Deeper Reflection
IN RECENT YEARS, I have been observing and reflecting on how faithful followers of Jesus died. Someone whom I know personally was on a mission trip. Then one day, as she was crossing the road, a truck hit her and she died. It was like something that happened out of nowhere. There are no answers to questions like, “Why didn’t God protect her and prevent it from happening?” The fact is, this person who loved the Lord died in such an unexpected manner so suddenly. Was it a tragic death? On Mount Gilboa, “the Philistines killed Jonathan” (v.2) – the first reported casualty in that battle. Jonathan had played significant roles in previous narratives (1 Sam 14, 18-20, 23). Through Jonathan, God brought about for Israel a miraculous earth-shaking victory over the vast Philistine army because he acted in faith in God (1 Sam 14:6-23). The last time we hear of Jonathan was when he sought David in the wilderness and “encouraged him in God” and assured him that he “will be king over Israel” (1 Sam 23:16-17). Was it a tragic death that Jonathan died the way he did? Here is “Jonathan’s obituary”: “He remained a true friend of David and a faithful son to Saul. He surrendered his kingship to David (1 Sam 18:1-4) and he sacrificed his life for Saul. In this hopeless fiasco, Jonathan was nowhere else but in the place Yahweh had assigned him – at the side of his father.”¹³ When we remain faithful in the calling God has assigned us, there is nothing tragic in whatever evil that may befall us.

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¹³ Dale Ralph Davis, 324