Have you heard of crypto currency? Twelve years ago I mentioned to my wife that I should put $100 into BitCoin and wait ten years to see what would happen. I never got around to it. If I had, that $100 spent then would be worth 28 million today. I remember saying something similar about Apple stock in the late 1990’s when it was worth about 18 cents per share. Today it is valued over $120 per share. I missed out on those opportunities. It is hard to imagine what it would have taken to move me past mentioning something to actually getting involved in those things. But I honestly don’t mind having missed out on those opportunities. What scares me is thinking that I might miss out on getting involved in something God is doing in the lives of people around me.
In 1 Sam 14, Jonathan and his armor bearer sparked a revolution. It was a revolution that sparked one group of Isrealites after another to get involved.
1 Samuel 14:20-23 reads, “Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and went into the battle. And behold, every Philistine’s sword was against his fellow, and there was very great confusion. Now the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines before that time and who had gone up with them into the camp, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise, when all the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they too followed hard after them in the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day.”
Jonathan’s bold maneuver opened the door to the Lord’s help. The evidence of God’s intervention was so obvious that all the people on the Lord’s side eventually jumped in to be part of the victory and the route of the enemy. One group after another moved from inaction to action. Saul and those with him, Hebrews who were either captive or had defected, and finally all the men of Israel got involved. There was a domino effect of God’s people jumping on the bandwagon to participate in and claim the victory.
What are you waiting to see happen before you get involved? Is fear, comfort, or the cost holding you back from joining God’s work around us? Hiding out or blending in is never the way for God’s people. Jump on.
Pastor John Riley