1 Samuel 4:3 “And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies."
We briefly touched upon the Ark of the Covenant on Sunday for it is the Ark of the Covenant that was brought into “His Place,” by King Solomon and the nation of Israel in 1 Kings Chapter 8. The ark as we stated during service represented the very presence of God among the people of Israel. The ark was to receive special treatment and was only to be handled by certain individuals within the people of Israel, but it was also clear that it was not to be used as a religious artifact or as a religious tool to help force our desires upon a particular situation or circumstance.
Due to the specifications on how and when the ark was to be handled helped the people of Israel and those outside of the nation to better understand that God was to be approached reverently, with an attitude of worship (extending honor and expressing great worth) but like we tend to do with all religious practices we begin to attempt to use them for our own desires and needs as opposed to what bringing God into “His Place” really means.
Take a moment right now and read 1 Samuel chapter 4 for an account of how the people of Israel attempted to “use” the Ark of the Covenant to force God’s hand to do what they needed. This is one of the saddest chapters in the entire Bible for we see a people who do love God, but forgot that God’s role was the role of the chief warrior, the CEO, the commander. Look again at our verse above 1 Samuel 4:3, what did they say was going to save them? “…it may save us…” It? Is your name for God “it?” Of course not. They took a sacred symbol and tried to turn it into their “God charm.” The consequences of their actions were devastating. With any devastation though there is rebuilding were hearts are willing. So let’s take a closer look at how this “ark of the covenant” scenario possibly plays out in our lives today…
We have all probably done this in one way or another. We will take a verse from the Bible that provides us hope and we will place our hope in that verse, rather than the God of that verse. We will pray faithfully for a need in our lives and we will place our hope in the fact that we are regularly praying rather than place our hope in the One in which we are praying to. We will place our hope in a church and the fact that we attend faithfully rather than place our hope in the God of that church. We will place our trust in our abilities rather than place our trust in the provider of those abilities. We will place our hope in a person of faith rather than place our hope in the God of that faith. I do not think we do any of these things with a sinful heart, rather I believe we are doing them a majority of the time very sincerely. However, I do believe we are doing it with a misguided heart, because we have not yet truly given God “His Place” within the heartbeat of our lives.
Read the verse below.
Psalm 39:7 "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You.”
Our hope is to be where? In God. Thus if our hope is being placed in something else, even if it is something like scripture, prayer, church, a godly man or woman than that hope must be removed in order to give place to a better hope. Now before you jump out of your seats or choke on your coffee, because I know some of you may have immediately pieced this together and come to the conclusion, you mean my hope in the scriptures has to be destroyed! You mean my hope and comfort I find in my prayer time has to be destroyed! You mean the hope I have in New Heights has to be destroyed! No, no, no, may the fire of heaven come down upon you, oh evil writer of the Post Sunday Devotional! I hope your thoughts did not go that far, but let’s come in from another vantage point.
The scriptures are most certainly important and hope in God is found in them. The scriptures are for what purpose?
John 20:31 “but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
2 Timothy 3:15-17 “and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The scriptures help us come to faith and then solidify our faith, they certainly do bring hope and comfort, but remember it is the scriptures that should keep your hope in God.
Prayer is certainly important:
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you”
Prayer should most certainly yield hope and comfort but remember we pray to God, so we are placing ourselves before God and our hope should be in the God that we pray to and who we place ourselves before. He will exalt you in His due time. Our hope rests in the fact that He is just and good and thus He would not do anything that is unjust or ungood (use that word around the office this week!). Thus having hope in prayer rather than the One who is receiving those prayers will only end in sadness and anger because we are telling God that He missed His opportunity to exalt us and answer our cares, concerns and needs, which would make it our due time, not His.
I could go on about church, other godly individuals and our abilities, but I pray you are beginning to see why God even at times has to destroy those things which we deem sacred. God allowed the Ark of the Covenant to be captured, which the Philistines who captured it thought they had captured God. God is not concerned with sacred objects; He is concerned with building hearts that allow His Place to dwell in. God took that which the Israelites had placed their hope in; the Ark of the Covenant, which we already know is a sacred, Holy object and God “destroyed it.” (It was carried away by the enemy, the Philistines).
If we are all going to truly bring God into “His Place” in our lives than we are going to need to be willing to move out even those things that we have deemed sacred in our lives if they are blocking God from coming in.
Questions to Think About – Read 1 Samuel chapter 4 & 1 Samuel 7:3
1. Instead of calling in the Ark of the Covenant what would have been a better course of action for the Israelites?
2. What do you call into action when you are in need? Why? Is it a “sacred” practice that is void of God?
3. Are you willing to allow God to change your desires, in order for His desires to move in?
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God is always in our life. All we need to do is to reach out to Him and put Him first.
The Israelites thought that in order for God to show favor to them that they needed the Arc. The Arc was a symbol of His presence but they seemed to confuse a symbol of His presence with His actual presence. Both the Israelites and the Philistines thought that by having the Arc they would be able to use it for their own victory. They thought that God would have to give them victory if they possessed the Arc.
If we are honest I think sometimes we all act that way. We don't always give God His proper place in our life and in our heart.
A few months ago we were learning about Joseph and how he was faced with many difficulties in his life. Throughout all of these trials he always kept God in his heart. In the end he was reunited with his family and was able to save them from a famine. He always remained faithful to God. Were it not for his continually having God in his heart and listening to God his story may have ended much differently.
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