1 Samuel 14 - 1 Samuel 24

I have been reading 1 Samuel 14 - 1 Samuel 24 and I am AMAZED at the relationship that Jonathan and David had with one another. I had heard the story before, and I thought, "Ok, so he was his armor bearer, he had to do whatever David asked of him."...But after reading it over for myself and with a little help and insight from Graham Cooke's teachings, my eyes were opened to something much deeper.

1 Samuel 18:1 says "...the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." Jonathan loved David so much that it's mentioned 3 times in these passages. (3) "And Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan took of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt". What Jonathan REALLY did, was he gave up his rights to the throne of his father as the rightful heir, and gave it to David, whom he loved and saw as the chosen king by God.

First, let me just say..WOW!! A friendship like that, I have never had! But it's more than that. I was listening to Graham Cooke teach and he was discussing this relationship, and the job of an armor bearer. I found myself not thinking about my friendships, but more about my husband and my children.

If we were to look up the word armor bearer in a regular dictionary we would find a basic explanation about one who bears arms...DUH!! But if we were to really dig through the bible and history and discover the different people who were called "armor bearers", we would see that there is so much more to this job. These were men who were loyal, humble (even when they slaughtered men by the thousands), gave freely of themselves without question or dishonor, trusted advisers, encourager, strong hearted, ( I would imagine thick headed to some degree as well...I know sometimes the people we are closest to whether in work or life in general, are usually the hardest ones to be around during difficult moments ;) and they were willing to go to the lengths to accomplish whatever the desires were of that person they were in covenant with.

1 Samuel 14:7
"So his armor bearer said, to him " Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you according to your heart."

1 Samuel 20:4
"So Jonathan said to David, "Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you."

1 Samuel 23:16
"So Jonathan, Saul's son, arose went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God."

In my thoughts and times of study and prayer, I began to question my relationships. Am I as open and willing to do whatever it takes, whatever is asked of me (obviously within reason and right mind) in order for my husband and our children to have the things that they desire in their heart for themselves(even if I might not like the idea myself, or if it's asking me to step out of my comfort zone)? Am I humbling myself in my daily work for them ( right down to scrubbing the toilets without even so much as a "thank you mom", or the fasting behind the scenes when others complain about not having enough to eat) ? Am I laying everything on the line because I believe wholeheartedly in the desires and plans that the Lord has placed within them even before they were born? This was an eye opener, let me tell ya. I know that I love my family without limits or boundaries, and I feel like I do everything I can for them, but that wasn't what caught my attention in my prayer time..... it was my heart attitude!

An armor bearer is not only supposed to watch the other person's back, support them, work for them, help them, edify them, encourage them, love them, protect them, minister to them ,etc.....but an armor bearer's job is to do all these things and more, BUT WITH THE SERVANTS HEART OF HUMILITY AND LOVE! Let me just finish out with this bit of food for thought.....it's great that we do all we can for those we love, but do we honestly do it with the heart of humility and love the way these great examples before us have shown? I, personally can say, no, not always. And with that I am also praying that the Lord would open my eyes to see the potential relationships that I could have with my family and to give me the heart of the armor bearer that I might become their armor bearer.