A Matter of Trust
Opening Prayer
Jesus, my Friend, I trust You today. Speak to me.
Read 1 Samuel 20:1–17
Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”
2 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”
3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”
5 So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6 If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8 As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
9 “Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”
10 David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11 “Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13 But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14 But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15 and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” 17 And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks (Isaac Watts). Do you agree? How difficult is it to trust God?Life is full of uncertainty for David (3). Basically, whom can he trust? Saul is irrational, violent and unreliable. He makes an oath, and then goes back on it. David (rightly) is not convinced by Jonathan’s reassurance that his father has no evil intentions towards him (2).
David hatches a plan whereby Jonathan can discern his father’s attitude toward David. Anyone might inadvertently become ceremonially unclean, making them initially unable to participate in the New Moon feast, so it might take two days for Saul to notice that David is not there. Saul’s reaction on hearing the apparent reason for David’s absence would indicate the extent of the danger facing David. But can David really trust Jonathan? What evidence is there of Jonathan’s trustworthiness? What about David’s trust in God?
Both David and Jonathan make promises and reaffirm the oaths they have already made to each other to be faithful. But David’s insecurity still hangs in the air. Psalm 18 is attributed to David, when he confidently declares that God is his rock and his refuge. But here his confidence and trust in God is less certain. Only in hindsight would he be able to see God as his fortress and deliverer.
Apply
Are you a trustworthy friend? What can you do today to be a better friend? What is a small thing you can do to show your care?
Closing prayer
God, guide me to be careful about whom I trust. Thank You that I can confidently risk placing my trust in You.
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