In our devotions this year we have so far been taken through the first eight books of the Bible and are now into the ninth, the book of 1 Samuel. It is riveting reading but also confronting and at times disturbing reading.
Here is one of my reflections from this past week, using the SOAP journaling approach:
Scripture: “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” (1 Samuel 7:10).
Observation: The Philistines discovered the hard way that the God of Israel was not to be trifled with. After capturing the ark of the covenant and placing it in their own temple, not only did their own god Dagon fall to the ground, but the Philistines began suffering from ‘tumours and rats’. The God of Israel was too hot to handle. Eventually they find a way to send the ark of the covenant back from whence it came.
Application: Like those Philistines, and very often the people of Israel as well, it is easy for us to treat God too lightly. If He is there at all, it is like He is a benign and distant figure, irrelevant to the hard realities of everyday life in the 21st century. Yet the Bible tells us “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. Fear, in this sense, is to treat with great respect, as we do with anything that has capacity to do us harm, like the flames of a fire or a wild animal of some kind. Thankfully Jesus has become the One through whom we can approach God, and do so with confidence. Yet I need to remember God’s capacity for judgement as well as for mercy.
Prayer: Father, thank you for being who you are, beyond my capacity to understand everything about you. Help me never to treat you lightly or trifle with you, for one day I will stand before you. Help me honour you as you deserve, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
As you and I read the Old Testament it helps to remember how it is pointing us forward to Jesus, in whom the revelation of our God is complete. Yet the judgment of God remains a fact in the New Testament for all who turn from Him. The concept of God as benign and distant figure could not be further from the truth.