AND the single men they had were innumerable. They couldn’t even count how many men were in the Philistine army. The Bible says it seemed like they had so many men they likened it to all sand on the seashore. To sum it up, the Philistines had a big army and Jonathan and Saul had a little army.
With those kinds of odds, what would you do? This brings us to our text that we read. After hearing of all the people that the Philistines had, the next thing Jonathan does is found in the next Scripture:
I Samuel 13:6-7; “When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, (for the people were distressed,) then the people did hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. 7 And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.”
Can you sense the fear in the children of Israel? These men, including Jonathan and Saul were running for their lives and they hid from their enemy because they were terrified. The Bible says that they were trembling. They were not only afraid, they were shaking! Have you ever been so scared that you could not stop shaking and trembling? This is the way that the children of Israel were when they received this report. They hid in caves for fear of their very lives. But there came a time when in the midst of Jonathan’s cave that he learned some behaviours and started to put them into practice. The first thing he learned is:
I. THERE IS NO REASON TO FEAR
Jonathan started out in the cave scared of what the enemy was going to do to him. He and his army hid in their caves for a short time out of fear, but there came a day for Jonathan that he was tired of hiding in the cave and he came to realize I don’t need to fear what man shall do to me. Listen to what Jonathan does:
I Samuel 14:1; ¶ “Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.”
Jonathan had one of those moments. “It came to pass upon a day,” that Jonathan said, “Enough is enough. We can’t hide from these enemies forever. Have we forgotten the kind of covenant God that we serve? We don’t need to fear, God is on our side.” Remember David and Jonathan were best of friends, I am sure that he remembered the times that David refused to fear:
Psalm 23:4; “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Psalm 46:1-2; ¶ “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;”
Psalm 56:3-4; “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”
Jonathan came to his senses and determined that no enemy is going to cause him to fear. You have been in fear to long. There are some here that fear has kept you in bondage. It has kept you in your caves for years, it is time to come to your senses and realize that fear is not just an emotion that you fight, fear is a spirit that you need to rebuke in the name of Jesus.
There has to be a day or a moment in your life when you take a stand and declare, “Come on: Let’s go! Let’s get out of here. We are not going to stay in this cave anymore. I refuse to let fear bind me. I am coming out of this cave right now in the Name of Jesus.” That is exactly what Jonathan did. You have to make a determination that no matter what you have been through or what you are going through now, it is not going to keep you down and out. There has to be a moment in your life when you start declaring victory over your situations and circumstances. You have to determine that enough is enough and you are sick and tired of being sick and tired. You have been hiding out long enough. This trial has kept you bound long enough. This struggle in your life has kept you bound long enough, it is time to come out in the Name of Jesus.
Jonathan determined that he was not going to allow fear to grip his life any longer. He finally determined that God had his back and He will never let him down. Some of you, even after weeks of this series has not determined that God wants you out of this cave but I have come just one more time to remind you that God desires you to be free from this sickness. God desires you to be free from this financial oppression. God desires you to take back what the enemy has stolen from your life. He wants you living free from oppression and discouragement. Tonight, we are going to continue with some more lessons that Jonathan learned that caused him to come out of his cave.
