This Isn’t Working
1 Samuel 5-8
Today we pick up where we left off in the book of 1 Samuel. In this book we will see the nation of Israel make the transition from the age where Judges led the nation of Israel to the Kingdom age.
In the previous chapters we read that the Tabernacle had been set up in Shiloh. When the Philistines attacked, the people wanted to take the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them. The Ark of the Covenant represented God with His people. God had specified how the Ark was to be housed, moved, and when it was to be moved. All of this information was lost or forgotten. Instead, the people treated the Ark as an idol. The other nations brought their idols to battle with them so Israel did the same. The ark was captured and apparently Shiloh was taken and the tabernacle destroyed. Jeremiah 7:12
While the Ark was held by the Philistines, God inflicted the Philistines with tumors until the Ark was returned. The Ark was housed in Kiriath-jearim for the next 20 years.
Samuel leads Israel to victory in battles with the Philistines, but he appoints his sons as judges when he gets older. The sons prove to be corrupt like Eli’s sons and the people have had enough. It is God who raises up the leader, not man. A man of God is a man of God by his faith not by birthright.
The nation observes what the other nations are doing for leadership and they decide they want the same. They want a king just like the other nations.
Fallen man cannot save fallen man. Fallen man has a sin nature. His sin causes him to miss the mark every time because he is focused on what other fallen men are doing. He looks for “new” ideas in the physical world but he is blind to the spiritual world. New ideas are not really new they are just recycled old ideas. When man is focused on man’s works and not on God, man comes up short every time. Patterns repeat. This is the case with Israel here.
Over the three hundred plus years that the Judges ruled much has been lost regarding God and how to relate to, and trust Him. God will give them a king and take them through some spiritual eye opening events but learning to walk by faith and not by sight will prove to be difficult even when it’s clear that what they are doing is not working.
As we look on, my prayer is that we will have the strength and the courage to trust God and to step out and do what He says to do.
Someone once said that insanity is doing the same things over and over again, expecting different results. Maybe it is just fallen man following fallen man following fallen man….. This isn’t working.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5&6 NASB
Step out in faith in God.
Pastor Dave