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Writer's pictureKevin Van Driesten

True Friends (4)

True Friends (4)

But Jonathan Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself. 1 Samuel 19:2


Read 1 Samuel 19:1-7

Have you ever taken your friend’s side against someone else? Did you do so when you had no idea how things would end? Jonathan was faced with this situation. He tried to defend David’s innocence before his father, though he knew about his father’s angry, jealous nature. What inclined him to take David’s side? Jonathan could not bear the injustice being perpetrated; his father was dealing unjustly with his friend. This moved him. Jonathan secretly kept in close contact with David. At the same time, he sought to publicly uphold David’s name and character. Note that Jonathan did this selflessly, without seeking personal gain. He could have allowed circumstances to run their course without being affected. In fact, this would have been to his own advantage in his relationship with his father. But Jonathan chose for David while trying to maintain a bond with his father.

Maybe you can relate to this scenario. Perhaps you are not allowed to be friends with an individual because your parents have something against him or her. This something however is not just some secondary thing; it has to do with whether they serve the Lord or not. Unbelieving parents may not want you to hang around with Christian friends and vice versa; believing parents may not want you to be friends with people of the world. Or, perhaps your parents have something against the family of your friend. Such situations cause tensions.

But Jonathan points his father to his sinful attitude in contrast to David’s honorable life. David had not committed any evil; on the contrary, he only did that which was admirable. Jonathan and David tried to overcome evil with good, and they did this, not for their own benefit, but to bring their father and father-in-law to repentance. How great was their self-denial!


Question: What part does self-denial play in your life?


Psalter 330:1, 4 (based on Psalm 119) Thou, Who didst make and fashion me, O make me wise Thy law to learn Then they that fear Thee shall be glad When they my hope in God discern. Let those that fear Thee turn to me, Thy truth to them will I proclaim; Instruct my heart to keep Thy law, That I may not be put to shame.

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