God's People and God's Presence | 1 Sam. 4:1-7:17

1 Samuel 4:1-7:17 as preached by Zach Thompson.

In this sermon, we see...

1) The withdrawal of God’s presence is severe judgment, and in kindness, God reveals His withdrawal (4:1-22).

2) Embracing sin will cause us to push God’s presence away, and in kindness, God gives us opportunities to repent (5:1-7:2).

3) Turning to God invites the blessing of his presence, and in kindness, God will respond (7:3-17).

1 Samuel 4-7

Good morning, Christ Fellowship. Today, we are going to continue our series through the book of Samuel. 

Last time, we were introduced to Hannah – a righteous woman who promised her child to the Lord if the Lord would open her womb, and the Lord did. Samuel was born, and she gave him to the Lord by taking him to the high priest, Eli. Samuel grew up with Eli, and he was eventually established as a prophet of God. 

Eli was a priest and judge over Israel. He had wicked sons who ignored the will of God to fulfill their carnal desires. Eli half-heartedly corrected them, but they ignored him, and he just left it alone. Then, not once but twice in chapters 1-3, the Lord sends a message to Eli that his sons would die and that his household would be judged for its wickedness. 

This week, we will see the Lord fulfill that promise in ways that are worse than Eli thought would possibly happen. We’ll see the Lord flex his power in a way that makes his enemies tremble. And we’ll see Samuel step into his role as a prophet, priest, and judge who helps guide and protect the people of God. 

Let’s turn to the text. 

1 Samuel 4-7

4:1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. 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. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 

5 As soon as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. 6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, 7 the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. 9 Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.” 

10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. 

The Death of Eli

12 A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. 13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, “What is this uproar?” Then the man hurried and came and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see. 16 And the man said to Eli, “I am he who has come from the battle; I fled from the battle today.” And he said, “How did it go, my son?” 17 He who brought the news answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” 18 As soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years. 

19 Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death, the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention. 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. 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.” 

The Philistines and the Ark

5 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. 

6 The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 

[Then, for the rest of the chapter, this happens on repeat. The ark is passed from town to town as the Lord continues to inflict plagues on each town. Then at the beginning of chapter 6, the Philistines hatch a plan to get rid of the ark and test whether it was really the God of Israel who did this to them.]

Look down in 6:7, “Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. 8 And take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way 9 and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.” 

[Then in verses 10-12, they do exactly as directed, and the cows go straight for Beth-shemesh. Then look in verse 13]

“13 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. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the LORD. 16 And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron. 

[Now skip down to verse 19.]

“19 And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to you.” 

7 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the LORD. 2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. 

Samuel Judges Israel

3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only. 

5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. 7 Now, when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. And Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him. 10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car. 

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites. 

15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the LORD. 

Let’s Pray

Growing up, we didn’t get a lot of sugary cereal, but my mom would buy it for us every once in a while. Most of them didn’t last long. Cocoa Pebbles didn’t even last a day. We were waking up before other kids just to make sure we got a bowl. But there were some sugary cereals that would last a bit longer. Like Lucky Charms. Do you know why they lasted longer? Because my lovely sister would get the box and pick out all of the charms. She would take out all of the little marshmallows that made that cereal worth eating. 

Without those marshmallows, you might as well be eating Cheerios or Grape Nuts or something. 

The cereal was called Lucky Charms. Those marshmallows were inherent to the cereal. If you took them out, the cereal became a different thing. It needed a different name. Something like sad grain mush would have been more accurate as a name. 

Those marshmallows should be in every bowl, or else that bowl of cereal is a different, disappointing thing.

When you remove the thing that characterizes it, it becomes a different thing. 

And that’s just a box of cereal, so consider this. 

What about the people of God? 

Without the presence of God, what are the people of God?

The presence of God should always characterize the people of God.

It’s essential to who they are. If you remove it, they become a different thing – a different people. 

The presence of God should characterize the people of God. So chase it. Pursue the presence of God with all that you have. This is how God would have you respond to our text today.

But what are you pursuing? Let’s take a minute to consider what we mean by the presence of God. 

The Bible is incredibly clear on this. God is everywhere. He is omnipresent. He’s in all places. He is immanent. So in one sense, you can’t escape the presence of God. 

But there is another theological category here that we need to grapple with. It’s called God’s “manifest presence.” It’s the reality that even though God is in all places at all times, he also allows his presence to be experienced in a special way by particular people in places. This is his manifest presence. It’s not hidden. It’s made manifest. 

We see it all throughout scripture. The Garden of Eden. The tent of meeting. The ark of the covenant. The incarnation of Christ. The giving of the Holy Spirit. All of these things are examples of the manifest presence of God with the people of God. 

The presence of God should always characterize the people of God. 

Maybe you are here, and this isn’t even a category for you. Maybe you don’t know God, and the idea of his presence is foreign to you. But listen, this is one of the greatest promises of Scripture. 

Our souls were designed to be in the presence of God, and we crave it. Even when we don’t know that we crave it, still we crave it. So often, we are like someone who keeps eating piles of snacks at midnight because they think they are hungry, but really, their body just wants a glass of water. We are so bad at identifying the things that we actually need.

The promise of Scripture is that after the end of all things, when there is a New Heavens and New Earth, God will dwell with his people. He will be theirs, and they will be His. 

This special manifest presence will be our every moment. Our souls crave this intimacy with our creator, and that is exactly what we will have. We will know him the way we were meant to know him, and we will be known. 

But that isn’t just a future reality. It’s something for us right now. For all of us who are in Christ, the Holy Spirit of God dwells in us. He knows us, and we know Him. He dwells with us. Even in this life, we get to experience his manifest presence.  

What a sweet and enlivening promise for us! 

So as we meditate on this text today, let’s ask a question of ourselves. And I want you to listen and consider this. Really ponder it. Don’t jump straight to the answer you know you are supposed to say. 

Here it is. 

When you consider the presence of God in your life, is it something that you want to pursue? Or is it something you want to push away? 

Really consider it. 

Maybe you don’t know the answer. So think about this.

Consider for a moment God’s presence being removed from you. 

At that thought, what do you feel? Do you feel relief? Do you feel complacent? As if you don’t even care? Do you lament? Fear? 

In our text today, Israel tasted what it was like to have God’s presence removed from them. And that brings us to our first point. 

1. The withdrawal of God’s presence is severe judgment, and in kindness, God reveals His withdrawal (4:1-22).

The withdrawal of God’s presence is severe judgment, and in kindness, God reveals His withdrawal.

In our text, God removes his presence from Israel, but in an act of kindness, he makes it clear that he has withdrawn rather than allowing them to continue in their self-deception. 

The people of Israel had been living in faithlessness. Each man is doing what is right in his own eyes. They are worshipping other gods. And to be clear, this wasn’t just singing songs to other gods. The worship of those gods would have included things like ritual sexual immorality or the sacrifice of children.

Yes, they had weak leadership. Yes, they were surrounded by enemies. But those weren’t their biggest problems. 

Their biggest problem was that they loved their sin. They embraced their sin rather than embracing God. 

And God withdrew his presence from them. 

In 4:2, they lose a battle. 4,000 men are killed. And instead of looking at their sin, they blame God. Look in 4:3. What do they say? “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines?” 

You can almost hear the entitlement in their voice. They thought that simply because they were Hebrews, they were entitled to the power and presence of God. 

They were like a faithless man who spends his days carousing with faithless women, then expects to come home to a warm dinner and a happy wife.

Israel was deluded. They were living in self-deception. 

And they thought they could manipulate God, so they take the ark of the covenant to the next battle. 

It’s as if they are saying to God, “You didn’t show up for us, so we are going to force you to show up.”

In their self-entitled arrogance, they reduced God’s presence and power to a golden box. They thought so little of the God who had redeemed them from Egypt. 

And the result? 

Israel lost. They lost 7 times as many men when the ark was there as when it wasn’t: 30,000 men. That’s a big number. That’s the entire population of American Fork, UT. 

This was a severe consequence, and it happened because God was never with them in these battles. God can’t be manipulated. They treated God like a genie stuck in his lamp. 

They thought his presence was cheap, and his power could be moved around on sticks that held a golden box. 

And after all of this, we see realization dawn on Israel through the reactions of Eli and his daughter-in-law. 

In 4:12-18, Eli is informed that Israel has been defeated and his sons have died. At all of this news, he sits unmoved until the final update from the messenger. “The ark of God has been captured.” 

And in 4:18, it says that at the mention of the Ark, Eli fell over backward and he died. 

Why did Eli react this way? Because he knew what it meant. He knew that God allowed this to happen. He knew that God had removed his presence from Israel, and that he had passively watched while it happened. And the dread that sat with him while he waited for news turned into the terror that filled his last moments. His sinful passivity hadn’t only affected his family. It had affected the nation.

And in the next paragraph, his daughter-in-law sees the same reality. 

In 4:19-22, she gets the same news that Eli received, except she also hears that Eli died, and it sends her into labor. After the birth, she seems catatonic, and all she can say is in verse 22, “And she said, 'The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.” And so her son is named Ichabod, which means 'no glory.' ” 

Her mind isn’t chiefly on her husband or on Eli, who just died. It’s on the fact that this tangible representation of God’s presence and glory has been removed from his people. 

Both Eli and his daughter have missed something massive. Do you see it? The removal of the ark wasn’t the removal of God‘s presence. God withdrew his presence long before this moment. 

No, the removal of the ark wasn’t the removal of God’s presence. The removal of the ark is what made it impossible for Israel to act as if God was still present with them. 

It broke them. It destroyed the delusion. They were acting as if everything was fine between them and their God, but in this act, God broke the facade.  

And friends, that was a kindness. The withdrawal of His presence is a severe judgment, but when he allows you to see he has withdrawn, that is a kindness. 

What if God had just let them continue in their sin? What if he never turned on this check engine light? 

There are so many questions we should ask ourselves here.

Do you treat God’s presence as if it’s a cheap thing? Are you deluded like Israel? Thinking that God is obligated to give you a special portion of His presence, regardless of the wickedness you would embrace? 

Are you living as if you can manipulate God? In your heart, are you actively holding onto some sin while with your mouth you are going through the motions? God sees every dark corner of our hearts. He knows every motive and everything that you would hide from others. 

Has God pulled his presence away from you? Have you been embracing sin and pushing him away? 

This last question brings us to our next point. 

2. Embracing sin will cause us to push God’s presence away, and in kindness, God gives us opportunities to repent (5:1-7:2).

We see this most clearly in chapter 5 up to the first verses of chapter 7. 

In these chapters, we see this dynamic on repeat. People love their sin more than God, so they push him away. He gives them opportunities to repent, and they do the same thing over and over. 

It starts with the Philistines. After they captured the Ark, the Philistines were probably quite pleased with themselves. They thought they had defeated the gods who defeated the gods of Egypt. They didn’t realize that God let them win in order to punish Israel. 

And in these chapters, God disillusions them of their pomp. 

The ark of the covenant, this representation of God’s presence, goes from city to city of the Philistines and wreaks absolute havoc. In 5:1, we see it start in the city of Ashdod. God absolutely humiliates their strongest God, Dagon, by making this idol fall on his face one night, then the next night, the Lord cuts off Dagon’s head and hands.

From that moment, it was clear to the Philistines. Their god didn’t beat the Israelite God in battle. The God of Israel could destroy their god without breaking a sweat. 

And what do they do? They memorialize the spot where Dagon’s head and hands were as a sign of honor for their false god (5:5). They see that the God of Israel is immensely more powerful than their own god, and they double down on their weak and powerless god. 

In 5:6, we learn that the Lord was causing tumors against the people of Ashdod, and in 5:7, we learn that they are scared that the Israelite God will hurt their idolatrous false god, Dagon.

And long story short, we see this happen over and over until eventually, they want to push him out of their lands entirely, which is what happens in chapter 6. They put the ark of God on a cart with some cows, and they send it off into the sunset. 

They are embracing idolatry and pushing god away. 

Then in 6:14, the people of Beth Shemesh see the Ark in a field, and they are elated. The glory of God had returned to Israel! 

But here’s the thing. The sin in their hearts still hadn’t been dealt with. They were living in the same rebellion as when the ark was taken, 7 months before. 

They still thought of God as smaller than he actually was. And that’s clear because they seem to think they could do what they want with the ark. Look in 6:19, “And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow.” 

They are punished because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. Now, it doesn’t say exactly what it means for them to “look upon the ark of the Lord.” It’s clear that they didn’t just look at it from a distance, or else everyone who ever saw the ark would die. 

It’s clear that this was an act of unique disregard. And God punished them for it. 

And this is where we see how the people of Beth Shemesh, Israelites, are just like the Philistines. 

Look in 6:20. “Then the men of Beth Shemesh said, ‘Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?’ ”

Instead of recognizing their sin, they just want to push God away. They don’t want to change. So they send word to another Israelite town, Kiriath Jearim, and the ark is posted up there for 20 years. Look at 7:2, “ From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.”

For twenty years, they lamented after the Lord. What does that mean? 

I think it’s clear. Israel was sad that God’s presence was removed from them. But it didn’t drive them to change. They had worldly grief because they were undergoing consequences, but they didn’t have the godly grief that leads to repentance and an eagerness to clear your name. They had the grief that caused torn clothes, but not a torn heart.

Have you read “Where The Red Fern Grows?” In that book, I learned about this trap for raccoons. If that book can be trusted, when a raccoon wraps its hands around a shiny object, it won’t let go for anything. So this kid, Billy, builds a little box and drops something like a mason jar lid inside, then he puts nails in at an angle so a raccoon's hand can go into the box but not out if it’s holding the mason jar lid. And in the end, Billy kills his first raccoon because the raccoon is too focused on that worthless and shiny mason jar lid. It was unwilling to let go of the thing that was ultimately worthless. How could that possibly make sense? And in the book, that raccoon paid for it with its life. 

Is there something you need to let go of today? 

Are you clinging to something that will only ultimately bring you death and pain? 

God is so kind to us. He gives us opportunity after opportunity to turn away from our sin, but it’s so shiny. It feels so good. It scratches that itch just enough. 

Don’t push God away, so you cling to that thing you know is worthless. 

What is the shiny thing that would cause you to push away God’s will for you?

Are you clinging to idleness? We carry little idols around in our pockets. What does your screen time app reveal about what you are worshipping? 

Are you clinging to introspection and leisure? How do you spend your time? Is there some way God would have you go and serve someone, but you keep ignoring him? Just think for a moment. When was the last time you spent more than 10 minutes serving someone in a way that didn’t benefit you personally? 

Are you clinging to some identity that isn’t found in Christ? At the office, with friends, whenever you aren’t with church people, are you a different person than? 

Are you clinging to some obvious sin that you would redefine and soften? Lust. Greed. Selfishness. Faithlessness. 

We can convince ourselves that the lust is just admiration. The greed is just being prepared. Selfishness is self-care. The faithlessness is just seeking to control your situation. 

Don’t cling to sin and idolatry. Call it what it is, and turn from it. 

And that brings us to our final point.

3. Turning to God invites the blessing of his presence, and in kindness, God will respond (7:3-17).

Between 7:2 and 7:3, there is a 20-year gap. A long silence filled with lament and rebellion. 

But in 7:3, we see Samuel fulfill his prophetic office as he calls the people of Israel back to the Lord in a way that Eli, his predecessor, never did.

Look there in 7:3. 

“And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only.”

It has been decades, at least. Decades of faithlessness and rebellion. Decades of worshipping other gods and compromising on who they were. Of clinging to the things that would destroy them.

But here, they finally turn away from their sin, and they turn to God. 

And in 7:5-11, God responds. The people of Israel gather at Mizpah to confess their sin to the Lord, and the Philistines decide that it’s a perfect opportunity to attack them. But the Israelites don’t rush into the battle with the headstrong arrogance of chapter 4. What do they do? 

Look in 7:8, “And the people of Israel said to Samuel, 'Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.' ” 

They plead with Samuel to pray for them. What a change in these people!  

Then the Lord shows up as a warrior. Look in 7:10, “As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car.”

Do you notice how it’s the Lord who wins this battle? It’s as if all the Israelites had to do was show up, and the Philistines were on the run. It’s a far cry from the desperate defeats of chapter 4. 

And this wasn’t a one-time thing. It was the new normal. Look in verse 13, “So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.” As long as they were walking with the Lord, the Lord won their battles. Then in the next verse, the cities from chapter 4 are restored to Israel. The land that had been lost is returned, and there was peace.

It’s as if God had been waiting for decades with open arms as one ready to forgive. Not desperate but eager. 

And friend, this is his posture toward you now. Do you feel a lack of his presence? Do you feel the sting of consequence and conviction? That is the Lord’s kindness. He is beckoning you to come to him and feel the comfort of his grace. 

Last week, my 3-year-old Cara had some kind of stomach flu that hit her harder than it hit anyone else in our family. For days, she was lying on the couch with what seemed like constant sharp pains in her stomach. It was enough that we thought she might have appendicitis. Thank the Lord she didn’t. But she would lie on the couch and moan and cry until her voice was hoarse. It was horrible. And part of what made it so pitiful was that she wouldn’t let me comfort her. She was so focused on her pain that if I tried to talk to her or comfort her, she would recoil or even get angry. 

It broke my heart. I saw the pain she was in, and I wanted to just hold her, but she wouldn’t accept it. 

This is what the Lord was like for Israel. Eager to lavish her with love and comfort. He invited her into his arms with constant opportunity, but she rejected it. 

So, friend, are you resisting the Lord today?

In our text, even after decades of faithlessness, God embraced his people with open arms when they turned to him. And that is still how he operates today. 

Turn to God, and he will turn to you. God isn’t an impersonal fate who ignores those who turn to him. 

If you don’t know the Lord today, then hear this as God’s invitation to you. Turn to him. Turn away from every other thing that you would cling to, and cling to HIM. 

Your sin makes a separation. Your sin causes a rift between you and God. God judges sin. And your sin will cause you to push God away and court destruction. 

But this is why Jesus came. To deal with YOUR sin. So that when you turn away from your sin and turn to him, you can live in full and unhindered fellowship with God. Because HE made peace. 

Colossians 1:19-22, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”

This is why he came. To deal with your sin and bring reconciliation with God. So that you can dwell in the presence of God. 

And this isn’t just for those who haven’t yet trusted in Christ. 

The Christian life is a life filled with turning to God. But instead of delaying for 20 years, the call on us is to recognize our sin immediately and turn from it. 

As we cling to the promise of the gospel, we chase after the manifest presence of God by living as those who are called according to his purpose. 

So this is what we ponder as we approach the table today.