1 Sam. 7
So here’s Samuel left to judge Israel. Samuel tells them to put away the false gods and godessess and turn to the one true God. And they did. They went and repented with fasting at Mizpah. They chose to follow after the one true God and not play the harlot. So here are God’s people in repentance, and fasting before the Lord when the philistines decide the gathering of many Israelites looks suspicious and so head out to attack them.
What a great story! It’s not over there’s so much more here, and the story needs to be finished but I find this to be such a “reality” of repentance kind of story. I think that when we finally decide that our rebellion is really dumb, and we turn back to him in true repentance, It would seem that something presents itself to either cause doubt or discouragement. Sometimes the enemy would like us to think our repentance is worthless and he might whisper, “see, and you thought following God would make life better, they’re coming to kill you now.” UG, I hate the lies of the enemy!
Here’s what comes to mind…This tactic, this ploy of the enemy is still at work in our lives as Christ followers as well. When we start getting things right with God, something can and my happen to upset your momentum and question you allegiance. You doubt, and sometimes despair. I doubt, and sometimes despair partly because i forget a few things: who I am in Christ – I am HIS possession, and HE IS a very present help in trouble; or I forget who HE IS – graciously, merciful, loving FATHER….if I ask him for bread will he give me a stone? NOPE!! He’d probably spread out a feast WITH bread, because that’s who OUR GOD IS -generous, ever kind, patient, gracious, good etc! So instead of letting doubt and despair grip my heart, I want to do as the Israelites did in the rest of the story and find myself in that place of….peace…”
I have no idea exactly what went through each and every Israelites mind but i know one thing is sure; they cried out to God still! They didn’t turn back so quickly, they reached out one more time to be heard by the one true God through Samuel. “Samuel, do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the philistines.” v8
Sanuel offered a suckling lamb as a burnt offering and cried to the Lord for Israel and the Lord answered him. v9
God thundered from Heaven (i wonder what that was like in those days to scare and confuse the people so much), and the philistines were confused and the Israelites won the battle, and eventually took back all their cities, and all the days of Samuel’s service…
v 14…there was peace.
inthebeloved
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