Playing tennis in high school provided many occasions for frustration in my life. I went to a very small high school, with not a lot of men interested in playing tennis, so I was able to play matches as our top seed. However, many of the other schools had good tennis programs so I would often end my matches thinking, “Oh, so that’s how good someone should be to play as the number one seed on a tennis team.” I rejoiced my senior year because I was able to win almost as many matches as I lost. And should I ever come off a big win, my teammates would remind me that the girl playing number one seed on the girls’ team, who would go on to win nationals and play at least once in the U. S. Open, could probably beat me – and she was only in the fifth grade when I started high school!

Needless to say, tennis embarking on tennis was not something that was an exercise in building up my self-esteem. But the most frustrating thing was not that I went to school with an twelve year old girl who could beat me in my best sport or that I would lose a number of matches. The most frustrating thing for me was that no one ever taught me the details of how to perform well on the court. I had never had anyone give me a lesson in tennis, picking it up just from playing and watching it on television. And, therefore, though I knew after losing matches that I needed to serve more consistently or volley better, I never reminded myself while I was in the midst of a match the small things I needed to do to serve well. I wouldn’t follow up three or four bad serves by telling myself, “Make sure you toss the ball high, hit the back side of it, brush over it so that it has topspin, and let my momentum propel me into the court.” I didn’t know that’s what I was supposed to do. I would simply say to myself, “C’mon, idiot, serve better or you’re going to get killed – again!” I knew a number of things that I was supposed to be doing, but on the court – in the action – I didn’t know the details that would have helped me do those things.

The same thing can happen to us concerning our knowledge of God and how to relate to him. What can often happen is that we know things about our God and about how the Christian life is supposed to look, and, thus, when we sit around talking with others about these things, we know what to say – like me being able to tell my teammates in tennis that I simply need to serve more consistently and volley better. But when we move to living a life that is honoring to God, we fail to keep in mind some crucial details, and therefore utterly fail to carry out the very things we have talked about with others. The reasons for this may be because we are simply ignorant of some lessons of God or easily forget them and need to be reminded in the day-to-day tasks in which we find ourselves.

Whatever the case, our text this morning reflects this kind of thing happening with Israel. Knowing much about God and aspects of his character, they fail to remember some others key lessons about him, and therefore live lives and make decisions that are completely dishonoring to him. And I think the text this morning should serve as a warning to us. As I read through this text over the week, I found myself thinking again and again, “This is a danger for us as a church.” One of my fears is that we labor to know certain things about God – that we should know – and yet fail to learn a few other key lessons about God, so that we actually live lives contrary to the things we profess we want to do and reflecting a picture of someone other than we want to be.

What, then, are those lessons about God we need to learn alongside knowing his attributes and other aspects of his character and ways? Our text provides us with a few of them this morning. The first of these lessons we need to learn is found in the first section of our text (4:1b-22), namely, that …

God is never obligated to do what we think is best for us (4:1b-22)

Chapter 4 opens with Israel in a battle against the Philistines. They draw up in a line against them, and the Philistines defeat them. Therefore, coming back from battle the Israelites reflect a degree of theological understanding in what happened, for they ask the question, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?” (4:3). They understand that the Lord has not allowed them victory. The problem is that they don’t think long enough to answer the question. Instead, they simply devise a plan to make them victorious the next time they find themselves at war with the Philistines. They decide they will bring the ark of the covenant with them.

The thought behind bringing the ark is that God would not allow himself to be dishonored. Thus, the thought of the Israelites went as follows: 1) God will not allow himself to be dishonored, 2) he would be dishonored if the ark is captured, 3) the ark will only be captured if we are defeated, 4) therefore, God will not allow us to be defeated. They had “twisted God’s arm,” so they thought, thinking God would be forced to allow their victory. What is key about this, as well, is that Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas accompany the ark, for we know the prophecy Samuel had delivered about their upcoming death.

Well, sure enough the ark comes into battle with the Israelites, they are encouraged, and the Philistines are afraid. However, the result of the battle was not as Israel anticipated. We read in verses 10-11, “So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.” Israel had been soundly defeated.

Then, a man ran from battle, saw Eli (who could only hear the uproar, but could not see), and told him that his sons had been killed, and the ark had been captured. Hearing that the ark had been captured, Eli fell, broke his neck, and died. And then, Phinehas’ wife got news of her husband’s death and the ark’s capture, and gave birth to a son. However, then she herself died, with her last action being the naming of her Son, “Ichabod” as she declared, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

What started out as a sure-fire victory, as they had cornered God, in their minds, forcing him to lead them to victory had ended in the death of thirty-thousand Israelite soldiers, the death of Eli, his sons, and Phinehas’ wife, and the capture of the ark of the covenant. God had clearly not submitted himself to the will of the Israelites.

And I believe this is a lesson for us that God is never obligated to do what we think is best for us. Now, I am not saying that God will not do what is best for us. Actually he has promised to do that, working all things together for our good, conforming us to the image of his Son. And, I would argue that even in this text we see God doing that which is best for his people. Simply the completion of this narrative, as we turn to chapter 7, will show that this was good for the Israelites. But also, God had ridded them of immoral priests who were abusing them and blaspheming God. But he had not done what they thought would have been best. And again, this is a lesson that we need to learn. God is never obligated to do what we think is best for us.

As individuals do we not find ourselves thinking, “Why is all of this happening? Why is everything a struggle? Why am I having so many problems? After all, I’m trying to do what’s right.” What those kinds of thoughts reveal is that we assume that if we do something, then God should feel obligated to do something else. If we do “A” God is obligated to do “B.” Such as, if we are faithful in obeying him, then life should go smoothly. If we’re willing to serve as missionaries, our families should not have health concerns. If we’ve remained virgins until we were married, then our marriages should be easy in every way imaginable. But, just as God was never obligated to give the Israelites victory because they had the ark, so he is never obligated to do what we think is best for us.

This can be a great temptation for us as a church. We can think, “We’re trying to obey the Bible. We’re striving to honor God’s Word. We’re laboring to pray and build up community. Therefore, surely God will bless us richly by allowing us to have more and more people join, have a big budget, get a nicer building, or at least not let us have problems with our toilets. Surely God will do some obvious things to show people around us that we’re at least trying to do what is right.” But God is not obligated to make Cornerstone Community Church look good to those around us. He is not obligated to keep our roof from leaking or a host of other things. And if we ever begin to think otherwise, believing God should do certain things for us because somehow he should feel obligated because of what we’re doing, then we will desperately need to repent and cry out for God’s mercy. I pray that 1 Samuel 4 teaches us a lesson we might never forget as a church.

In addition we see from the text that …

God is not dependent on us to uphold his honor (5:1-7:1)

In chapters 5-6, just as Israel was thinking God had allowed himself to be dishonored and the Philistines were thinking their god had shown himself more mighty than the God of Jacob, God proved his might and honor. He proved that the ark had not been captured because the God of the Philistines was mightier than the God of Israel, but that God was simply judging his own people.

As the Philistines returned from battled, they set the ark before their God, Dagon. It was their way of setting, what was in their mind, the defeated God at the feet of the victorious God. The next morning, however, as they awoke, they found that Dagon had fallen face down on the ground before the ark. The God they had thought victorious was bowing down to the God they thought had been defeated. Therefore, the text says, “So they took Dagon and put him back in his place” (5:3).

Now you would think that the Philistines would have paused for a moment of reflection here. Their God has bowed down to the God of Israel, and they actually have to pick him up and put him back in place. Surely, one would think, they would say to themselves, “Maybe we shouldn’t worship a God who is dependent upon us standing him back up when he has been forced to bow down to another God. But they didn’t. And the next morning, things were worse for Dagon. This time, as they awoke, he had again fallen face down on the ground before the ark, but also his head and his hands were cut off of him. God was showing himself not to have been overpowered by Dagon in any way.

And if the Philistines were tempted to think, then, that it was simply their might over the God of Israel, the Lord began afflicting them. We read in 5:6-12, “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. 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.\" 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. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, \"They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.\" They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, \"Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.\" For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.” Simply put, none of the Philistines wanted anything to do with Israel’s God or the ark of the covenant.

Yet the ark was with them seven months. Finally, however, they called forth their priests and diviners to figure out what they could do to get rid of the ark and find relief. The diviners said that they couldn’t just get rid of the ark, but they had to offer a guilt offering. Specifically, they had to offer five golden tumors and five golden mice. This was probably from some idea of magic that taught that you should craft an image of some curse you want to avoid.

In addition to this, they came up with a fail-proof scheme for God to show that he had indeed brought this upon the Philistines and was mighty to deliver the ark. They took two cows that had never been yoked and took their young calves to the camp, away from them, and yoked them to a cart with the ark. They figured that any normal cows in their situation would simply turn and go toward their calves. However, if these two cows acted contrary to nature and went away from their calves and to the land of Beth-shemesh, then it would be clear that all of this had been from the hand of the Lord.

Thus, we read in 6:10-12, “The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.”

God had brought the ark back all by himself, without even utilizing the help of one single Israelite. He had not allowed his name to be dishonored. And even when the ark came back to Israel and they had offered sacrifices to God, he continued to show that he would not allow his name to be dishonored. For seventy men looked upon the ark, dishonoring God as he had commanded even the Kohathites (a Levite group who had been entrusted to transport the ark) not to look upon such holy things (Numbers 4:17-20), and died. God was clearly illustrating that he will not allow his name to be dishonored, before the Philistines or the Israelites, and that he is not dependent upon Israel to uphold his honor.

This is another good lesson for us as a church, especially in conjunction with the first lesson we saw from the text. For not only is God not obligated to do what we think is best for us, neither is he dependent on us to uphold his honor. Again, it will be tempting for us to think that if God is going to be honored, then he will use us as a church to do it, showing those around us our labors to obey him. However, God could very easily be pleased to let us be crushed by those who oppose his word, all of our lives ended on this earth, and yet he will still be honored. We make a mistake to think that we as individuals or as a church are so utterly important that God cannot honor himself apart from us. He didn’t need to let Israel be victorious in battle to show that he was mightier than Dagon and the Philistines, and he didn’t need Israel to bring the ark back to his people. He did it all himself. And so we must not approach God or live life in any way as if God cannot honor himself apart from us.

Now, at this point, someone might say, “Okay, so I see that God is not obligated to do what I think is best for me or us as a church nor is he dependent upon me or this church to uphold his honor, but is there a positive message here as well? Is there something we need to see we can do so that God might be pleased to us to honor himself and display his glory to the world around us?” The answer is, “Yes.” We see it in chapter 7. This chapter clearly teaches us that …

God delights in pouring out his grace on those who will repent of their sin and cry out for his mercy (7:2-17)

Chapter 7 is a clear parallel to chapter four. In fact, these parallels are the reason I think we are to see these four chapters as one unit. As in chapter 4, in chapter 7, the Philistines again hear Israel, draw to attack, there is a battle, the Israelites seek God, and the battle is a route. However, at the same time, the scene is utterly different. Whereas chapter 4 begins with the Israelites realizing the Lord had defeated them but not for one second pondering their sin and repenting, chapter 7 begins with Israel lamenting after the Lord. Thus, Samuel instructs them to put away their foreign God and serve the Lord only, and 7:4 tells us, “So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.” And this is followed by Samuel praying for them and the people of God fasting, confessing, “We have sinned against the Lord” (7:7).

And, as before, the Philistines hear Israel and go up against Israel to battle. But this time, instead of Israel seeking to manipulate the Lord and force his hand in their arrogance, they declare 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 repent, realize they are utterly dependent on God’s mercy, and throw themselves at his feet.

Samuel offers a sacrifice, prays for Israel, and the Philistines attack. And this time the outcome is altogether different as well. The text reads, “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 routed before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car” (7:10-11).

Finally, whereas chapter 4 ended with the theme of God’s glory departing from his people and the naming of a child, Ichabod, to symbolize that, chapter 7 ends with Samuel setting up a stone and naming it Ebenever, “for he said, ‘Till now the Lord has helped us’” (7:12). Thus, the text ends, “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. 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. Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 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.”

Thus, 1 Samuel 4-7 is not simply a lesson on what God is not obligated to do and that he doesn’t need us to uphold his honor; it is a lesson on what kind of heart God looks for as he searches to pour out his grace on his people. And he has shown himself gracious to those who know they are dependent on God for his mercy and grace, repent of their sins, and cry out to God for his mercy. Therefore, my prayer is that we might be characterized as those kinds of people. May we not think of ourselves as anything great but as a helpless and hopeless people apart from God’s grace, completely dependent on God for his mercy. And may we be quick to repent and to cry out to God for his rich mercy toward us.

And may we be reminded of our helplessness apart from God’s grace and the mercy he has shown to us as we come to the table. Just as Israel had an Ebenezar, our Lord has given us the bread and the cup to remember and proclaim his death until he comes. And just as Israel looked upon the stone because God had delivered them, so we take of this because we’ve been delivered from Satan, sin, and death and have had our lives transformed. As we take from this table, we proclaim that we have heard God’s Word, his gospel, and received it. In fact, we proclaim the content of that gospel again and again, only to be done by those who have indeed received it. It is a reminder to us of our deliverance when we were utterly dependent on God for his mercy and deserved nothing but punishment. And it is a reminder that the Lord who had helped us “till now” will continue to labor to conform us to the image of Christ, and delights in pouring out his grace to those humble in heart, repentant of sin, and crying out for his mercy. Amen.

PRESUMPTION AND PRAYER - LESSONS IN RELATING TO OUR GOD

Listen to Audio