The Inbetween.

In the quest to make progress in life, we often discover – sooner rather than later – that it’s a lot smoother and easier in our imaginations than it is in reality (though, maybe not always so).

In my readings I came upon a chapter in the book of First Samuel:

[1] Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father.

[4] And between the passages, by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side, and a sharp rock on the other side: and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.

1 Samuel 14:1&4 (KJV)

A bit of background so we better understand; this was a period wherein the Israelites and the Philistines set up battle array against each other. However, no ‘hostilities’ had commenced yet.

Jonathan, the son of Saul the king of Israel, decided on a certain day that “enough was enough”. It’s either we fight or we go home, there’s no point hanging out in the woods. There was a certain discontent in his spirit; he desired progress, and he wanted to advance beyond the boundaries of the current stalemate into something more definite.

So the trigger here was a desire for victory over the Philistines as against the staring contest his father was involved in. The current disadvantage his army sustained in was that they were a weaponless army.

He decided to seize the initiative and take the battle to the Philistines, trusting that God will undertake it for him. Scripture was careful to document precisely the route he had to take, and that route is the emphasis of this discussion.

His decision and journey mandated that he unavoidably had to pass through a passage bounded by two rocks: Bozez and Seneh.

Let’s look closely: Bozez in Hebrew means Shining. Seneh in Hebrew means Thorn. Thus for Jonathan to reach his intended destination, his path of progress was tightly bound by the dual experiences of Shining and Thorn (Pain, discomfort, unease). If that sounds familiar, it is probably because it is familiar. It is our lived reality.

We discover that as we talk steps of progress, as we advance in the direction of victory, we find on one hand the experience of joy and hope, and almost at the same time we find that our path is bordered by experiences of pain, discomfort, and so on. Some of us have been so acquainted with the Senehs of our lives that we fail to recognize the Bozezs of our lives. And if they seem unmovable, it’s because they are. They are rocks.

It’s a beautiful balance to our path: we aren’t called to climb over or fixate on either rock. We are assigned a path between them.

The wise will take it to heart. There in is the paradox and comfort to us- The path of progress is often bordered by pain and rejoicing, and wisdom is to turn neither to the left nor to the right.

We worry about moving them or exerting effort one way or the other, but note these are not the mountains in our way. These give context to our story, and often provide the necessary boundaries to ensure we don’t derail.

Just remember: keep moving forward, the destination is right up ahead.