So glad you can join me for today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

John Blaze wrote today's reading, and he titled it, Conquering Mountains.

You may have seen or heard some variation of this saying,

If you want to go fast, go alone.

But if you want to go far, go together. But if you want to go far, go together.

It's a lovely thought, isn't it? But is there any solid research to reassure us that these

words are not just lovely, but true? Yes. In fact, one such study by British and American

researchers demonstrated that people estimated the size of mountains

as significantly smaller if they were standing with someone else as opposed to when standing alone.

In other words, social support matters, so much so that it causes even the size of mountains to shrink in our minds.

In the book of 1st Samuel, David found that kind of encouragement to be both lovely and true

in his friendship with Jonathan.

The jealous anger of King Saul was like an insurmountable mountain in David's story,

causing him to fear for his very life. Without some sort of support,

in this case his closest friend, the story could have been drastically different. But Jonathan,

grieved at his father's shameful treatment of David, stood by his friend. Why should he be put to

death? he asked. Their God-ordained friendship

bolstered David, allowing him to become Israel's king. Our friendships matter, and when God is

at the center of them, we can spur each other on to do greater things than we might imagine.

The scripture reading for today's devotional is from 1 Samuel chapter 20 verses 35 through 42.

In the morning, Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with

him, and he said to the boy, run and find the arrows I shoot. As the boy ran, he shot an arrow

...