NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

February 26

Scripture focus: There were honeycombs here and there in the fields. But no one so much as put his finger in the honey to taste it, for the soldiers to a man feared the curse. But Jonathan hadn't heard his father put the army under oath. He stuck the tip of his staff into some honey and ate it. Refreshed, his eyes lit up with renewed vigor.

A soldier spoke up, "Your father has put the army under solemn oath, saying, 'A curse on the man who eats anything before evening!' No wonder the soldiers are drooping!"

Jonathan said, "My father has imperiled the country. Just look how quickly my energy has returned since I ate a little of this honey! It would have been a lot better, believe me, if the soldiers had eaten their fill of whatever they took from the enemy. Who knows how much worse we could have whipped them!"

They killed Philistines that day all the way from Micmash to Aijalon, but the soldiers ended up totally exhausted. Then they started plundering. They grabbed anything in sight—sheep, cattle, calves—and butchered it where they found it. Then they glutted themselves—meat, blood, the works.

Saul was told, "Do something! The soldiers are sinning against GOD. They're eating meat with the blood still in it!"

Saul said, "You're biting the hand that feeds you! Roll a big rock over here—now!" He continued, "Disperse among the troops and tell them, 'Bring your oxen and sheep to me and butcher them properly here. Then you can feast to your heart's content. Please don't sin against GOD by eating meat with the blood still in it.'"

And so they did. That night each soldier, one after another, led his animal there to be butchered.

That's the story behind Saul's building an altar to GOD. It's the first altar to GOD that he built. 1 Samuel 14:25-34 MSG

Jonathan obviously had more maturity build up in his internal storehouse than his dad. He did not allow his father’s own foolishness to deter him from doing the next right thing. But the sins of the father almost cost Jonathan his life.

Our willingness to trust God and mature as he guides us has an impact on our family and community. But another’s immaturity is no excuse for our own. We have the opportunity to man up and learn how to live maturely. It helps if there are other key people in our life to guide us. If you have spent a lot of wasted time lamenting the lack of mature influences in your own life, may I offer you a word of encouragement? Stop fretting about what you lack, and instead, commit yourself to becoming the kind of person who can help others with the same help you wish you had along the way.

This will decrease the foolishness factor in our own lives, and perhaps increase the opportunity for others to grow as well.

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