In this episode of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack Hibbs delves into the story of David and Jonathan from the book of 1 Samuel. As David faces imminent threat from King Saul, he seeks reassurance from Jonathan, his loyal friend. Pastor Jack unravels the layers of God’s plan that transcend our immediate fears and anxieties, showing us how David’s faith was tested and fortified despite his dire circumstances.
Today on Real Life Radio. Christian, God’s called us out of the world. We stand there and we say, God, use me. I mean, don’t raise your hand right now, but how many of us are pleading with God? God, use me. If you don’t use me, I’m going to die. You ever feel like that? You’re going to explode. Just to be used by God. God, just use me.
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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible.
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On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack continues with his series called First Samuel and a message titled The Message Beyond You. Samuel of the Old Testament, of course, was the last judge of Israel, and he was the first of her prophets. So here in Chapter 20, we’ll consider how David’s life is under threat and that his future to him seemed uncertain. You see, David and Jonathan met as David fears for his own life because of Saul. Jonathan, however, reassures David that God is on his side. It’s a challenge that moves David from a self-centered fear to a trust that God is faithful beyond what he can imagine or even think. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that just as God worked in the life of David, our own personal story fits into something greater than ourselves. Our lives are meant to point beyond our immediate concerns to the bigger plan that God has. Now, with his message called The Message Beyond You, here’s pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.
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1 Samuel chapter 20, and the title of the message is The Message Beyond You. The message or the word of God beyond you, beyond me. And so we saw in chapter 19 that David got deliverance from Jonathan. Jonathan provided shelter. We saw that Michal, his wife, provided shelter from King Saul. And we saw that Samuel, in the closing remarks of chapter 19, that Samuel was providing protection for David from King Saul. Remember when Saul sent his men to go kill David? And now they’re pursuing David, who’s now with Samuel. And David’s men came to kill, or excuse me, Saul’s men came to kill David. And they began to prophesy, remember? So another group came. They began to prophesy. Then Saul says, I’ll take care of this issue myself. I’ll kill David with my own hands. And he goes to where Samuel and David are at. And the Spirit of God lets Saul know who’s in charge. And the spirit of God came upon Saul. He began to prophesy. And the people scratched their heads and said, is Saul also one of the prophets? I mean, can you be a prophet and be a lunatic king like that? It was a big question mark. God was sending a message that he’s in control. God rules from heaven. We need to hear that in our lives because we begin to look around at the world and begin to panic and that the world’s out of control. The world’s not out of control. Everything’s right on time. All of the evil, all of the mayhem, all of the craziness, God knows evil is marching, but it’s marching under the rule and plan of God. God will allow evil just for so long, and then he will step in. So we look to our study this evening, beginning in 1 Samuel 20 and beginning at verse one. It says, then David fled from Nahath and Ramah and went and said to Jonathan, what have I done? He cries out. What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? So Jonathan said to him, by no means you shall not die. Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so. David now from chapter 19 knows that there is a death contract out on his life. So do you see the frustration? Look at the frustration in verse one. David goes to Jonathan. He says, what’s up? What have I done? Well, we know that David’s done nothing. David’s been following God. David’s been obedient to God. David’s been blessed by God. But Saul can’t handle that. But you can sense now in verse 1 the frustration that’s building. We know from chapter 19 that David wrote Psalm 59. And remember that we looked at it, that he starts out very depressed with that psalm. He begins to speak to himself in the psalm. And then by the end of the psalm, David is singing songs of deliverance with his enemies all around him. This is the life of the believer, by the way. God’s not going to remove our enemies from us. God’s going to teach us how to put up with our enemies around us. And it’s that witness that often leads our enemies to know Christ. And so we begin to feel in verse 1 the frustration that is coming upon David’s heart. What have I done? He’s crying out. If you look with me from verses 2 to 11, though, we see a desperation. Frustration comes in and desperation now begins to take root. David is… I don’t know if we would say panicked. It would have been beautiful for us to hear that David is… standing there firm and saying, you know, Jonathan, if your dad doesn’t repent, God’s gonna deal with him. But sometimes when we’re frustrated, we can get so uptight. We can get so wound up. And we all experience this. In some area of our life, pressure begins to come in. And that will tempt us to almost panic, to fret. Well, to some degree or the other, David is in this mode. What have I done? And so now we sense the desperation that begins to creep in. And it says in verse 3, And he has said, do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death, David says. So Jonathan said to David, verse 4, whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you. And David said to Jonathan, indeed, tomorrow is the new moon. And I should not fail to sit with the king to eat, but let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening. If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked permission of me that he may run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice, therefore all the family will be there. If, verse seven, he says thus, It is well, your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore, you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself. Jonathan, if I’ve sinned, then you kill me. Be an agent of righteousness, Jonathan. If I have erred, take my life. That’s a sweet thing. David’s conscience is clear. So he makes this, he gives this invitation. He says in verse 11, and Jonathan said to David, come, let us go out into the field. So both of them went out into the field. Three days. David is going to lie in wait in the field. He’s going to be hiding from the vengeance of Saul. And so now there is what we would say a fleece that is going to be laid out. And it’s this. Jonathan, your dad’s bent on killing me. I’ll be away from the table. As the evening comes together, as the celebration commences, if your dad’s not upset, all is well. If your dad goes into a rage in my three-day absence, then we’re going to know. Now, somebody’s going to ask me later today, tonight, can we go around and do fleeces like this? Look, it happened here in the Bible, okay. Gideon, it happened fine with him. Now Gideon, if you read his fleeces, they were pretty technical. They were pretty miraculous requests. But my friend, if you want to embark upon something and you’re not sure about it, and you say something like, Lord, if you want me to do that thing, then have the sun come up tomorrow. That’s not a very good fleece. And you might say, well, how sure is this? The chances of Saul being absolutely irate is pretty high. He’s a lunatic. He’s always upset at David about something. True. But he also says, if it’s of God and it’s okay, Saul will be calm. Now that’s a miracle. We’ve been learning a lot about this guy. He flies off at the handle at every instance. So for whatever it’s worth, this is sufficient of a fleece between Jonathan and David to work. And so the narrative continues. In verses 2 through 11, the desperation is intense to the point of this is what they’re having to do. David’s going to hide for three days out in the field. Have we forgotten who this man is? He’s killed giants. From a young man, he was summoned by God and anointed by Samuel to be king of Israel. That’s still in effect. God has called him, so to speak, out of the world to a great calling. But it’s not coming to pass as quickly, I bet, as he would hoped. Thus the frustration. Christian, God’s called us out of the world. We stand there and we say, God, use me. I mean, don’t raise your hand right now, but how many of us are pleading with God? God, use me. If you don’t use me, I’m gonna die. You ever feel like that? You’re gonna explode. Just to be used by God. God, just use me. And as it were with Simeon at the temple at the time of Jesus, let your servant depart in peace. You know, you can say that then. There’s nothing like being used by God. David could have been wondering, what about that? You think he forgot about that when he was anointed king as a young man, young child? You think he forgot about that? Never. We never hear David saying, God, what’s the deal? What’s up? He had this big thing. He poured oil over my head. It was a big deal. Why isn’t it coming to pass? And maybe you have this Oh, deep confirmation on the inside that God is going to do something with your life, and yet it hasn’t come yet, hasn’t happened yet? What do I say to you tonight? Read a book? Go to a conference? I’ve done all that. It doesn’t work. Well, I just want to know my calling. You won’t find it in a book. You won’t find it at a conference. God says, when you’ve pursued me with all of your heart, then I will reveal myself to you. And if you want to be used by God, and I know you do, we do, God is going to see to it that you and I will go through things of life to get us to the point to where the calling can never be shaken. Because if somebody, husband, wife, neighbor, friend, can talk you into serving God, then somebody can talk you out of serving God. But if God says, serve me, then wild horses cannot prevent such a thing. And when storms come, they will come Sunday. You’ll hear about storms as we’re going through Jonah. Storms will come, but you can stay the course and you can finish well because God’s the one who called you.
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And now let’s get back to today’s message. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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David is amazing to me, this man. He’s not complaining. He’s not crying. He’s hanging on to the Lord. Well, in verses 12 to 19, there’s some promises made. I call them sad promises. And here the story takes an amazing turn. Then Jonathan said to David, the Lord your God, the Lord God of Israel is witness. When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not send to you and tell you. May the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety, and the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die. But you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever. No, not when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying, let the Lord require it at the hand of David’s enemies. Now Jonathan again caused David to vow And I love this. We’ll come back to this in a moment. Because he loved him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul. Then Jonathan said to David, tomorrow is the new moon and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed and remain by the stone of Ezel. The stone of Ezel. The word ezel in Hebrew and what is implied is the stone that shows or the stone that departs. The stone of departure. Some of your Bibles render it. Jonathan and David, you and I have learned, love each other. It says in the scripture that their love for each other is more tender than that of a woman. But that’s not what it means. It means that these guys shared and bared one another’s hearts and souls with each other. They knew each other inside and out. They were the absolute best of friends. Rare, rare friendship. And so they were so tight. And you see them now making a vow. Look, if my dad is determined on killing you, then here’s the thing. You can’t stay because I don’t want you dead. And who knows if we’ll ever get a chance to be back together again. So here’s the thing. From this moment on, should that be the conclusion, will you bless my descendants? And it’s a mutual vow, one to another. But notice in Jonathan’s declaration. Jonathan is here declaring, remember, Jonathan is the legal heir to the throne, according to bloodline. He’s the son of Saul. He doesn’t fight against that. He says, you know what? This vow we make, this vow that we exchange right now, Jonathan says it’s regarding the house of David. David will be king. Jonathan’s behind that. He’s for that. And so there’s this sad promise that they’re having to make. And you’ve gotta stop for a moment and say, is this really gonna happen? I mean, doesn’t the story end happier than this? I mean, if God’s in it, can’t it end happy? You know what? Not all of God’s stories end happy. And we need to hear this tonight. All of God’s stories end well. But they don’t always end happy. We know this too well in our lives. There’s things that go on in our lives. Maybe for a lifetime. And we begin to wonder. We begin to question. There’s evil that’s been upon our lives. Maybe it’s our upbringing. Maybe it’s the parentage we had. Or maybe it’s the way the children have turned on the parents or parents now. Whatever it might be. There’s evil and there’s sadness. These things happen in life. We serve a perfect God in an imperfect world. It doesn’t mean that God is compromising nor is God like man where he’s carnal. Not at all. He’s holy and pure. Would God, upon his throne, allow Jonathan and David’s friendship to part? The answer, we shall see. It’s an important thing as we see this unfold before us. In verse 20, it says, and remember, he’s waiting by the stone, the stone that is going to be the place of departure for He says, then I will shoot three arrows to the side. This is Jonathan speaking. As though I shot at a target. And there I will send a lad saying, go find the arrows. If I expressly say to the lad, Look, the arrows are on this side of you. Get them and come then. As the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm. So if my dad’s cool with everything, I’m going to shoot the arrows toward the rock. And I’ll say to you, hey, pick up the arrows and come back, David. It’s cool. Everything’s fine. We won’t need this little boy, this little kid that retrieves arrows. Arrows were expensive in those days. And if you shot one, you had to go get a kid to bring back. So if I shoot near you and say, grab him, then all is well, it’s cool. No problem. Verse 22. But if I say thus to the young man, look, the arrows are beyond you. That is beyond David. Go your way, David, for the Lord has sent you away. And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed, the Lord will be between you and me forever. Then David hid in the field. How many days? Three days, three days in hiding. Ring a bell? Three days out of sight. Three days, in a sense, almost to David as though he’s dead. Because I think David knows Saul’s conclusion. Three days, Jesus appeared to be dead to the unbeliever, but in fact had paid the price of our sins. So David hid in the field and when the new moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast. Now the king sat on his seat as at other times and on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul did not say anything that day. For he thought, something has happened to him. He’s unclean. Surely he’s unclean. That means he’s been with a girl. Yep, I bet he’s been with a girl. That’s what that means. He didn’t keep himself pure. He’s got to stay away. And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today? So Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers. Therefore, he has not come to the king’s table. Now, you know what? At that moment, this is Jonathan the king’s son. He just says it. Oh, yeah, here’s the deal. And he says it. Now, Jonathan is under the impression that, remember, things are okay with my dad and you. Come on. If it wasn’t, he would tell me. David says, Jonathan, wake up and smell the coffee. Your dad hates him. He’s trying to kill me. No, no, no. If he was trying to kill you, he would tell me. No, he’s hiding it from you, Jonathan. Wake up. So I think Jonathan’s almost thinking as an appeasement. All right, here’s what we’ll do. You go hide in the field. And I think Jonathan is assuming all’s gonna be well. Jonathan’s kind of a neat guy, you know? He’s, first of all, like a rock with the Lord. Obviously a tremendous friend. We already know that he can stand up to his father. He loves God. But in this I see Jonathan, such a peacemaker. Apparently he’s of the personality and of the character that he looks for the best in people, you know? Neat kind of guy to have around. I bet you Jonathan was a very encouraging man. He sure did some radical things with the Lord.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called The Message Beyond You. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called First Samuel. It’s a series that highlights the prophet Samuel who was called by God during one of Israel’s darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. What if 2026 wasn’t about doing more, but about knowing God more? This January, we’re featuring one of the most powerful and timeless books on Christian faith, Knowing God, written by J.I. Packer. Now, this classic has helped millions of believers move from knowing about God to actually knowing God personally. With deep biblical insight and heart-centered focus, Packer invites you to explore God’s character, his love, and what it really means to walk with him. It’s not a quick read. It’s a life-changing one. Start your year with truth that will reshape your mind, strengthen your heart, and deepen your faith.
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Friend, this is a great book to get, and take time to read it. Maybe read a page or two a day. Contemplate it. Think about it. But friends, get a copy for yourself, Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I promise you, it affected my life. It’ll do the same for you.
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That’s Knowing God by J.I. Packer. Get your copy for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
