TURNING BACK TO GOD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord. And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.

Then Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the Lord for you."

When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day, they fasted and there they confessed, "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel was leader of Israel at Mizpah.

When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. They said to Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that He may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines."

Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf, and the Lord answered him.

While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day, the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car.

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the Lord helped us."

So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.

Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to her, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

Samuel continued as judge over Israel all the days of his life. From year to year, he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also judged Israel. And he built an altar there to the Lord.

1 Samuel 7:2-14

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As chapter 6 of 1st Samuel closed, the ark of the Lord had been returned to the Israelites at Beth Shemesh and we saw where they rejoiced and celebrated until seventy of their men were struck down by God for looking into the ark.

Instead of seeing the act as it was, God’s judgment on a group of disobedient men, the people of Beth Shemesh thought the problem was the ark itself and so they sought to give it away, finding takers in the men of Kiriath Jearim who kept it for twenty years. During this time, the scriptures tell us “all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord”. Actually, I like the New Living Translation’s version of this text as it actually gives us a better feel for what the people were going through. It reads:

“During that time all Israel mourned because it seemed the Lord had abandoned them.”

Quick question…

Have you ever gone through a period of time when you felt a sense of grief over feeling the Lord had abandoned you?

Well, going back to our scripture passage, we find the Israelites at Kiriath Jearim receiving counsel from Samuel, the once young boy who had grown up in the temple under the tutelage of Eli, the high priest. Now grown and a judge of Israel, we see him offering spiritual guidance to the “whole house of Israel” saying:

"If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

In other words, the reason that God seemed so distant from the Israelites is because they had spiritually distanced themselves from Him, turning instead to the false gods of the Canaanites.

Well, we read where the Israelites listened to Samuel’s counsel and “put away their Baals and Ashtoreths”, choosing to serve God only, and it was then that we find Samuel going before the Lord and interceding for them after calling them to assemble at Mizpah.

Here, we find an important life application principle for we’re reminded that we can only get right with God when we give up everything in our lives that distance us from Him, namely our sin. We have to fully commit to surrender our sinful nature, exchanging it for the righteousness that only He can give.

This is just what we see the Israelites do as they “assembled at Mizpah”. We read where they drew out water and pouring it out before the Lord, an expression of remorse, before fasting and confessing:

"We have sinned against the Lord."

To repair our relationship with the Lord today, we only need to follow this lead of the Israelites, coming clean about the sins He is already very well aware of in repentance with the desire of returning to a life of obedience and a will to follow His way and His way alone. When we do this, we can expect that the Lord will extend His gifts of forgiveness, grace, and love. Then, and this is the most important step, we need to make sure we don’t repeat the sinfulness again. We need to stay true to our word and turn away from anything that could once again distance us from our Lord.

Back to the scriptures where we know Israel had repented and confessed before the Lord, giving up everything that had distanced them from Him. Now they were ready to experience His favor.

For we read that the Philistines had heard about Israel’s assembly at Mizpah and decided to attack them, an act that threw the Israelites into fear of another slaughter and so they went to Samuel saying:

“Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that He may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines."

And Samuel did just that, interceding for his brothers and sisters by taking a suckling lamb and offering it up as a “whole burnt offering to the Lord” while crying “out to the Lord on Israel's behalf”, an act that led to the Lord listening to him.

We see first-hand here how the Lord will listen to our cries for His help once we turn from our wicked, sinful ways and pour out our sincere, heartfelt confessions before Him. We need to remember that He loves us more than we could ever know and wants to partner with us to ensure we live in ways that are righteous, holy, and pleasing in His sight. The truth is that God can’t yoke Himself to sin and so if we continue to allow it to dominate what we think, say, and do then we can’t expect that the Lord will be close to us. We must choose to either embrace Him or our transgressions. We can’t have both.

Well thankfully, Israel chose right. They chose the Lord and He rewarded them with deliverance. For “while Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering”, the scriptures tell us that “the Philistines drew near to engage…in battle”. Little did they know that Israel’s God was waiting for them as He “thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed”. We read where the “men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car”. The victory was so one-sided that the Philistines were “subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again”.

Further, we see where God continued to keep His hand “against the Philistines” throughout Samuel’s lifetime and He restored all the towns that had been captured from Israel, from “Ekron to Gath” to the “neighboring territory”. The Lord removed it all from “the power of the Philistines” and also brought “peace between Israel and the Amorites”.

All and all, we see where a lot changed for the good of the Israelites after they turned back to God and restored their relationship with Him.

The same can be true for any of us today when we follow the simple steps outlines within this passage.

First, we need to turn from our sinful ways, confessing our wrongs with genuine repentance.

Next, we need to receive the Lord’s grace, mercy, and love with thanksgiving.

Finally, we need to dedicate ourselves toward not sinning again, crying out to the Lord for His help because none of us are strong enough to fight off temptation on our own. And as the Lord empowers us to avoid transgression, He also leads and guides us to right and righteous living through the power of His Word and Holy Spirit. Ultimately, we trade in the enemy for the Savior who longs to walk alongside us in this life as we journey to the better life to come, the life when we abide with Him forever and will never have to worry about sin again.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.