The ugly truth is that sometimes
nations must go to war against evil oppressors—and win the battle—in order to
experience genuine, long-lasting peace. The clue to exactly how the peace sometimes
comes about is provided for us in today’s study. We’ll also discover one of the
reasons behind our lack of peace. And we’ll learn how to practice the three R’s
so critical to having, and maintaining Shalom.
Today we’ll look specifically at the
book of 1 Samuel 7:13-14, but we’ll need to go back to verses 1 thru 4 to get
the backstory for the clues to achieving peace.
Unanswered Prayers and Lack of Peace
The first thing we learn in this
chapter is that Israel has had the ark of the LORD returned to them. The ark
was so many things to the Israelites, most especially the identifying item
reminding them that God was with them and dwelt in their midst.
But even though the Israelites had
their precious ark back, life wasn’t going so well for them. The text says that
for twenty years, “the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.” They cried out
to and for Him. They probably wept great buckets of frustrated tears. They may
have beat their breasts in anguish and showy piety as they called out “Why,
why, why!?”
And that’s a very good question:
Why? Twenty years is a long time. An entire generation. Wasn’t God listening to
their forlorn pleas? Did He no longer care about them? Had He given up on them?
What’s the problem here?
We find the answer to their problem
in verse 3:
Then Samuel spoke to all the house
of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with
all your hearts, then put
away the foreign gods and the Ashteroths from among you,
and
prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only; and He will deliver
you
from the hand of the Philistines.” (Ashteroth
was considered by surrounding countries
to be the supreme goddess
and was associated with love and war. Israel was now
worshiping
this pagan goddess.)
Being Honest About Ourselves
So, there we see the heart of the
problem: The people of Israel had turned their hearts away from God toward the
world and were worshiping the world’s idols and gods. They were not satisfied
to be a set-apart people; they wanted to look like the surrounding countries.
They had compromised. While they cried out to God, their hearts were far from
Him. And they were still expecting all of the blessings while rejecting the
relationship. And God calls that “playing the harlot.”
Ouch! Even though they had sworn to
be in a committed relationship with Jehovah God, the people had really
committed spiritual (and physical) adultery. How could they then expect any
blessings or protection from God when they and their lives were drenched in
compromising sin? That’s pretty presumptuous, isn’t it? Like a married woman
who plays around and then comes home expecting all of the love, attention and
blessings a faithful husband can give her, they were engaging in sins of both
commission (doing what they shouldn’t be doing) and omission (not doing what
they should be doing). They were not giving God what He rightly deserved, and
they had gone looking for, and finding, other “lovers.”
Samuel (Hannah’s boy who is now all
grown up and judging the nation Israel) tells them what they need to do to turn
this oppression around. They need to destroy those idols, physically and
spiritually, place all of their faith in God and their energies into worshiping
Him, and Him alone.
In verse 4 we see that the
Israelites do just that. “So the children of Israel put away the Baals (the
male god) and the Ashteroths and served the LORD only.”
The Need to Repent
In verses 5 and 6 we see Samuel and
the Israelites gathering en masse (a congregation) to pour out water before the
LORD—a sign of repentance—and confessing their sin aloud, saying, “We have
sinned against the LORD.”
So what does God do then? In a
nutshell, the Israelites gathering together like that spooks the Philistines,
who must think the Israelites have gathered in force to attack them. Alarmed,
the Philistines assemble an army for battle. The Israelites get news of that
Philistine assembly, and they, in turn, are frightened. They now have no choice
but to go to battle against the Philistines. They beg Samuel to keep praying to
God for them to be saved from the Philistines when they meet on the battlefield.
(This is all pre-David and Goliath.) We read of the next chain of events—and
about how God intervenes—in verses 9-13.
And Samuel took a suckling lamb and
offered it as a whole burnt offering
to the LORD. Then Samuel cried out
to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD
answered him. Now as Samuel was
offering up the burnt offering, the
Philistines drew near to battle
against Israel. But the LORD thundered with
a loud thunder upon the Philistines
that day, and so confused them that they
were overcome before Israel. And the
men of Israel went out of Mizpah and
pursued the Philistines, and drove
them back as far as below Beth Car. Then
Samuel took a stone and set it up
between Mizpah and Shen, and called its
name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the
LORD has helped us.”
So the Philistines were subdued, and
they did not come anymore into the
territory of Israel. And the hand of
the LORD was against the Philistines all
the days of Samuel.
Wow! Is that not awesome? God
blasted the Philistines with such a loud, thunderous noise that they were
confused and overcome; and evidently the Israelites didn’t even have to throw a
javelin! The vision is almost hilarious—brave, mighty warriors yelling unheard
commands; warriors running helter-skelter in the field, trampling one another
to escape.
The Israelites run them down and
chase them far away. The Philistines are subdued. Only then were the Israelites
able to enjoy true Shalom—rest, prosperity, happiness. All because they
1) recognized their sin,
2) repented, and
3) relied on God to redeem them.
Recognize, repent and rely on God.
Sounds like a perfect formula for all of us to follow, if we truly want to live
in Shalom.
Questions to Ponder
1. Do you feel
as though you’ve been unsuccessfully crying out to God for what seems like
months, years, or decades to be relieved of some kind of oppression? (Remember:
The Israelites were wailing for 20 years!) Does it feel as though your cries to
Him have been futile?
Think about the specific things you’ve
been crying out to God over. What prayers seem to continually go “unanswered”?
(Keep in mind that sometimes “no” is the answer, and we don’t like “no” so we
keep praying for a “yes”.)
2. While it is
not always the case, often our oppression continues because of sin in
our life, either
sins of omission (not doing something you should do) or commission (doing
something you shouldn’t do). Their hearts had followed other gods. Their
actions indicated they had placed their faith in these pagan gods. They had
compromised their faith and relationship.
Right now, ask God to search your
heart and reveal to you the areas of your life you have compromised. You might
want to go through the following checklist:
a. Check your spiritual life and
make an honest assessment of where you may
have compromised. Have you watered
down your theology and accepted beliefs
and practices that are contrary to
scripture? Have you stopped gathering together
with believers who can be your “iron
sharpeners” and accountability partners?
How
is your prayer life? How would you rate your spiritual life in general, and
how do you arrive at that rating? Does
your checklist look more godly or worldly?
How
much time do you actually spend with God in prayer, in thought? How are
you serving Him? Or are you spending more time
serving yourself and your
personal,
“unauthorized” goals? How would you describe your relationship with
the Lord at this time in your life? How
committed are you to Him? (What is an
authorized goal? It is any goal
that God has not specifically placed in
your heart.
It may be a good
thing, but it is not something God has asked you to do or
expected you to do. And doing it may be
bringing your heart and life great
agony or frustration.)
Most important, are there any areas
in your life in which you may be
compromising that precious relationship and sinning against Him through sins of
commission or sins of omission?
b. Be honest with yourself and God
and confess your sins to Him. When you do
so, you can be assured that He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(1 John 1:9)
And when you do finally confess,
continue to pray and ask others to pray for you.
(You should always have an army of faithful prayer warriors,
even a small army is
good—those on whom
you can depend for intercessory prayer.) And look for God
to move mightily in your life, right your wrongs, ease your pained
heart, cleanse
your spirit and
heart, and move in such a way that may confuse and subdue your
enemies.
Go forth recognizing, repenting, and
relying so you may enjoy peace!
Until next Monday, may your week be
full of blessings that you receive and give, your heart be full of joy and
thankfulness, and your days be filled with laughter! Build a little heaven in
your life right now, and watch your heavenly garden grow!
In Christ’s love
and peace,
Andrea
When the eyes of
the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right
here on earth. ~ A. W. Tozer
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