Being wise with our words.
Jonathan climbed up, using his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer right behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer followed and killed behind him. In that first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men in an area of about half an acre.
Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords. Those Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them to their camp went over to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. When all the Israelites who had hidden in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were on the run, they joined the battle in hot pursuit. So on that day the Lord saved Israel, and the battle moved on beyond Beth Aven.
Now the Israelites were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food.
The entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. When they went into the woods, they saw the honey oozing out; yet no one put his hand to his mouth, because they feared the oath. But Jonathan had not heard that his father had bound the people with the oath, so he reached out the end of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it into the honeycomb. He raised his hand to his mouth, and his eyes brightened. Then one of the soldiers told him, “Your father bound the army under a strict oath, saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who eats food today!’ That is why the men are faint.”
1 Samuel 14:13-14, 20-23, 20-28
Time to apply what we have learned.
King Saul started off as a good king. He was doing what he was supposed to. He was seeking the benefit of the nation and doing what God had asked him to do. However, just like we see in the story, his intentions turn to fulfilling his own needs. We see that in a lot of Saul’s actions as his story continues. He started using the pretense of faith and religiosity to simply accomplish his own gain. That’s what we see in this story. He uses something that is supposed to be serious and devoted to God, an oath, and makes it about his own vengeance.
These are some of the times that we fail the most. When we take the pretense of other things and instead make them about us. It could be business, family, marriage, church, gym life, and basically any other setting you can think of. When we become self oriented and self centered we begin using the contexts around us that seem noble to merely accomplish our own gains at the expense of others.
We often cover this up with a false sense of piety about the situation. “I was just trying to help the gym.” “I just know what’s best for my family.” “I’m just trying to grow my business.” Does that mean every time those sentences get uttered they are wrong? No. But it does mean that we are masters at fooling ourselves into thinking we are doing something for someone else when it’s really based in selfish means.
Saul never realized his wrong. He realized the consequences of his actions when it came time to fulfill his vow to God. It was the people who were righteous. THEY called out to save Jonathan’s life because recognized that Jonathan’s actions were pure and that God was using him to accomplish the tasks he has set before the Israelites.
Do you have a relationship where someone feels empowered to correct you and point out your selfish and misguided motives? If so, who?
What groups, organizations, or entities are you a part of that can be temptations to use for your selfish purposes with the facade of helping the larger group?
Spend time today reflecting on the impact that your words have on the lives of others. When we really step back and look at how we use our words in the accomplishment of purposes we begin to truly see where our motives lie.