The promise of God as given to us at the onset of this year was from Act 11:21 “And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.” (KJV)
As we meditated and studied on the various aspects of the Hand of God, we realized that God’s hand protects us, His hand favors those who fear Him, but resists those who oppose Him.
Our God is a Holy God
We read in 1 Samuel 6:20, So the men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who can stand before the LORD, this holy God? Where can we send him to get him away from us?" (GNB)
The above mentioned verse portrays vividly the truth that our Lord is such a holy God that nothing unholy or defiled can stand before His presence.
As the God whom we worship is a holy God, when we His children choose to lead a holy life, no man can come up against us. Joshua is a great example of one to whom God gave this assurance for we read in Joshua 1:5, No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. (NLT) When the holy God resided with Joshua, there was no way any mortal man could rise against him, and prevail over him.
The unique character of God as depicted in the Bible that sets Him apart from all other so called gods, is His attribute of holiness. Let us study this passage from 2 Chronicles 20.
The enemies ally against Jehoshaphat
We read in 2 Chronicles 20:1, Later the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. (GW)
The Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites form an accomplice, to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat is one who feared God, and when surrounded by enemies he turned to the Lord in prayer. Jehoshaphat knew that he could not overcome these enemies with his own strategy and physical strength, and therefore sought the counsel of the Lord to win over the battle.
Have you noticed how when plotting against a righteous person, the wicked people will come together just to destroy the good man? The reason for this is because sadly, people often choose to make their enemy’s enemy their friend, just to accomplish their evil plan.
They won the battle with praise
We read in 2 Chronicles 20:21, After he had advised the people, he appointed people to sing to the LORD and praise him for the beauty of his holiness. As they went in front of the troops, they sang, "Thank the LORD because his mercy endures forever!" (GW)
Generally when faced with war, it is understood that physical weapons of warfare are used. However, contrarily, Jehoshaphat appointed people who could sing and praise the Lord for the beauty of His holiness. This group of worshippers took the lead, and went ahead of the troops.
As they praised and extolled the holiness of God, we read in 2 Chronicles 20:22, As they started to sing praises, the LORD set ambushes against the Ammonites, Moabites, and the people of Mount Seir who had come into Judah. They were defeated. (GW)
As they began to sing praises to the Lord, the Lord began to do His wondrous work. The Lord set ambushes against Jehoshaphat’s enemies, and all of them were thrown into confusion, and turned against each other. All that the Israelites did was sing praises to the Lord, and as they did so the enemy camp was totally disoriented, and ultimately defeated.
We understand from this passage that praises to God can accomplish for us what no earthly weapon can do. Praise can attain for us what money can’t.
We may be regular to church and worship God every Sunday, but it is possible that we may forget that the God whom we worship is a most holy God. For those who are complacent because we are in a period of grace, let us be reminded that our God is unchanging God, and a holy God.
For those who are fervently praying and awaiting answers for many long years, here’s a wonderful secret that they should begin to praise the Lord instead for their adverse situations. As we begin to praise the Lord daily for his majesty, His holiness, His glory and seek only His honor, we will begin to experience miraculous answers to our prayers. The ones who rise against us will be confounded with turmoil, and the Lord will grant us victory. Also, as we magnify and extol the holiness of God, we too will be transformed and our lives will begin to reflect His holiness.
When the Israelites forgot God’s holiness
The people of Israel forgot to remember that the God whom they worshipped was a holy God and that He desired for them to be a holy people.
We read in 1 Samuel 4:3, When the survivors came back to camp, the leaders of Israel said, "Why did the LORD let the Philistines defeat us today? Let's go and bring the LORD's Covenant Box from Shiloh, so that he will go with us and save us from our enemies." (GNB)
The people of Israel were defeated by the Philistines, and were bewildered as to how this could happen to them. They therefore assumed that if they brought the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh, that they would somehow gain victory over their enemies. The Ark of the Covenant signified the presence of God. There was nothing significant about the Covenant Box in itself, but it was the presence of God that made it so important. The people misunderstood that if they brought the Ark of the Covenant, they were assured of success.
There are so many of us who have forgotten that we believe and serve a God who is holy. Just because we are a child of God, it does not assure us of victory in all aspects of our life, but rather we will triumph only when we live a holy life that is worthy before God. As we exalt and lift the holiness of God, all our defeats will turn to victories.
There are those who like the Israelites have faulty perception that the Bible near their bed stead will help overcome the attacks of the enemy or unfavorable situations, not realizing that what God expects of us instead, is to lead lives that are in obedience to what His word says. It is therefore not enough if we just carry a bible to church, but must read, meditate, understand and obey the word of God in our everyday lives.
The uproar when the Ark enters the camp
We read in 1 Samuel 4:5, When the LORD'S ark came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth rang with echoes. (GW)
We also read in 1 Samuel 4:10-11, The Philistines fought and defeated Israel. Every ?Israelite? soldier fled to his tent. It was a major defeat in which 30,000 Israelite foot soldiers died. The ark of God was captured. Both of Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
When the Ark of the Covenant entered the Israelite camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the enemies also heard the mighty sound and feared initially. However, the Philistines took courage, waged war against the Israelites, and defeated them again. Thirty thousand Israelite foot soldiers, died, the Ark of God was captured by the Philistines, and Hophni and Phinehas the two sons of Eli also died. This was one of the saddest days in the history of Israel.
The reason for this terrible predicament was because the Israelites failed to give the honor that was due to God’s holy name. Eli was the priest of God in the temple, but Eli failed to discipline his sons Hophni and Phinehas who also served as priests before the Lord. They did evil in the eyes of the Lord while serving him, their father Eli did not rebuke them, and the punishment they received from God was inevitable.
Every time we go to God in prayer or go to church may we do so with preparation to receive our strength from a holy God. When we come with anticipation, victory will surely be ours. It is beneficial for us to seek God when everything is going well with us, instead of running to him only when things get worse with our health, finances or our jobs.
Many children want to disobey and rebel against their parents only because they are not aware that all the correction and discipline they receive from them, is for their own good. As children never talk back or disrespect your parents for the lives of Hophni and Phinehas serve as a warning to us.
The Philistines captured the Ark of the Lord
The Philistines who defeated the Israelites carried off with them the Ark of the Covenant. Isn’t it a dismal thought that the Lord could have overthrown the Philistines, and kept the Ark of the Lord safely with the Israelites, but He allowed the Philistines to capture it? The presence of the Lord departed from Israel, and it seems that the Lord preferred to rather be in the camp of the Philistines. The heart of God must have been grieved to see this situation of His own chosen people. The Philistines now assumed that their god had won the victory, and had defeated the God of the Israelites.
We read in 1 Samuel 5:2, Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the temple of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon. (LEB)
The Philistines took the Ark of God and placed it in the temple of Dagon beside their god Dagon. The day after they did this, the idol of Dagon had fallen with his face flat before the Ark of the Lord. They put the idol back in place, and did not realize that the God of the Israelites who was represented by the Ark of the Covenant was a living God, the Almighty God and one who was overall. Instead the Philistines assumed that Dagon had fallen as a result of not being kept firm in place, and so put it back in position and went away. The next day when they came they found that Dagon had again fallen flat before the Ark of the Lord but this time it had his head cut off and both his palms were broken off from his hands. Besides this the Philistines were severely afflicted with tumors.
There are those who when they fall and are reprimanded by God, instead of taking heed to his voice they continue in their same rebellious ways. It is always good for us to periodically assess ourselves before God, and when we encounter those times of fall or failure, we must allow the Lord to take over, and set right those things that don’t please Him.
The Philistines recognize the hand of God
• The Ark of the Lord is kept at Ashdod
We read 1 Samuel 5:7 And when the inhabitants of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us; for his hand is heavy on us and on our god Dagon." (NRSVA)
When the inhabitants of Ashdod saw all that transpired, they recognized that these were wrought by the heavy hand of the God of Israel who was against them. The people decided that they could not endure the Ark of the Lord in their place, and so planned to send it away from their territory.
When the hand of God rested on the early church as recorded in Acts 11:21 large numbers turned to the Lord, but here in the above mentioned incident when the hand of the Lord was on the enemy, it was heavy causing death and destruction.
• The Ark of the Lord is sent to Gath
We read in 1 Samuel 5:9, And it came to pass that after they had removed it, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction. (JUB)
They sent the Ark of the Lord to Gath, and here again the hand of the Lord was against them also with a very great destruction.
There are times when believers when faced with some kind of hardship, instead of turning to God and setting their lives in order, decide to send Him away just like the Philistines did, giving up their faith in God, and their fellowship with others at church. When the Lord speaks and convicts us of areas where we need to change, we must implicitly obey, set things right before our holy God, and honor Him in every area of our lives. Many of our problems are not solved only because we are the problem, and we have not submitted ourselves to the mighty hand of God.
• The Ark of the Lord is sent to Ekron
We read in 1 Samuel 5:11, They called together all the Philistine rulers. “Send the ark of the God of Israel away,” they said. “Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us or our people.” There was a fear of death throughout the city, where God dealt ?with them? very harshly. (GW)
The people of Gath sent the Ark of the Lord to Ekron and there again the hand of the Lord was very heavy so that there was a fear of death. Finally the Philistines decided to send the Ark of the Lord back to Israel where it belonged.
Whenever we are challenged with problems or hardships frequently, we must assess to see if the hand of the Lord is in any way against us. To explain this from our life experience for those who drive a car, if the driver is experienced, and one of the tires get punctured he can immediately assess it, will stop the car to fix the puncture, and move on. However, an inexperienced driver will not realize that the tire is punctured until some other driver points it out to him, by which time he has probably destroyed both the tire and sometimes the rim too, resulting in both having to be replaced. So also, we must tune our hearts to the prompting of the Spirit of God, to set our lives in order when things go amiss. We would be better off is we obey God instantly, and not cause greater heartache to ourselves and others.
In spite of all that happened in the cities of the Philistines, they were still in doubt as to whether or not it was really the hand of God that had turned against them.
The Philistines send the Ark back to Israel
We read in 1 Samuel 6:8-9, 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. 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 chance." (NRSVA)
The Philistines decided to send the Ark of the Lord by placing on a cart along with a guilt offering. Their premise was that if the cart went up to its own land to Beth-shemesh, which was a part of Israel, they would conclude that it was the hand of the Lord of Israel who brought on them all their calamities.
The Ark of the Lord returns to Beth-shemesh
In order to confirm this, here’s what they did. We read in 1 Samuel 6:10, The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. (ESV)
Also in 1 Samuel 6:12-13, 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. 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. (ESV)
After they placed the Ark of the Lord on the cart, they yoked together two milk cows to the cart and shut the caves at home. By instinct, the two milk cows which were deprived of their calves, should go back to their home in search of the calves. But, on the contrary the two milk cows went straight out in the direction of Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went, and did not turn to the right or left. The Lord affirmed to the Philistines that these disasters were brought about by His heavy hand as a punishment on them for capturing the Ark of the Lord.
When God set apart Samson
Even before Samson was born, the angel of the Lord announced to his mother, that the Lord would give her a son, and that he would be a judge who would deliver God’s people from the hand of the Philistines. Samson was chosen to be a Nazirite, set apart for God from birth, and he was required to follow certain instructions that God has given to him. As long as Samson obeyed these commands, God’s hand was with him.
Just like Samson each one of us have also been chosen by God even before we were conceived in our mother’s womb, and God has a plan for each one of us. Irrespective of how old or young we are, let us submit to God so that He can fulfill His purposes in our lives. As we enter a New Year, we will decide to revere God, His holiness, and honor Him through our words and actions. We will not continue to stumble and live a life of sin and failure. Let us submit to the mighty hand of God. Let us look forward to living and fulfilling the great plan and purpose of God in and through our lives.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
