“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” –Dale Carnegie
Many of us have heard or read the story of Jonathan and his armor-bearer (1 Samuel 14.) Most of the time it is used to illustrate the presence of the armor-bearer and his undying loyalty to Jonathan that he would follow him up a steep cliff to attack a large gang of Philistines. What struck me was the idea that prior to their attack, in which the two young men killed twenty enemies before anyone really got wind of it, was what was happening back at the camp. King Saul was chilling with his 600 men; eating pomegranates and wondering how in the heck he was gonna grow his troops and defeat the Philistines. While they were comfortably pondering, Jonathan and his armor-bearer snuck away and started a ruckus so loud that Israelites and Philistines alike came running to see the fuss. What ensued was Philistines killing Philistines, Israelites who had defected to the enemies’ side came back, the Israelites who ran and hid came back and King Saul’s army grew to ten thousand. Just because one kid and his armor-bearer decided, “what’s the worst that could happen?” I’d like to be more like Jonathan and less like King Saul. I mean, c’mon, what’s the worst that could happen?