The House on the Solid Rock

 

Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, MA

Photo Credit, click here

As I was reading 1st Samuel 4-8 this morning for our Daily Walk Bible reading I found myself thoroughly frustrated by the actions of the Israelites! How could the Israelites ask in 4:3, "why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?" Seriously!? In chapter 2 we read about how "the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the LORD or for their duties as priests" (vs. 12, NLT). And we recently read through Judges and we saw how abysmal the Israelites were in keeping the Covenant and commandments of the LORD. I shouldn't have been surprised by the Israelites question because this is human nature. But nevertheless I was still amazed that they could be so brazen to ask and imply that it was God's fault that they lost to the Philistines!?

Deuteronomy 28 was pretty clear that if the Israelites "fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands...the LORD your God will ... conquer your enemies when they attack you" (vss. 1, 7). Obviously Joshua's command to the Israelites before his death "to be very careful to follow everything Moses wrote in the Book of Instruction" (Josh. 23:6) was clearly forgotten or ignored.

And so somehow it was now God's fault that they lost. It was God's fault that 4000 men were killed.

I was also dumbfounded by the Israelites presumption to not consult God (think the Gibeonite debacle in Joshua 9) but rather to assume that if they take the Ark of the Covenant into battle that the LORD would automatically save them from their enemies (4:3). What was probably well meaning and good intentioned turned out to be nothing more than treating the Ark of the Covenant, and therefore the LORD, as a talisman or a lucky charm. It's no surprise that they lost, again; and it's no surprise that Eli's daughter-in-law failed to realize that "the glory has departed from Israel" (4:21-22). Not so much because the Ark was captured (though that is certainly true) but more so because the LORD himself had left His people because they had first left Him.

I fear in the coming days and weeks I will be hearing similar questions, "why did the Lord allow..."

We need to remember that it wasn't God's fault that the Israelites lost to the Philistines. And we need to remember that it isn't God's fault when we fail to be a Gospel witness in our community.

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash” (Matthew 7:24-27).

"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. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place" (2 Chronicles 7:14-15).