#DailyDevotion Are You Treating The Lord Like A Lucky Charm?

July 21

1 Sam 4:1–22

1Sa 4:3  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.”…4 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim…1 And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died…21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

 

Hey now! What’s going on here? Indeed, that is what the Israelites were wondering. Why did God not fight for them on the field against the Philistines? So they go and get the Ark of the Covenant. Certainly now they will win. The get decimated. How could this have happened? Why didn’t the Lord defend the Israelites? Because they permitted evil in their midst.

 

Eli did not punish and correct his sons for their wicked behavior and he was going to be punished for his lack of parental oversight. But all Israel also knew of the wickedness of the sons of Eli at the tabernacle and they did nothing. They allowed the Lord’s name to be despised. Therefore they all shared in the sins of Eli and his sons. Because of this, the Lord allowed the Israelites to fall and for the Ark to be captured. Along with that, the glory he place upon the Ark went with it and so the Lord’s glory departed from Israel.

 

So are you wondering why you go to Church, you tithe, and you manifestly do many other good works and yet your world seems to be falling apart? You click on the superstitious memes, ‘share this and money will come your way’ ‘type Amen and receive a blessing’ and things only get worse.  You do everything you are told by other hoping to receive a blessing by God and nothing.

 

Well there may be several causes. One is you may have wickedness in your midst and you allow it or are in full participation of it. Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:1-7:24). Are you living as Christ wants you to live? What wickedness in your heart are you holding back from the Lord? Perhaps the Lord doesn’t like being treated like some lucky charm, a fairly godmother, or a genie in a bottle. Are you treating him as such? Our Lord Jesus Christ wants a trusting relationship with you. He wants you to trust him so you may obey him and live your life according to his will. The Father in heaven wants you to be his child, not his spoiled child. The Israelites were treating the Lord and the Ark as a lucky charm. Jesus wants us to glorify his name and the Father in all we think, say and do. In our trusting relationship, things will not always work out as we like, but they will always work out to the glory of God and Jesus. In the end we will receive our inheritance from the Lord. If that isn’t good enough for you no other god will do either.

 

Heavenly Father, grant us true faith in your Son that we glorify him in all our life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.