Tag Archive | blogging through the bible

1 Samuel 6&7 – True Repentance

Jan17

​Good evening y’all. We are continuing our study of 1st Samuel with Good Morning Girls and will be looking at chapters Samuel 6 and 7 today.

I pray you are blessed as you read 🙂

The start of chapter 6 tells us the Philistines kept the Ark for God for 7 months.

“The Ark of the Lord remained in Philistine territory seven months in all” (v1 NLT)

 With all the tumors and death that plagued the Philistines, I wonder why they kept the Ark of God for that long. I’m guessing they held on to it because they were still debating whether it was the God of Israel that was punishing them or not.

David Guzik in his commentary on the chapter said the Philistines kept the Ark for 7 months “Because they were reluctant to give up such a wonderful “trophy” of what they at first felt was such a victory over the God of Israel. It can take a long time before we realize the futility of resisting God!” 

Rather than repent and return the Ark to where it belongs, they chose to keep enduring until they came to a point they decided they couldn’t take anymore. They decided to put the God of Israel to a test: to see if indeed the plagues were from him

They consulted their priests and diviners who rightly advised them to send the Ark back along with a guilt offering. What caught my attention, in verse 6 especially, was the advice given by their priests and diviners for them not to be strong-headed like the Egyptians.

“Don’t be stubborn and rebellious as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were. By the time God was finished with them, they were eager to let Israel go” (v6 NLT).

Their spiritual counsellors and leaders understood that no one can fight with God and win. Better to surrender to his will.

Let’s spend some time to ponder on our lives…are we resisting God or yielding to His will? Are we living for Him or to please ourselves? For how long do we want to keep sinning and not repent?

In chapter 7, Israel was mourning the loss of the Ark. Samuel told them that if they truly want to repent then they had to get rid of their idols and fully give their hearts back to the Lord. Only then would the LORD deliver them out of the hands of the Philistines.

“Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” (1 Sam7: 3 NLT)

We can’t just come to God with lip service. If indeed we are truly sorry, we will give up the things that made God upset with us in the first place. We won’t hold on to them.  2 Corinthians 7:10 says: 
“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death” (NLT)

The Israelites obeyed Samuel and got rid of their idols. Their act of true repentance saw God fight on their behalf against the same Philistines who defeated them in earlier chapter. 

When we truly repent and turn from our evil ways God will indeed arise on our behalf and fight our battles. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says 
“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land’.(NLT)

Samuel proceeded to name the place where they defeated the enemy as Ebenezer which means stone of help or thus far the Lord has helped us.

I pray we will learn to truly turn away from our sins and totally yield to God. May He arise for us and give us victory on all sides In Jesus Name. Amen.

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to leave your thots on the chapter in the comments section.

Have a blessed evening 

1 Samuel 4: Ichabod – Departed Glory

Jan12

​Good evening y’all :). Today we are continuing our study of 1 Samuel with Good Morning Girls. We will be looking at chapter 4.

I pray you are blessed as you read 🙂

“And Samuel’s words went out to all the people of Israel. At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek. The Philistines attacked and defeated the army of Israel, killing 4,000 men. After the battle was over, the troops retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they said, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies.” So they sent men to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!” (V1-5 NLT)

The Ark of the covenant signified the presence of God in those days. The Israelites went into battle against the Philistines. They lost the battle and their next thought was to get the Ark of the covenant onto the battle field so they could defeat their enemies.

On the surface, there is nothing wrong with them wanting the presence of God with them but how they went about it was wrong. The Ark of God was meant to be in the Holies of Holies where only the High Priest has access to. Although the Ark has gone out in battle before, but only on the Instruction of God (Josh 6: 6-8 , Num 31:6). In today’s reading, the Israelite didn’t even seek God’s opinion on whether to take the Ark or not.  They just assumed it was okay to take it. Interestingly, Eli didn’t restrain them, he even sent his sons along with the Ark!

They took the Ark anyway and they were still defeated. Infact worse than when they didn’t have the Ark with them. I ask how come?  I believe this was due to the sin and lawlessness that was prominent amongst the Israelites in those days. Recall that in the previous chapters it is written that the voice of God was scarce and the people did whatever pleased them. Instead of them to repent and wait on God, they chose to continue in their sin and still expect God to come through for them. 

Their foolishness cost them a lot. The Ark was captured by the Philistines. Eli’s sons died and he died as well on the same day. His daughter-in-law gave birth to son she named Ichabod meaning ‘The glory has departed…’She died immediately after giving birth. Truly the glory did depart from Israel on that day.

This makes me understand that it is possible for us to claim we know God and yet our lives and actions won’t allow His presence and power be fully manifested in our lives: especially if we are medling with sin. I’m reminded of 2 Tim 3: 5 which says: “They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” (NLT)

This quote from Charles Spurgeon sums its up well…..”Instead of attempting to get right with God, these Israelites set about devising superstitious means of securing the victory over their foes. In this respect most of us have imitated them. We think of a thousand inventions; but we neglect the one thing needful … They forget the main matter, which is to enthrone God in the life, and to seek to do his will by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Spurgeon) 

I pray as we go about our daily lives, God will give us the grace to live holy before Him and may His presence never depart from our lives In Jesus’s Name. Amen.

I will leave us with the words of Jesus in John 15:5-6 

 “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire”. (MSG) 

Thanks for joining today. Pls feel free to leave your thots and comments on the chapter. 

Have a blessed evening 😘