The Butterfly Effect – 1 Samuel 13-14-Part II

By Grant Gaines

In 1961, Edward Lorenz was in a rush to finish up his work on a weather prediction program so he could get home in time for dinner. In his haste, Lorenz rounded one single entry to the nearest thousandth (0.506) rather than entering the entire number-0.506127. He then started the simulator and rushed out of the office.

The next morning Lorenz walked into the office to find a completely different weather pattern than he had expected. It turned out that because he rounded to the nearest thousandth rather than entering the entire number on one single entry a massive storm cell developed on the other side of the world.

This led to the development of “The Butterfly Effect” which says that something relatively insignificant can lead to massive implications.

As crazy as it may seem that something as small as the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can affect massive wind patterns several weeks later, I believe that every good work we do has the potential to do the same-to create such a giant wave of momentum that it just might radically change the future.

We see a great example of “the butterfly effect” in 1 Samuel 14. We covered the first half of this story in depth last week in “CAGED ANIMALS” (1 SAM 13-14 PART 1),but just to jog your memory, let me recap what’s transpired thus far. The nation of Israel was facing their archenemies, the Philistines, in yet another battle. The king of Israel, Saul, and his 600 highly trained body guards were relaxing a comfortable distance away from the battle lines while Saul’s son, Jonathan, was sneaking behind enemy lines on a covert mission with only his armor bearer to pick a fight with an army that was much larger, better equipped, and more skilled than he was.

Jonathan took a giant step of faith by living dangerously for the Lord. And do you want to know what the best part of the story is? God actually rewarded Jonathan’s fearless faith by delivering a group of 20 Philistine soldiers into Jonathan’s hands (1 Samuel 14:14). I know the story of David vs. Goliath sure gets a lot of publicity for a major upset but if you ask me, 20 vs. 2 is a pretty great underdog story as well!

But Jonathan’s victory against the 20 soldiers didn’t end on that battlefield that day. Jonathan’s actions may have seemed as insignificant as the flapping of a butterfly’s wings at first glance but as the story continues, we learn that his boldness had massive implications regarding the outcome of the war.

You see, after Jonathan and his armor bearer defeated the Philistines, “…panic struck the whole [Philistine] army-those in the camp and field, and those in the outposts and raiding parties-and the ground shook. It was a panic sent by God” (1 Samuel 14:15, NIV). Saul and his troops who were sitting a comfortable distance away began to notice quite a commotion coming from the Philistine army. As they looked, “…the confusion in the Philistine camp grew louder and louder…Then Saul and all his men rushed out to the battle and found the Philistines killing each other. There was terrible confusion everywhere. So the LORD saved Israel that day…” (1 Samuel 14:19-20, 23 NLT).

Can I sum up how that war unfolded? One man decided to live dangerously for the Lord and an entire army melted in fear and ended up destroying each other because of this step of faith. Now that’s quite a butterfly effect right there!

I believe that each one of us has the potential to do the same. We can change an entire family, nation, and world by our actions when we choose to live dangerously for the Lord.

Now I’m not telling you to find 20 of the biggest, baddest guys you know and pick a fight with them. Instead what I’m suggesting is that you stop leaving God at church on Sunday and continue following Him on Monday-Saturday. We need to stop assuming that it is someone else’s job to take out the trash, clean up the spill, ask for forgiveness, to give money, write a thank you note, volunteer in the nursery, and start getting our hands dirty by, “…do[ing] [the] good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV).

It’s time for us to stop complaining about the direction of our culture, kids, and government and start faithfully doing what we can do to change the direction of the tide. We need to stop living like a group of pampered and privileged princes and start washing some feet as we follow the example of the one true King (John 13). It’s time for us to step up and step out in faith and watch God create such a massive butterfly effect that the world will look different tomorrow because of what we did today.

How are you going to change the future?

Comments? Questions? Suggestions?

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