Can I just say again how much I AM LOVING the 90 day challenge? Well its my blog so I can say it anyway :)
I am especially loving being in 1 Samuel. It's a wonderful book filled with surprising twists and turns throughout every chapter. I would love to delve into some awesome DEEP theology, because there is A LOT of opportunity for that in the book of 1 Samuel. But I am not going to because the only thing I can think of right now is HOW MUCH I LOVE JONATHAN! After seeing almost every man and woman so far, Jew or Amalekite, lie, steal, backstab, gossip, cheat, and basically commit every other sin known to man, it was so refreshing to read about Jonathan. I mean I am supposed to be riveted on David at this point because besides God, David and Saul are the main people in 1 Samuel. But my heart kept going back to Jonathan. His words of love and friendship to David, his heart for God, and even his loyalty for his Dad. When he hears that his dad, Saul, might be trying to kill David, he is shocked at first. "How could this be?" he thinks to himself. In almost soap opera like fashion, he decides to test whether its true or not by seeing his dads reaction to Davids absence. When it is confirmed to Jonathan's heart that his dad truly has become wicked and wanted to harm an innocent young man out of jealousy, his heart breaks. But, as I just read a few moments ago in chapter 31, he dies in battle fighting loyally with his dad. Now I am fully aware that Jonathan sinned in his life because the bible is clear we all have sinned and we ALL fall short of the glory of God. But wow, up until this moment I had not found someone who had inspired me or moved my heart the way Jonathan did. As I read a few moments ago about his death, I grieved. Not a lot, but a little. I closed my bible and thought about how sad I was to read about his death, I thought to myself, "maybe if I have another son, I will name him Jonathan after this man". Well most of you know that we have been wanting to conceive for quite some time now, so it pained me a little to think about it. But I truly meant it. If God does so choose to bless us again with another gift I really think I want to. So I got on my computer and decided to look up the Hebrew meaning of Jonathan and wouldn't you know it.....Jonathan means "God has given, or Gift from God". God is good either way, but I think I will dare to hope there may be a boy in my future and he may be named Jonathan.
update: 90 day challenge
Posted by
Valerie
Friday, January 22, 2010
3 comments:
I think that's really cool. Jonathan had guts and was loyal to his friend and his dad. But unlike you I'm so glad to be out of the Samuels. There was so much there that challenged me. I love it all, but it's such a hard reminder that we didn't keep our end of the bargain. We didn't worship God alone, none of them did. Even David did some pretty terrible things and was obviously not the best father. Solomon turned aside to idolatry. It's such a depressing reminder that there is none righteous, no not one. I'm grateful that we're saved by the grace of God, but I guess I'm always hoping for more out of these heroes of the Bible. I think you're right that Jonathan was pretty cool. His son didn't end up too great, but maybe that's because he grew up at David's table after Jonathan died.
I agree Celee. I kept hoping for one, just one, to not totally do the terrible things everyone else was doing. But its true, there is none righteous. I too wanted more from the Heroes. It was disappointing. But at the same time, maybe they are look from heaven and wish more from me. And about Jonathan's son, that was a great point about him growing up eating at Davids table. That may have had some to do with it.
I just wanted to say that even though he's barely mentioned, I'm always struck at the character of Urriah the Hittite. It really impresses me that he doesn't compromise his character when he comes home from the war for a couple of days and clearly tempted.
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