1 Samuel 14:1Now 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. 2And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men; 3And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’S priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. 4And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5The forefront of the one was situate northward over against Michmash, and the other southward over against Gibeah. 6And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few. 7And his armourbearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. 8Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. 9If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you; then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto them. 10But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then we will go up: for the LORD hath delivered them into our hand: and this shall be a sign unto us. 11And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. 12And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel. 13And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew after him. 14And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow. 15And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.
Israel was at war with the Philistines. Saul and his armies had all but given up the battle to lose, when the crowned price Jonathan decided to do something about their bad situation. Saul was the King, and Ahiah was the high priest that year. The great grandson of Eli, grandson of Phinehas and nephew of Icabod (God has departed.) So they had a back slidden King and the second generation of God has departed. Besides all that the King had found him a resting spot under a pomegranate tree while his army was holed up in caves. They had caved in and he had given out. As if that wasn’t bad enough they were between two shark rocks : and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. They were between a rock and a hard place for sure. No one had the faith for victory and no one even wanted to try especially if it meant actually going to battle and getting their hands dirty. They were hiding, lazy and content to just watch and wish for better days. Now a days you have to pump, prime, pull, and primp for folks to get a vision of what God could do. You have to pet, pamper, brag on, and burp them to keep them in the family of God. What has happened to people just seeing the need and acting on that project instead of watching, waiting, and wailing. There was one man in the crowd who felt the need to fight and win. He was the crown prince Jonathan who along with his lone armor bearer decided to go it alone. There are times in our lives when we must go the extra mile even when situations look bleak and we are between two sharp rocks and the enemy is overwhelming.
So Jonathan and his armor bearer, who was the one who helped him put on his armor, carry his shield and keep everything in working order, went to find a fight. The enemy had taken their home land and settled in their territory and it was their idea to take back what the enemy had stolen away. It’s time that many of us begin to take back what the devil has stolen. Some would counter, it’s only a half acre, what’s the big deal. The deal is it belongs to us and the enemy has no business taking it from us. And I for one am willing to fight, and struggle until the victory comes. They were just two men going after a half acre of land, but to them it might as well have been a continent. What you see may be small and insignificant, but God can take the small things and make them large. It did not matter that one of these men was a prince and the other just an armor bearer. When we get ready for God to move in our life titles and positions will not matter. We each have our place in God’s economy.
As Jonathan and his partner climbed to the heights to do battle it was a unified effort. One would climb and pull the other up while they would climb over each other to get to the top of the pinnacle where God’s half acre was. If we really want to see a move of God in our day we must work together and pull each other up in order to reach the place of battle. To achieve the heights with God we must climb and do that in a team effort. The stomach gets the food so the mouth says I refuse to open up because the stomach will get all the food. The hand says I refuse to carry the food to the mouth because the stomach gets it all. The feet can say I will not take the body to get food because the stomach gets it all. They can have that attitude, but they will all attend the same funeral. As the human body works together so does the body of Christ.
When they finally reached the top of the ridge with much effort the two men began to fight and when the smoke cleared there were twenty of their enemies laying dead. They fought so strong and so valiant that not one scratch was given to them. They locked arms and fought back to back while protecting each other. Not worrying over who would get the glory or recognition for the battle, all they had in mind was winning the battle for the Lord of Israel. They knew there must be a struggle before true victory comes. If each had went their own way they would not have won that day. Instead they fought as a team watching for each other and won.
They went from a low position between two sharp rocks while all the others slumbered and slept, doubted and pouted, Jonathan and his buddy made it to the top, fought for God’s half acre and won. The two sharp rocks had names; the one meant shining and the other meant throne. Instead of seeing two sharp rocks and a hard place to develop they saw only shining thrones. And when the battle was over, their victory was completed, and they could rest for a moment, suddenly the place of God’s half acre began to tremble and an earthquake occurred. The people in the valley who had not ventured to leave their comfort zone began to feel the earth as it shook and they realized that Jonathan and his partner had broken ranks with their liturgy and laziness and accomplished more in an afternoon’s work than the whole army had done in weeks.
The theme I want to leave with us today is simple. The plot may be small, the job insignificant, but I believe there is someone here today who are ready to rise to the task ahead and forge forward and by your efforts start an earthquake. It is God’s half acre and I’m tired of the enemy overrunning it. I am mad at the devil and he at me. I propose to fight until Jesus comes. Fight for our families, our church, our souls, our children, and an earthquake will be the results. How many of you are willing to start an earthquake. God wants to use you but how many of us are usable for his Kingdom.
