- 1 Samuel 6 Daily DEVO Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 1 Samuel 6:13 – The very thing God’s enemies couldn’t stand to have around them is the thing that God’s followers rejoiced to see in their presence. We have enemies of God’s people scrambling to figure out how to get rid of the ark from their land because it’s causing so much trouble for them. Yet when they do send it on it’s way, and it comes into the town of some of God’s people, rather than fear it like the enemies they rejoiced at seeing it coming. Isn’t that so much like how Jesus’ life was. Those opposing God couldn’t stand to have Him around yet those who followed Him rejoiced at His presence. Let’s grow from this passage. Examine yourself where you land on this; do you rejoice or grumble when you see God moving? When a sinner is forgiven at your church how do you feel about that? When a family joins how do you feel? When God takes control of your life how do you feel about that? As followers of God our heart should be thrilled to see God working in our midst, but if our selfishness is leading us instead often those moves of God can become a burden to us. Make sure your heart is after God so that when He moves it moves you. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 406
- Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away, and they departed?1 Samuel 6:6 – Here the Philistines, the enemies at the time of God’s people, are remembering what God had done for Israel and remembering how He dealt with their enemies. No, this isn’t Israel speaking and sharing amongst themselves the work God had done for them, this was their enemies recalling it and sharing the work God did. For me the challenge I get from this is I don’t want the work of Jesus to be more on the lips of those who don’t even follow Him than mine. That non-believers, or even those who hate God, speak more of Him and His work than me. I, a follower of Jesus, should be the loudest voice proclaiming His work and goodness. Yet, is that the truth in my story? How about in your story? Let’s make sure today the voices speaking of, remembering back on, and celebrating the work of Jesus the most is those who follow Him. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1631
- And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh. 1 Samuel 6:12 – In order to make sure that it truly was the Lord behind the calamity that was upon the Philistine people, the Philistine leaders came up with a test to figure out if it truly was the Lord. They were going to send the ark back towards the direction of Israel on a cart, pulled by two mother cows that had never been yoked to pull a cart before. It would be a miracle if this worked. First, these cows had never been trained to pull like this, and second, their calves were taken from them so they would want to be going towards them, not away. Yet we see the cows immediately go straight towards Israel, never going off track, and taking it right where it was supposed to go. We see that the Philistines watched it the whole way, but we don’t see their reaction to the proven test. What else though would they have needed to prove to them that the Lord was the true God? Dagon their idol couldn’t save them, all their efforts to rid themselves of the plagues didn’t work, and their cart test proved that it truly was the Lord behind all this. While it would have been foolish for the Philistines to not accept the Lord as God after all this, so is it foolish for people in our day with all the scriptural evidence to the reality of the Lord to still reject Him. Be in prayer for those with stubborn hearts to the Lord, who see what we see about the realness of the Lord but choose to reject it. Pray their hearts will be softened towards the Lord and that they would embrace the Gospel truth. For while their rejection of God may seem good to them now, the moment after they take their last breath will show them how false they were in their beliefs. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2883
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