For a leader to show real leadership this must be one of the hardest lessons to learn and to know when to act in such a way and when not to act in such a way, because both can be dangerous and hazardous.
I have been reading carefully and studying and researching prayerfully this leadership battle in the first book of Samuel in the Old Testament and at Chapter 14, where Jonathan, the son of King Saul with his armour bearer, attacked a Philistine outpost and they were successful.
This put fear into the Philistines in other places and they fled, and those Israelis who had been hiding came out of the woodwork.
Jonathan comes to the rescue. God is getting on with things using Jonathan, and King Saul appears to be getting left behind.
Saul had been sitting under the pomegranate tree, and is he suffering from depression because everything appeared to be going so wrong.
Has Saul lost his zeal and enthusiasm and motivation and drive for leadership? Is Saul sulking because he had been defeated and he had been rebuked? How should leaders react and respond in such situations?
Jonathan was a warrior and he was a man of God.
Jonathan calls upon Almighty God and looks to God the Lord.
God works by prayer, and Jonathan realised that. We certainly see this a thousand years later when Jesus Christ walked onto earth’s scene.
There is a spiritual awareness in this young man. What is he thinking as he faces the Philistines? Perhaps and I am not sure, but if it is God then we will see.
Samuel the real leader must have been encouraged by the grace and faith in young Jonathan.
Who was the influence in Jonathan’s life? Was it not Samuel? Someone had influenced him for God. Here is a young man with a different spirit.
This entire passage is so exciting! Do read it and absorb all it has to teach.
By the prayerful initiation of Jonathan there was a rout.
It was guerrilla warfare, and very much a commando raid. This is such an exciting story.
Jonathan knew God was in all this.
The Philistines thought a whole detachment or battalion was coming against them, and they scattered as God sent a panic!
There was an incident where the leadership of the army and navy and marines attended a recruiting session at a leading University. Each was given fifteen minutes to speak but the army and navy officers went well beyond their allotted time, leaving the officer from the Marines only two minutes!
He arose and stood silent for 60 seconds and spoke. I do not think two or three of you could cut it in the Marine Corps, but if there are two or three who consider they might make it, then I want to see you in the Dining Hall as soon as we are dismissed.
He returned to his seat. When dismissal was announced there was a crowd around his table. They rose to the short brief challenge.
That is leadership similar to that of Jonathan in this active escapade which was so militarily successful. To lead nor not to lead and how to do it are vital questions!