Seizing God’s Opportunities
1 Samuel 14:1-14

John Wycliffe lived 200 years before the Protestant Reformation that ushered in a belief system that moved the church away from Roman Catholicism and towards a belief in God and the Scriptures as the source of divine revelation.

Wycliffe, and others like him, seized the opportunities provided by God and helped to shape the eventual Protestant Reformation.

The opportunity came when he pastored a church in Luterworth, England. At this time the church in Rome was demanding money from England. It seems that they were struggling through a serious financial downturn.

Wycliffe advised the local officials to tell Parliament not to comply, and it was these sorts of opinions that eventually saw him on trial for heresy.

The Pope issued five “Bulls,” or indictments against Wycliffe. And so Wycliffe took that “bulls by the horns,” and told Rome that it was full of bull, and yes these puns were fully intended.

Wycliffe said, “I am ready to defend my convictions even unto death … I have followed the Sacred Scriptures…”

He went on to say that the Pope and the church were second in authority to the Scriptures.

This didn’t sit well in Rome, but because Wycliffe was so popular in England they put him under house arrest. This presented Wycliffe another divine opportunity, as he was now able to write against Catholic doctrines like Transubstantiation, the Catholic belief that the bread and wine literally turn into the body and blood of Jesus. He also wrote against “indulgences,” or a person’s giving money to the church as a way of buying favor with God.

This was the catalyst that eventually led to the Protestant Reformation, and because of it Wycliffe is called the “Morning Star of the Reformation.”

There’s a saying, and one that came into my realm of thinking when I saw the show, “Dead Poets Society.” It’s “Seize the Day,” or in the Latin, “Carpe Diem.”

If I were to put a definition on what it means, I would say that it’s to take advantage of each day and the opportunities it present as if it were the last day. It’s to squeeze out of each day all that we can, and all that the day affords us. It means not to waste a single day, because once that day is gone, it can never be retrieved.

For believers in Jesus Christ, it means that each day should be used to its fullest potential for God’s purposes and kingdom. Therefore we are to seize every day for God, and make every opportunity that presents itself, count.

The choices we make concerning the opportunities God places before us determine which road we travel in this divine adventure God has called us to take.

Basically it means that every one of us has a divine mission in life.

Today’s message concerns King Saul’s son, Jonathan, and his faith journey when he picked a fight with the Philistine army. Actually, in this story we see two life journeys both of which had the same faith opportunity, Jonathan and Saul.

God wanted to deliver the Philistines into the hands of Israel. In fact, God delivered the Philistine army right at Israel’s doorstep. It was like God as saying, “Here Israel, these Philistines that have been tormenting you for all these years, well here they are, all wrapped up and ready to be defeated.”

Saul, being King and all, had the power to act, but chose not to seize the opportunity, but rather to sit under a pomegranate tree and wait it out. He saw an impossible situation thinking that since Israel had only two weapons collectively, that is, only he and his son had a sword, verses an entire Philistine army where each soldier was armed to the teeth, he failed to see this as a divine opportunity, and thus failed to seize the day for God.

On the other hand, Jonathan saw it differently. So he slips away from the crowd and picks a fight with the Philistines.

They both had the same opportunity, Saul missed it, but Jonathan walked right into it, seized it, and won a great victory.

Many of us know people like Jonathan. They see an opportunity and flourish in difficult situations. We read their stories, stories like Wycliffe and others, and that’s what we want, but at the same time we don’t want to pay the cost that such faith demands.

Instead what we end up doing is settling for knock off copies of the original. We go for the Louie Vatont rather than the Louis Vuitton. We settle for a faith that makes us look good, but it doesn’t do anything for God’s kingdom.

We experience what I would like to call, “The Pomegranate Effect.” This is where like Saul we sit and wait, and then tormenting ourselves because we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.

Our problem is one of perception. It’s where we think these sorts of opportunities don’t come around for people like you and me. We think they only happen to the super spiritual. But when we look at the Bible and church history we find ordinary people who step into God’s activity and experience God’s power in a way that can be described as miraculous.

These people had the same opportunity we have; they just engaged and seized the day differently. We think the works of Elijah the prophet are beyond our capability. But what we need to know about Elijah is what God said about him, that he was no different than you or I. The only difference was he seized the opportunity and great feats were accomplished. (James 5:17-18)

What I’d like to do is extract some valuable nuggets out of God’ word about what Jonathan did and reveal the dynamics that allowed him to seize God’s divine opportunity.

Read 1 Samuel 14:1-14

Look again at verse six

“Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6)

The phrase, “It may be,” goes against most everything we’ve been taught about how God works. Basically Jonathan says, “Let’s to over and pick a fight. Maybe God will help.”

Maybe this gets our blood pumping for going out and picking a fight with Satan. “Maybe” is actually the first step in seizing God’s opportunity for us.

1. Know We Don’t Know Everything

Maybe!

Perfect knowledge belongs to God, not us. God tells us,

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV)

This is one thing that those people that seize the day have, they don’t know it for sure. They live in a dimension of divine uncertainty, but it doesn’t paralyze them in the process.

Most of us live paralyzed lives because we continue to wait until we know for sure that this is God’s will, when in fact we know what God’s will is and our prayers are not so much to ascertain God’s will as it is to try to change it over to our will.

This was my story when I was asked to start teaching a morning service for Hallelujah Christian Fellowship. I told them I’d pray about it. Now there’s nothing wrong and everything right about praying, but in this instance it was sin, as pointed out by the pastor, because I knew it was God’s opportunity for me.

Saul saw the opportunity as a glass half empty, or better yet, completely empty. He saw Israel had only two weapons against the entire Philistine arsenal.

Jonathan, however, saw the opportunity as a glass half full, or better yet, filled to overflowing. From his perspective he had half Israel’s weapons, and God didn’t need an entire army.

“Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6 NKJV)

At this point it might be helpful to look at one more character in this story, Jonathan’s armor bearer. Here’s a guy who carries the armor, so when the battle begins he’s supposed to give the armor to his master and fend for himself.

If this were me, I’d probably tell Jonathan, “Bro, I love you, you know I do. I’m your main man, but I think you’ve got your wires crossed on this one.”

We need to be careful not to fully buy into the line that says that where God closes a door He always opens a window. That’s not the story here. Jonathan said, “May be.” God didn’t open a window telling Jonathan to pick a fight with the Philistines. Instead Jonathan moved forward, not knowing, but what he did know was his God.

Further, the safest place is not always in the center of God’s will, but it is the best place. You see, when we’re in the center of God’s will that’s when we’re going to experience greater trials and problems. Jesus even said so. He said, that if the world hated him, then it’s going to hate us as well. (John 15:18)

When we follow Jesus and His calling upon our lives, then we’re going to experience these sorts of problems. When we step out by faith and seize the opportunities then we will have tribulations.

Consider what the Apostle Paul went through as he operated in the center of God’s will.

“Are they ministers of Christ? … I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness– besides the other things, what comes upon me daily.” (2 Corinthians 11:23-28 NKJV)

Why was Paul in danger? Was it because these were dangerous places and people? Inherently every place and people group is dangerous. But what made these places and groups dangerous was that Paul himself was dangerous. What made him dangerous is that he believed in God and moved forward, not knowing but moving forward anyway.

Taking the gospel message out into the world is the center of God’s will. It’s known as the Great Commission.

Can you imagine what the church can accomplish if we moved forward in God’s revealed will? Can you imagine how dangerous this church would be? That is why we need to get connected with God, with one another, and with our mission to make a difference for Christ in our community.

Taking the gospel out is the whole essence of discipleship, that is, to make disciples by teaching them everything Jesus commanded. We’re not going to know it all, but we will be a dangerous force to be reckoned with.

2. Be Willing To Risk Everything

Jonathan was willing to risk death because he knew the God in whom he served. Jonathan was able to deliver Israel with many or with few because he knew that it’s the Lord that does the delivering.

Look again at what Jonathan said in verse eight.

“Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them.” (1 Samuel 14:8 NKJV)

This really bad methodology is not based on human intellect, because the last thing you want to show the enemy is yourself. Basically it’s saying, “Here I am, take your best shot.” Either God was revealing the worst military strategy ever, or there’s a lesson to be learned.

Notice Jonathan was willing to risk death, which means that he had to place his life in God’s hands. To take this journey of faith, we have to trust God and make ourselves vulnerable. It’s only when we stop hiding who we are, and in whom we believe, that God can use us in a mighty way to seize the day for Him.

Jonathan moved out where he could be seen. We also need to move from our closet Christian experiences and out into the open where everyone can see us and know we’re believers in Jesus Christ.

This is one of the main reasons many believers don’t tell others or share their faith. It’s because when they do they’re seen and can on longer live a secret Christian life, that is, a life that is seen at church but nowhere else.

If we want to seize the opportunities then we got to let others see us and hear our story, and then let God take it from there.

Further, knowing that God can save with few or with many, Jonathan picks the harder of the two options. He said that if they come down then he’d know it isn’t right. Personally, if I’m going to pick a fight I want the advantage. Let them climb down; I’ll cut off their legs before they get to the bottom.

People don’t fight as well without legs

But no, Jonathan said, “Let’s go up to where they have the advantage.” That’s having our trust and faith in God. It’s the type of faith that knows the God in whom we serve, and that is if He says, “Go,” we go.

Can you imagine the church being like this? We would truly be a formable force.

The next dynamic lesson we learn about how we can seize the day for the Lord from our passage is…

3. Go Until God Says Stop

“Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, ‘Come up to us, and we will show you something.’ Jonathan said to his armor bearer, ‘Come up after me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel.’” (1 Samuel 14:12 NKJV)

That was all that Jonathan needed to hear. When he heard them say come, he went, because God never said, “Stop.” All he knew is that God can deliver with many or with few, so he became visible to the enemy and they confirmed what God revealed, and so Jonathan moved forward.

What has God called us to do? Has He said go, but just as important, did He say stop?

When Paul wanted to go to Macedonia, God stopped him, not once but several times, even though the Great Commission is God’s will. However when the time was right God said go and moved Paul into Macedonia where he planted many church and today we’re the beneficiaries as Paul wrote letters to these churches, letters that we read today in the Bible, that is, first and second Corinthians, first and second Thessalonians, and Philippians.

The reason many of us don’t move forward, however, is because of all the labels we associate with those who do. We call them missionaries and evangelists, not realizing that we have all been called to be missionary and evangelistic.

Again I can only imagine what this church would be like and what this town would look like if we moved forward in God’s revealed will until He said stop, if He ever would!

God has commissioned, called, and empowered all of us to go forth, and when we do then we will see God move in great power, the type of power we’ve been praying for.

Finally the last dynamic is…

4. Take The Initiative

We need to act. Jonathan did more than say, “Let’s go,” he went. He took the initiative and moved, climbing the cliff and engaging the enemy.

Think about that. Jonathan didn’t have to go. He wasn’t under any obligation. It was his father’s responsibility. He could have sat around like the rest of them sipping pomegranate juice. But instead he moved forward and picked a fight.

And here’s the point. It wasn’t a maybe with God. God acted upon the action taken by Jonathan.

Our divine destinies are before us, not behind us. God’s opportunities are all around. We have the choice, however, as to which way we’re going to turn. We can ignore them and hope God sends somebody else, or we can do what’s right, what God has revealed to us and see Him do the miraculous.

Those who never see God work are usually the ones who just content themselves with sitting under the pomegranate tree waiting for what God has already revealed.

If we do the right thing, however, following God’s word and revealed will, then we’ll experience the presence and power of God in ways we have only dreamed of.

Will we choose to seize the day and these opportunities, or be content to let them slip away?

Let’s be a people and a church that seizes the day; seizes the divine opportunities God has set before us. And when we do, we’ll be dangerous people and this church will be a dangerous church for the kingdom of God.