week of 07/05/11 4th recorded HighQuest 1 Samuel 20:1-17

The passage I read was 1 Samuel 20:1-17

You can find that passage here:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2020:1-17&version=NIV

The verse that most stood out to me:

¹³But should it please my father to do you harm, the LORD do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father.

As I reflect:

This passage reminds me of Ruth and Naomi. There is a part that is actually very similar in their two stories, and that part would be when they verbally share the level of devotion and love they have for one another. Ruth in Ruth 1:17 says, “¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”” The idea here is unfailing devotion. I believe this has been set as an example for us all through the Bible as we see so many that are willing to lay down their life or their loved one’s lives for Love’s sake. Abraham willing to sacrifice his son for love of God. God willing to sacrifice His Son for love of man. And everywhere in between is also discussed throughout the word. This is the type of love we are to have for one another. We are told that greater love has no one than this but to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:3). Jonathan displays his love for David (who was like a brother to him) in this, that if he was aware that his father intended any harm to David, he wished the Lord would do worse to him for having kept it unknown to David. What a way to guarantee your brother that you don’t know anything. He could have said that a thousand different ways without having to bring the swearing on his life into it. But he did just that because that’s how much it meant to him that David understood that Jonathan his brother would never harm him or knowingly hide that fact that someone else was going to harm him. It’s actually rather touching to watch the relationship of these two believers as they grow throughout their stories together. We should be of a like mind with each other as fellow believers today, that we would be not only willing in words, but in actions to give of ourselves freely to help our family in Christ.

My response to the Lord:

Lord, help me from this day forward to love other believers with that same love you showed me in Jesus willingly dying on the cross for me. Help me to love other believers unconditionally and unmerited just as your undying love for me is unmerited by anything I have done. May I learn to see more through your eyes and with your heart the Jonathans and Davids in my own life. I pray these things in the precious name of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.