In chapter 4 the Israelites are marching out once again to face their enemy. At the encampment, the Ark of the Covenant is met with thunderous worship and praise. So much so that it says the the ground shook. It can pretty loud and energized in the church services that I attend. Instruments and voices raised to nearly deafening levels praising the Most High God can be heard from the outside of the building but I don't recall the ground every shaking. This must have been something to experience.
I believe the main point was not the worship in itself but the fact that the enemy camp heard it and were afraid for their lives. They knew the kind of god that Israel worshipped. They could hear the kind of enthusiasm he produced in his people. With his power he delivered them from captivity in Egypt and now they were beginning to comprehend what they were up against.
Then the unimaginable happened. Israel lost. What? The Philistines must have been scratching their heads on this one. Just hours before doomed to annihilation they now found themselves the victors. What the Philistines did not know was that sin had taken its toll in the upper ranks of the priesthood in Israel and God would let defeat and death be their punishment. The power of the Lord was not with his people that day and his name would not bring victory for all the earth to see due to their rebellion.
Sadly, the Israelites continue to do things the hard way as we move with them through Scripture but that is not the most devastating thing that could come from this defeat. I believe another result is possible. God would be known as 'Not as Powerful as First Thought' god to the Philistines. Think about it. First, the Philistines thought they would surely die when God, the one who crushed Egypt, came against them. It was hopeless. Then when the dust settled, there they stood the clear winners. Hmmm...maybe that God of Israel isn't as powerful as they say. Maybe the things we have heard about him are not as they seem. After all, He was no help to his own people.
The one thing that I keep learning as we trek through the Bible is that God really cares about how we act. Here in this passage I see that our worship should be reflected in our activity. One one hand, Israel as a whole trusted God to provide a great victory but in practice individuals were living very sinful lives trusting their own schemes. They were living a double life, both of which were quite visible to the world around them.
So what does the world see when they look at Christians? When we sing with our hearts lifted in worship, "You are my everything" do we mean it? Do we mean it enough to walk and talk like we mean it? Or do we worry and fret making our God look powerless to the world around us? Do we choose our way because we believe we will lack what we need or want if we wait for God to provide? It really does matter how we act. Our heart and mind and body need to be in agreement if the people around us are going to see the power of God on display in our lives. Don't disarm God by saying, "I will put my trust in you" and then do something to the contrary. Let's let our WHOLE life, the way we act as well as the way we worship, be our witness. We must strive to make our actions match the praises we send heavenward so that God's name will be glorified in ALL the earth.
Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Psalm 104:1-4
No comments:
Post a Comment