ESV Chronological Plan, Day 87 | 1 Samuel 4-6

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 4:2-7:1

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

God is sovereign; he will not be controlled by us. In 1 Samuel 4-6, I see an attempt by a spiritually confused people to try to summon God and get him on side with their plans. But don't we still do this today? So often, we relate to God as if we have a contract, dictated by us, under which God is supposed to to render physical and spiritual blessings in return for some form of worship to be determined by us (moral worship, conditioned by our own personal or cultural standards, if we are fairly conscientious people; emotional worship, centered around the music, art, geography, and expressions that we connect to best, if we tend to lean more towards the experiential; worship through study and learning, if we prefer to pull things apart and put them back together, the final form of which will be determined by us and what we find sensible). We determine what battles God should bless, and then we haul our own personal emblem of God's iron-bound duty to us -whether that be our Greek Bible, our church tax receipt, or our tambourine- onto that battle field and expect God to do what we require. But God is sovereign. God is self-determining. God sees more than you and me. God will not be contained in a box, or summoned by us. He will show himself to be God in allowing our defeat for trying such a thing, and then he alone will win the day over the forces of Satan, sin, death, and hell, in ways that will show that he alone is mighty to save. This is what he does in the reading above. It shows us that God will indeed win the battle, but not on our behalf, when we insist on setting the terms. So let's come to God in humility, with a posture of submission based on a foundation of trust. When we acknowledge God as sovereign -as King- we will see him move forward, with us following in his trail, to see him do more than we would have ever even thought to ask.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP this reading shows me how completely in control of things God is, even when we don't see that in real time. In the world of the Israelites, they probably thought that God had lost: after all, he didn't come through by fighting their battle for them. The truth is, God was more victorious than they ever imagined: in time God would show himself to be miraculously victorious over Israel's enemies and oppressors--and victorious over Israel as well.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS, CALL, and PRAY methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean