When we look back on troubles and calamities, it is human nature to evaluate what went wrong. However, in our self-examination we humans explain troubles in ways to gloss over our weaknesses.  We think of good-to-us reasons to explain our defeat.  The thought, “could our moral failure be the cause of defeat” comes much later.  It seems we must exhaust our thinking and come to the end of our abilities and resources of doing life our way before giving up.  When we fail miserably, still our first thought is; “Where is God?” We wonder why our way isn’t working? We are arrogant enough at times in our despair of defeat to ask, “Why isn’t God blessing the plans we made?  We made them in His house!  We’re using His stuff as symbols of our goodness.  And we wonder, where did His glory go? 

At the end of the day, we must ask, “Who left?” God or us? (Mm, it isn’t God!)

God is faithful even when we are not. God is unchangeable, unmovable, and always trustworthy. What God says, He does.  God is God and we are not.  His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. It is foolish to think we have the right way.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

1 Samuel 4

And Samuel’s word came to all Israel.

The Philistines Capture the Ark

Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. ² The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. ³ When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”

⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

⁵ When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. ⁶ Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?”

When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, ⁷ the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. ⁹ Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. ¹¹ The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

Death of Eli

¹² That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. ¹³ When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.

¹⁴ Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?”

The man hurried over to Eli, ¹⁵ who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see. ¹⁶ He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.”

Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”

¹⁷ The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

¹⁸ When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led Israel forty years.

¹⁹ His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.

²¹ She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² She said, “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

When the Israelites decided, on their own, to take the ark of the covenant from God’s place of worship in Shiloh and use it as their “lucky charm” in battle with the Philistines, they were routed, and the ark was captured. Eli had grown old and lazy in his position.  In despair, he died when he heard that the battle had been lost and his sons killed. The Israelites thought God had abandoned them. However, at the same time, the Philistines endured plagues when they set the ark among their idols!  No, God has not left the building!

May we always remember that God’s power and support for us is not based on a lucky charm or holy object like the ark, but on our constant faithfulness to him.  God’s Word reminds us who God is and who we are not—God!  God is unchanging in his faithfulness and love for us. God does not move away from us; we move away from Him.  Here are a few examples—

• “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:1
• “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6
• “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” Numbers 23:19
• “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,” Deuteronomy 7:9
• “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephania 3:17

God does not give up on us when we go our own way and think we can handle life on our own.  In fact, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” preaches Paul, saving us from ourselves and our sins. (Romans 5:8) God is faithful even we are not!

Truth: There is nothing that God will not forgive when we come humbly to Him in repentance.  So, we cannot use the gravity of our sins as an excuse, either!  Come to the One and Only whose love is relentless, never-ending, and faithful. It is never God’s desire for anyone to perish but have His offer of eternal life. (2 Peter 3:9) Trust God!

Pause. Take a deep breath, a sigh of relief, in the middle of these thoughts of God.  In the next breath, pause to remember God’s unconditional love, unending mercy, and amazing grace and be glad and rejoice!  Hallelujah! 

God is present, just as He promised!

“I am with you always—even to the end of the age.” –Jesus, (Mattthew 20:28)

God’s Holy Spirit lives in us to guide us to God’s ways and His truth.  We are never alone!

The Israelites worshiped the ark, rather than God himself.

So, what in my life is getting more attention than God Himself?

Lord,

Cleanse my heart, renew my mind with your higher thoughts, refresh my soul with your new mercies for today, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within me.  Fill me with all of you as I give all of me to you as an offering of adoration and praise. You are God—I am not.  I will trust you for you are Life!

In Jesus Name, Amen

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”     —Jesus, Revelation 22:13