When times are tough, faithful friends to encourage are a God-send. Literally! Friends help us bear our burdens, support and encourage us, and provide an outside perspective that we sometimes lack or start to fail to see. Friends are one way in which God provides and supports us in times of trial and difficulty.
David experienced God’s goodness continually, but he still needed a faithful friend to encourage him. While Saul was providentially hindered from finding David, the same did not extend to Jonathan. Jonathan came to David, encouraging him to remember and trust in God’s divine plan. In the same way, we have the opportunity to encourage each other to look to Jesus, our ultimate faithful friend, who secured our salvation through laying down his own life for us.
After rescuing Keilah from Philistine hands, David escaped Saul’s murderous intent when he discovered David’s location (vv.1-13). David was still on the run, but God was watching over him and protecting him.
This theme of God’s protection is summarised in verse 14, which tells us “David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.”
David fled deep into the lands of the tribe of Judah, his tribe. There, he sheltered in caves and other hiding places in the wilderness. While Saul knew he was somewhere, he did not know where Saul was. God hindered Saul in his murderous quest to track down and eliminate the dynastic rival to the throne.
While God was clearly protecting David, David was aware that Saul was actively seeking his life (v.15). As David hid in the wilderness of Ziph, he would have dealt with the same fears, worries, and doubts that we all deal with in times of difficulty and trial. Would God truly preserve him? Would God keep his promises to David as he had in the past, or would Saul finally catch up with him?
David was faithful to God, but even the most faithful servant of God still suffers the doubts that come from the sin that resides in our bodies.
Thankfully God was not just a faithful protector, but also a faithful provider. While Saul could not find David, his own son Jonathan did not seem to have trouble!
“Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God” (v.16). Jonathan, David’s faithful friend, sought out David and encouraged him to keep trusting in God’s plans and purposes. Unlike his unfaithful father, Jonathan trusted God above his own self and desires, and encouraged David in a time of spiritual need.
Jonathan reminded David of God’s goodness. He told him not to fear “for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you” (v.17). This was not based on a view of Saul’s incompetence at spycraft, but God’s protection of David.
Jonathan confidently proclaimed that “You shall be king over Israel” (v.17), not himself. He declared that he would support David in assuming the kingly role, when his day came, not fight him for it (v.17).
Finally, Jonathan pointed out that even Saul knew and understood this reality, even if in his sinfulness and unbelief he sought to overturn God’s Will (v.17).
Jonathan confirmed his encouragement and support to David by making a further covenant with him there in the wilderness (v.18). But ultimately, Jonathan was the encouragement David needed, but the encouragement David needed to keep looking to God.
Jonathan did not stay with David, but went home, while David remained in the wilderness (v.18). Jonathan’s support was not to be constantly present, but to remind David that God was constantly present.
In the same way as God provided a faithful friend to encourage David, so too God places friends in our lives to support and encourage us in tough times. As believers we have the privilege of encouraging and strengthening each other’s hand in God.
Like Jonathan, our encouragement should point people to God’s constant presence. As important as it is to support each other, we support best when we point each other to Christ.
After all, Christ was the ultimate faithful friend to us all. Jesus showed us all the greatest love that a person can show by laying down his life for our sins on the Cross.
Through Jesus’ death for us, we are secured from our great foe, sin, and the death that comes with it. The promises that God made for us are fulfilled in Jesus, and Jesus’ resurrection is the demonstration of the hope that we share in God completing what he has begun.
In Jesus, God rescues and preserves us from our sins. While we still go through difficult times, he protects us and encourages us through faithful friends and fellow believers to strengthen our hand in God.
Even though trials and difficulties leave us troubled, we are not left alone. Faithful friends point us to God and to Jesus, our most faithful friend.
