While David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God. 1 Samuel 23:15,16
We’ve been looking at foundational questions in the Christian life such as “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, “What is God’s plan for me?”, “Does God Love me?”… The answers to these questions make up our personal identity. And without healthy answers to such questions we will have a shaky foundation for practicing Christian graces such as kindness.
A final question: “So what?” “Does anyone even care who I am, that God loves me, that He has a plan for me?” Questions like that brings us to the topic of relationships. That is, in my life, do I have relationships that affirm my value to God and His plan for my life?
In today’s verses, we see Jonathan coming to David and encouraging him in the Lord—in context he’s affirming David in who he is, why he’s here, and what God’s purpose is for David’s life. We all need relationships like that. Because when we’re bombarded with feelings of rejection it’s easy to conclude that nobody loves us, nobody cares, then the enemy has us right where he wants us: defeated. We give up. Stop trying. Throw in the towel…
Withdraw, withdraw, withdraw. And that’s the hopelessness route. It’s the battleground of no value. They feel like they have no value, period. Self-rejection and unworthiness typify their lives. And their hearts turn off and they’re numb and they isolate themselves and they’re miserable and they don’t even know why.
People accuse us and it sticks. It won’t let go. When you or I don’t know who we are in the Lord, other people’s opinions of who we are speak loudly. We’re libel to do self-defeating things, foolish things, just trying to live up to their expectations. But Jesus wasn’t swayed by the crowds. That’s why Paul could tell the Corinthians that he cared very little how they judged him, or even how he judged himself (1 Cor 4:3,4).
It doesn’t mean we exclude all other voices; just that they don’t win the day. We consider it before God (the negative and the positive) and accept what needs acceptance, deal with what needs dealing with, and ignore the rest. We’re correctable. We’re able receive good instruction. But our identity isn’t in someone else’s approval. It’s in Jesus, and our value in our relationship with Him.
Jonathan was a real friend. He encouraged David, not in himself, not in his authority, not in all he’d done for God…he encouraged David in the Lord.
So that’s the one side of the question: ‘So what?’ It’s the hopelessness route: Defeat, withdraw, value-less-ness. Others with the same rejection problem compensate in equally destructive ways: They still have no value or worth in the Lord; they’re still empty; but their rejection spirits aren’t as easily noticed because they keep busy. They have enough stuff to do to cover up for it. We’ll look at that more next time.