1 Samuel – Chapter 4

1 Samuel 4 Daily DEVO And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” 1 Samuel 4:3 – God is not a vending machine. What we have here in our story in a group of people not having success. What do they do? They turned to religious practices that worked in the past to try to force God’s presence into their situation. They assumed that if they brought the ark this would make God come and fight for them. Yet what did they really need to do to find success? They needed to humble themselves and ask for forgiveness of the sin they were letting stay in their lives. For us, let’s make sure we aren’t trying to force God to act in our stories like this. Where we think if we start going to church more or start being nicer to people that God then is obligated to make things happen for us now. That’s not how this life with Him works. It’s not about doing all the right things to get God to do things for us, it’s about doing the right things because God has done things for us. It’s about living a life of gratitude rather than living a religious life to corner God into blessings us. Know God wants to work on your behalf, but it’s not something we can force. Follow Him and His ways because of what He’s done for you already, after that trust that He loves you enough to keep working for your good. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 404

And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.” 1 Samuel 4:22 – What sorrow is written down here in this passage. Eli when he hears all the news he falls back in grief and breaks his neck. The wife of Phinehas gives births and dies after receiving the news of what happened on the battlefield. Yet look at this last verse, the center of their grief was because the ark was not longer with them, meaning in their minds God was no longer with them. Yet while we see God’s presence attached to the ark throughout the Old Testament, the ark wasn’t God. Just because the ark was gone didn’t mean God was removed from their story. Today we must not have this same heart of grief and despair when things and places like this are removed. Say our church building is destroyed. Or the new pastor stops using the old pulpit. Or even if your Bible gets burned, we never have to grieve like we read in this chapter because God is not in those things. His Holy Spirit is within us! As sad as it would be for any of those things to happen, God is never removed from among us and never will be. Take heart knowing you never have to live in a space where God isn’t anymore if you’ve placed your faith in Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1629

Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. ⁹Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.” 1 Samuel 4:8-9 – In our chapter Israel is waging war against the Philistines and as a strategic, yet unholy, move, the Israelites bring the Ark of the Covenant to battle with them. What’s shocking is that the enemy Philistines understood that the God attached to the ark was the God who saved the Israels from the Egyptians. They knew the stories and they knew the power of God. Yet while there was an acknowledgement of God’s power, there was still no submission to it. Knowing that God had the power to part the Rea Sea and blot out the sun, the Philistines still choose to attack. Knowledge of God doesn’t always mean there will be submission to God. Sadly what we see with the Philistines is taking place all over the world today. Where the power of God and the works of God and even the salvation being offered by God is known by people, yet there still isn’t a submission to the Lord. Believers in Jesus are called to make such things as the power and salvation of the Lord known to the lost world around them, but believers must also recognize there will many who will acknowledge such things of the Lord, but reject it still. In those cases, stay encouraged. Keep sharing and keep fulfilling the mission. Pray that knowledge of the Lord within their life will lead to an embracing of the Lord, but don’t be defeated because someone didn’t accept the Lord just yet. While they may have no desire for the Lord yet, God has a desire for them, and He isn’t done in their story. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2881