1 SAMUEL 4-5 GODS WILL WITH OR WITHOUT YOU2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 4-5 Gods Will With Or Without You

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017. And for the rest of us, we're going to be here in 1 Samuel chapter 4 and possibly venture into chapter 5 this evening as well. But let's begin in 1 Samuel chapter 4 this evening and read through verses 1 through 10. Here's what it says.

And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and encamped beside Ebenezer and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines who killed about 4,000 men of the army in the field.

Verse 4.

So the people sent to Shiloh that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?

Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, woe to us, for such a thing has never happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men and fight. So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter and there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers.

Here as we continue on in the book of Samuel, we work our way now to chapter 4. And here we're seeing the progression of really the bad condition and the corruption of the nation of Israel and why they were in so desperate need for a man who pursued God's heart.

And in a few years, God's going to provide a king who is a man after God's own heart, David. But before that, he's going to provide Samuel. And at this time, Samuel's growing up. We saw that in the past couple weeks, chapters 2 and 3, Samuel growing up. And then after the events we'll read about here in 4 and 5 and 6 and 7, we'll get into the actual ministry of Samuel as an adult and being a prophet and a judge for the nation of Israel. But this is kind of the...

the state of the nation of Israel that, well, they're,

subject to somewhat of a captivity by the Philistines. That is, the Philistines have been taking territory and been taking away land from the nation of Israel and have been a constant threat for Israel for some time now throughout the book of Judges. You see the Philistines as like the primary enemy of Israel throughout those 400 years. And so that's continuing and the Philistines are continuing to push against Israel

And now we get to see this battle that takes place and this huge defeat that goes on. As we look at this battle, as we look at the things that follow, I've titled the message this evening, God's Will With or Without You.

And what we see here is really some evidence and some, you know, examples for us to not follow as far as Israel is concerned. And yet, in the midst of Israel's corruption, in the midst of Israel's misunderstandings about who God is and their failure to walk with God, we see throughout it, God is accomplishing his purposes even though his people are far from him. And

And so I worded it that way for us to consider that the reality that God will accomplish his will with us or without us. And I'm talking about the big picture of God's will. Obviously, you know, God's will for your life. He invites you to participate and you, you know, have a crucial role in your willingness and your participation. But again,

But in the grander scheme, you know, the work of God, the plan of God, what he wants to do in your family, what he wants to do in the church, what he wants to do in the workplace, what he wants to do in our society, he's going to accomplish that with or without you.

But we have the opportunity to learn from Israel's example and to be men and women who pursue the heart of God and be part of that work and be part of him accomplishing his will and have great reward for that. We have the opportunity to resist God's heart or pursue God's heart. But either way, God's going to accomplish everything.

his will. And so I want to encourage you, of course, to jump on board to what God wants to do and make sure that you're in the center of his will and not trying to get him to be, you know, following your will. Not my will be done, but your will. And us submitting to and following his lead is

in this life. And so we can kind of see that begin to play out here in these first 10 verses. And the first of four points this evening is God will not be your good luck charm.

When we begin to talk about pursuing God's heart and God's will, here's what you need to know. God will refuse to be your good luck charm that you can kind of carry with you so that everything you do is prosperous and successful because you have your lucky charm with you.

Here we see that Israel goes to battle against the Philistines because the Philistines are invading. They're making a threat. And Israel rises to the occasion and meets the threat. In verse 1, it says,

Now, these are two cities that are towards the coast of the Mediterranean and they're right next to each other. And so that's why they're camping, you know, you can picture kind of like on either sides of the valley. And so you have their camp and this camp and they're preparing now to go to battle. That's how they would do that. It tells us in verse two, the Philistines put themselves in battle array.

And as they go to battle, in verse 2 it says, Israel was defeated by the Philistines who killed about 4,000 men of the army in the field. The Philistines were not native to the land that Israel occupied, the land of Canaan. They came off of the island of Crete and they, you know, by boat

basically migrated to the land of Israel where they were camped out there on the shore of the Mediterranean. And so they've been taking land. They've been, you know, they've landed. They've begun to establish themselves. They've been taking territory. They're continuing that push and continuing to take back what God had promised to his people and what God had given to them.

And now as they enter into this battle again, they continue to be victorious. Now the Philistines had superior weaponry. They knew how to fashion armor. They knew how to manipulate steel and were able to make better weapons. And so they were a very serious threat and very fearful for the Israelites to deal with the Philistines in that way. And so here as they go to battle,

The people of Israel are defeated and 4,000 men of the army are killed in this first battle. Now in verse three, they're wondering why. It says, And so they begin to ask a good question. Why did this fail?

Why were we defeated? Why did not God allow us to have victory over the Philistines? It's a good question to ask whenever we have, you know, some type of letdown or failure or, you know, things happen in a way that we didn't expect. It's appropriate to say and wonder, Lord, what's going on here? And to take that

question to God. But the way that Israel is asking this question is not so much a genuine thing about, you know, like we need to seek the heart of God. We need to find out and have a relationship with God. We need to hear from God. They're just trying to figure out what's the formula for us to be able to get God to do what we want

him to do for us. And you can see that as it continues on in verse 3. They say, "...let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us." And notice how they say it. "...that when it comes, it may save us from the hand of our enemies."

So they're not basing this whole thing on a relationship with God, hearing from God. What does God want? What does God want to do? You know, why is God withholding victory here? And if you look back, you know, we see when the children of Israel were entering into the promised land, the Lord did hold back victory. And Moses cried out to the Lord and said, why? And God told them why. Well, because there's sin in the camp. There's this issue that needs to be dealt with. And it would have been appropriate for Israel to respond that way.

But it wasn't for them about connecting with God, hearing from God, or pursuing God's heart. It was about what can we do to get God to bless this thing that we're doing, this work that we want, this victory that we need. And so they decide, oh, here's what we could do. We can get the Ark of the

a couple different ways, but it could be that they're saying, if we take the Ark of the Covenant into the midst of the battle with us, it's so important to God. He will not allow us to fail. It's so important to God. He's going to protect us. He has to because the Ark of the Covenant is so important to God. And so it will save us. God will have to defend us because he will not allow that Ark to be lost.

And that could be what they thought. It also could have just been they were superstitious and they thought the ark itself has some kind of special powers, special abilities, you know, special value. And so the ark of the covenant would be, you know, the thing that saved them. So either way, they're misusing and misunderstanding what God has provided for them in the ark of the covenant. And so here you have them

totally disconnected from God, totally not concerned with, not seeking after the heart of God, but just trying to manipulate the situation to get the results that they want. And that is a very dangerous place for us to be. You know, we can find ourselves kind of in a similar situation that, well, there's sometimes that shock, right? Something bad happens in our day and we think, man,

I just don't understand why this, I mean, I read my Bible today. Why would this happen today? I read my Bible. Why would I get in a car accident? You know, like, and we connect those things when they're not connected to

It needs to be us connecting ourselves to God. It's okay to ask, like, why would this happen? And God, why did you allow this? But not trying to connect it to, well, what part of the formula did we miss? You know, I missed adding sugar to the recipe. And so, you know, that's why it all fell apart. That's why I had this difficulty happen. That's why I had this bad thing happen. No, it's not about that at all. It's about, are you pursuing God's heart or not? Listen, God's going to do his will with or without you.

And you can be a willing participant or you can fight against it and try to do things on your own way. And that's what Israel was doing. They're trying to get their will accomplished through their means, through their resources. And God's saying, no, I'm not going to bless what you're doing just because you put my ark in the midst of the battle. I'm not going to bless what you're doing just because you want me to.

It really has to be the other way around, that we have to get it into our heads and understand that it's not about us getting God to bless what we do. We want God to bless what we do, right? We need to flip it around and do what God blesses. We want God to bless what we do, but what we really need is to do what God blesses. That is to get our marching orders from him. Israel didn't do that.

They had it backwards like we do many times. And they were not pursuing God's heart. They were asking God to follow their heart and bless what they wanted. They wanted victory in that battle. Now, talking about victory and defeat in battle, understand also that victory or defeat does not necessarily indicate whether or not God's in it. I've talked about this before, but in Judges chapter 20, you see very clearly the Lord sends the children of Israel into battle and they're defeated.

And they go back and cry out to God and say, God, why'd you allow us to be defeated? You know, should we go up again? And God says, yeah, go up again. And they're defeated. And then they come back and cry out to God, God, should we go up again? Yes, go up again. And they're defeated. It's like the fourth time that God sends them into battle that they're actually victorious.

Success or failure, good or bad happening in our lives is not necessarily indicators of God's will or, you know, God's blessing or that we're right where God wants us to be. And so what really needs to happen then is not trying to measure where we're at with God by what's happening, but by, well, our relationship with God and that connection to God and going back and having heard from God. And we talked about that last week, the importance of hearing from God.

The importance of having that revelation from God, of God speaking to you and ministering to your heart. And that's something that we all have to learn. We all have to maintain. And sometimes the maintenance can be pretty difficult, especially for us who've been believers for a long time. Just this morning, the Lord just kind of stirred a little something in my heart. And I was like, I don't know if I could do that, Lord. There's a big project that I have to get done this week so I can take time off next week.

And this morning the Lord told me, don't work on that today. But Lord, I only got two days left if I don't do it. I mean, when am I going to do it? And it's a, it's a, that's difficult. It's not going to be easy. And, and he was just kind of, just kind of quietly just saying, you know, you can trust me that I'll help you to get it done tomorrow. Don't do it today. Oh, oh. And I wrestled with that. And, and I, well, I was, that was, you know, I was praying. I was seeking the Lord this morning. I walked to church and,

I got here. I got my stuff set up. That whole time I was wrestling. I was debating. I was, I wasn't quite sure whether or not I was going to do what the Lord had been stirring in my heart. But, but then as the day kind of developed, it, it became clear. Now it wasn't some crazy radical thing. It was just like, you know, God wanted me to kind of take it easy today and do some stuff and

But he didn't want me to work on that. I don't really know why. And I'm going to be stressed out tomorrow about finishing the job, but I'm going to have to trust him to do it because, well, that's what we need to do. Instead of trying to do what we want and get God to bless it, we need to flip it around and hear from God and then do what God blesses, do what God directs, and not try to use, you know, religious things or lucky charms to get God to accomplish anything.

what we want. And so they're thinking, it's going to save us. The Ark of the Covenant will bring it. It'll be perfect. That'll give us victory. Verse 4. And so here we have, they're sending to Shiloh where the Ark is and bringing it. Now, notice who brings the Ark of the Covenant.

Hophni and Phinehas. Now we've talked several times about how bad these guys were. So here's a good indicator that there's an issue. You have these corrupt priests bringing the Ark of the Covenant into battle and you're expecting God to bless the work that is going on. God is not going to do that. He's not going to allow you to manipulate him to get your will. God's will will be accomplished with God.

Verse 5, The children of Israel at this time, the warriors are excited. I mean, they're so excited. They're so pumped about this victory.

event happening that they shout so loud the earth shakes. They shout so loud that the Philistine camp on the other side of the valley, they're freaked out. They're like, what on earth just happened? What is going on? I mean, it was a significant celebration. They were passionate. They were excited. They were, you know, full of energy. And again, I just highlight all of that to say those are not indicators that God is blessing either.

And all the excitement and all the fervor and frenzy. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that God's not in it, but one way or the other, it doesn't show. It doesn't mean that God was in it. As excited as they were, they were still disconnected from God. They were still not pursuing the heart of God.

Now the Philistines, it seems, have a better understanding of God than the Israelites do. Now they have some issues with their theology as well, obviously. But in verse 7, it tells us now the Philistines are afraid. And they said, God has come into the camp.

And they said, And so the Philistines are freaked out now because, well, we heard about their God, how their God delivered them out of Egypt. Now here's a real serious issue for the Philistines. So they heard about God. They knew how powerful he was.

but they were not submitted to him. Instead, they're fighting against God and his people, and that's been their habit. And so you see, they were aware. They had enough understanding to be able to turn to God, but instead they're fighting against God. And so they decide we're gonna have to be strong. In verse nine, be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines. They give their people a pep talk.

all right, we're gonna have to fight really hard because they've got God on their side now. And so we're gonna have to work extra hard to overcome the odds and defeat them as well as their gods. And so they did. They fought and Israel was defeated and every man fled to his tent. And there was a very great slaughter. There fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. 30,000 men of Israel died as a result of them doing what they wanted to do

doing what they felt was necessary. It was the Philistines who started the attack. They figured we have to respond. We have to defend our nation. We have to defend ourselves. So they did what they were convinced they had to do, but they weren't pursuing the heart of God in it. And the result was great loss, great tragedy, great slaughter. God will not be your good luck charm.

You can't force God into a situation. And this is, I think, similar to what was taking place when Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and said, jump off, because God promised he's not going to let your foot dash against the stone. Just throw yourself into the midst of a situation where God has to do, you know, what you want him to do.

And God will not play those games. He will not participate in those things. He's going to accomplish his purposes. And if you want to fight it and go rogue and try to make him do what you want him to do, well, you can do that to your own detriment, to your own great slaughter. But he's not going to let you manipulate him so that he does what you want him to do. It has to be the other way around. We have to be men and women who pursue God's heart.

Instead of asking God to bless what we do, we need to do what God blesses. Moving on to verses 11 through 18, here we have point number two, and that is that God will fulfill the

his word. After the battle, now word is going to come back to Shiloh and to Eli, and the promises that God had given will be fulfilled. In verse 11, it tells us also the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. So as this defeat takes place, there's a great slaughter, the men of Israel fled, the ark of God is captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two corrupt priests guarding the ark,

Well, they're put to death at the same time. Now, this is a fulfillment of something that God said would take place. We saw this two chapters earlier in 1 Samuel 2, verse 34, when God sends a man of God to Eli the priest and says...

Your family is going to be wrecked because you have continued to disregard my word and you've honored your children more than me. And so your family is going to be a wreck. It's just going to be, they're going to be wiped out. They're going to be begging for bread. They're not going to have a place in the priesthood. I'm removing that from you. You know, that there's just judgment upon you and your family, Eli. And as a sign that all of this is going to come true, you

In 1 Samuel 2, verse 34, he says, here's the sign. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, in one day they shall die, both of them. And so here you have the fulfillment of God's word, the fulfillment of God's promise. This was a sign that the rest of the things that God said would be fulfilled as well. And so we see God's word unfolding. God will accomplish his purposes, again, with or without us. We get to choose our part in his plan, right?

as far as whether or not we're going to participate and be involved. But God's going to accomplish his purposes either way. Verse 12. Now when he came, there was Eli sitting on a seat by the wayside, watching for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out.

Verse 17. So the messenger answered and said...

Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured. And so now word comes back from the battle. This lone messenger escapes, and he runs from the battle line. He runs back into Shiloh, and he begins to spread the news, and he gets to Eli in a hurry. And

and gives him the report. What happened? What's going on? Why is there this tumult? Why is there this crying? What happened? Eli asks him, and he gives him the report. Israel has fled. We've been defeated. We've been wiped out. Everybody's gone to their tent. There's been a great slaughter. Eli, I'm sorry to tell you, your two sons have died. Both of them and the ark of God has been captured. And so he delivers the bad news, delivers the tragedy of

to Eli, verse 18. Then it happened when he made mention of the ark of God that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck was broken and he died for the man was old and heavy and he had judged Israel 40 years. Eli gets the news and it's the death of him. It's so shocking to him. He falls off his chair and breaks his neck. It says because he was old and heavy. He dies on the same day as his son's

Again, all part of the great tragedy that comes from not pursuing the heart of God. God promised Eli, your sons are going to die both on the same day. You know, it's interesting, and I always share this, that God always invites repentance with every announcement of judgment.

And I have no problem believing that in 1 Samuel 2, when the man of God announces the judgment, that Eli could have repented and he could have dealt with his sons. He could have intervened and taken a stand and done something and been part of, well, honoring God and doing what God wanted. But he continued to honor his children more than God and he didn't deal with the situation. And then in 1 Samuel 3, when God speaks to Samuel,

Again, it's another opportunity for Eli to respond because God tells Samuel, I'm going to judge Eli and his family as a result of their sin, which he knows about. And it was this refusal to do what God wants that brings Eli to this situation where, well, he loses both of his children in one day. But what's interesting also about this is that

the way that it's worded here, it kind of indicates he lost his sons, that was bad, but the worst thing was the Ark of the Covenant has been captured, right? Because it says in verse 18, when he made mention of the Ark of God, that Eli fell off his seat backward. And so, you know, maybe it was like a build-up, right? He's like, you know, your sons have died. Or, you know, there's a great slaughter and he's like leaning back in his chair. And then, your sons have died. He's leaning back further. I better not lean back. I might fall over and break my neck because I'm heavy. But, um...

But, you know, it might have been like it kind of built up until finally that was like, oh my goodness, and the ark of God was, and so then he fell over. But it seems to indicate, you know, he was more concerned about the ark of God. And yet, as much as that may be, he was not so concerned that he was willing to live his life in obedience to what God wanted. And he wasn't willing to honor God above his family. He wasn't willing to honor God above anything else or all else.

He had reverence for the things of God, but not obedience to God. Not again, a pursuit of God's will and God's heart. It's important that we understand that God will fulfill his word. He's going to accomplish his purposes and what he sets forth to do. And he's on the mission. He's the one doing the work. He's the one who has the agenda and

And our responsibility is to get on board with his agenda, not the other way around. We need to know that God will fulfill his word with or without us. But we have the opportunity to participate and be part of the eternal work of God that has great reward. Well, moving on to verses 19 through 22, here we have point number three, and that is God will keep on working even when you feel like he is done.

Verse 19, it says, And so now the tragedy continues, right? Now the word gets to Eli, and now the word gets to the widow. Phineas had a wife.

She was with child. She was about ready to deliver the child. And the news, again, that the ark of God was captured, that her father-in-law was dead, and that her husband died. I mean, you can understand for this

that this is a tragic news report. This is a tragedy that has taken place. She's lost her husband. She's lost her father-in-law. And the ark of God has been captured. And so in the trauma that she experiences over that news, she goes into labor. It impacts her so severely that her body goes into labor and she dies in the midst of

of this childbirth or soon after the childbirth. In verse 20, it says, and about the time of her death, the woman who stood by her said to her, do not fear for you have born a son, but she did not answer, nor did she regard it.

So she gives birth to a son, but she's not able to rejoice in that. You know, the scriptures talk about the pain of labor, but then it's lost. It's swallowed up in the joy, you know, of the birth. And she's not able to experience it. She doesn't regard it all. She doesn't even care. It doesn't even mean anything to her that she has given birth because of the tragedy that has taken place. Again,

It is a horrible thing to be in a place where you are not seeking after the heart of God. And the failure of Eli affected the nation, it affected his sons, his sons and their failure affected their wives and the nation and around, you know, the whole thing is that it impacts, it makes a big impact in the people around us and our families when we are not in pursuit of the heart of God.

And so she is torn up. She's devastated at the tragedy that has taken place. So much so that she doesn't even regard when she has born a son. And then in verse 21, it says, then she named the child Ichabod, saying the glory has departed from Israel because the ark of God has been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. So in her sorrow, she names her child Ichabod.

Yes, Ichabod Crane. Thanks, Rick. Ichabod. And it means the glory has departed. She names her son a name that he will carry with him for the rest of his life, saying God has left his people. He's gone. The glory has departed. We're not God's people. We don't have him on our side. He's not in our midst. He's not working with us.

As we began the service and I was praying, I was genuinely thankful that we get to come here and experience the presence of God. And she is mourning the loss of the presence of God. Remember, the Ark of the Covenant was where God would meet with his people. And there between the wings of the cherubim that overshadowed the Ark, that's where the presence of God was and dwelt within the midst of the tabernacle. And now she is sorrowing

over the reality that we've lost the presence of God, as well as her husband and her father-in-law. The glory has departed. Verse 22, and she said, the glory has departed from Israel for the ark of God has been captured. And so you can see reflected in her naming her child this, that she's convinced it's over. It's done. We've lost. But the reality is, and as we continue on into chapter five in just a few minutes,

God is not done. The glory hasn't departed. The glory never left. The glory, you know, God's continuing to do what he's continuing to do. He's accomplishing his will. The issue with Israel is that they are not seeking the will of God. They're seeking God to do their will.

but they're not seeking after the will of God and the plan of God. And so they're not on board with God's plan. And so it seems like the glory has departed. It feels like God's given up. It feels like God's done and his presence is no longer there and all hope is lost. That's what it feels like to her and to the rest of the nation. God is going to continue to work. He's not done. It's not over. He's still on the throne, just like he always was before and after that. Nothing has changed.

Except for their part in their connection to God, in their relationship with God. That's what's changed. And that's the real issue that needs to be addressed. And a lot of times I would say that God allows these kinds of things. And for this feeling of departure, for us to recognize that there has been a departure. But again, we need to remember, if we feel distant from God, it's not God who has moved. The glory has not departed. Right?

By faith in Jesus Christ, every single one of us has access into the very presence of God. You get to go into the Holy of Holies. Now, they brought the Ark of the Covenant out of the Holy of Holies. But in the Holy of Holies, only the high priest could go only once a year because that's where the presence of God was.

But you and I have access to God in a way that none of Israel and even the priests of Israel at their best didn't have the kind of access to God like we have access to God. But how often do we feel so far from God? How often do we feel like there's just such a big disconnect? How often do we feel like the glory has departed? But God's not done and he hasn't moved.

He's going to keep on working, even when you feel like he's done, even when you feel like he's far off and not involved. The real question is, how involved are you in what God wants to do? And what God is saying, how involved are you in entering into the presence of God? God's going to continue to work with or without you. He's going to accomplish his purposes. The real question is, where are you at with God?

And are you on board with what God is doing? Are you still trying to insist and get God to do what you want him to do? And then, isn't it kind of funny? We get God, we're trying to get God to do what we want to do, and then he doesn't do it. And then we're like, oh, the glory has departed. You know, we're frustrated. We're depressed. We're upset because we feel like God is abandoned and not working because he's not doing what we wanted him to do. But we've got it backwards.

We need to turn it around and get on board. What does God want to do? And again, there's only one way to work that out, and it's to have a real relationship with God. There's no shortcuts. I can't tell you what God wants to do. I can't tell you why circumstances are happening. I can't tell you why you feel like God's done working. I can't, and nobody else can. And there's no verse that you can turn to that says, you know, this is God's will for you, and you're missing it. But

As you work your way through the scriptures, the Holy Spirit will take a verse and say, this is God's will for you and this is where you're missing it. It's that time with God, that investment of a relationship with God. And there's still time, there's still opportunity for us to get on board with God and his will and his plans and what he wants to do. But you know, in order to get on board with God and his will and his plans, we're gonna have to let go of some things, right?

Eli could not let go of his sons. He honored his sons more than God. And so he refused to bring correction. And that brings me to point number four, which is what we'll be looking at throughout chapter five here. God will cast down all idols. For Eli, his sons were idols. His sons were more important to him than God.

And it caused him to be in a state, in a condition where he was not in pursuit of the heart of God, where he was out of line with God's will. And it affected the nation because he failed to lead the nation. It affected his family because he failed to lead his family. It affected his walk with God. It affected his life because he had these idols. And you know, we all know this. It's so easy for us to allow idols to be established in our lives. And what you need to know is

is if you don't cast those idols down, God will do it for you. Again, it's God's will, with or without you. All idols will be cast down. You just get to choose. Are you going to participate in that, or are you going to fight against it? God will cast down every exalted thing, every high thing. Moving on now into chapter 5, verse 1, it says, "...then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod."

When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. Now, the Philistines now have the Ark of God. They take it from the battlefield to Ashdod, which was one of their primary cities. And there in that city, they have their temple to Dagon.

Dagon was a Philistine god and they pictured Dagon as half man and half fish. And so his bottom half was a fish, the top half was a man, and it was a god that they worshipped for productivity and blessing and all of that kind of stuff. And so basically what they're doing is they're giving Dagon credit. Our god Dagon, man, he really helped us in that battle. And he overcame the god of the Hebrews.

Yeah, you remember that God you heard about that had delivered his people out of the, you know, Egypt and brought all those plagues? Our God, Dagon, is better than their God, you know, and that's their thought. And so the Ark of the Covenant is there. It's kind of like a trophy, right? It's kind of like, you know, showing, look how awesome Dagon is. But God's not going to let that stand. In verse 3,

So they set it up as a trophy. They think our God is awesome. But then when they get up in the morning, God says, I don't think so. You need to rethink your priorities. You need to rethink your understanding of who God is. And so there is Dagon, the statue, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord.

Just kind of a cool picture. Every knee will bow, right? Even the false gods and the idols and the statues, they will bow before God, face down on the ground before God, because God is God. He is the creator. He reigns over all things and all things will be submitted to him. He will cast down all idols. Verse four, when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord.

The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon's torso was left of it. Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. So they set the statue up again. Sorry about that, little God. You know, God with a little G. You know, we'll put you back up. And when you have to prop up your God, you're in trouble. But they set it back up, go to bed next morning.

There it is again, face down, but this time broken, head broken off, hands broken off. God is declaring, God is showing he is above all gods.

But instead of submitting to that, they're recognizing that God is at work, right? They're believing that there is a God. They're believing in this God. And yet, instead of submitting to that God and repenting and turning to God, again, they continue to fight against God. They continue to resist and to worship this other God. And so instead, they just add a new ritual to, you know, their worship and they stay away from the thresholds.

of the temple, because that's where the hands and the head were of Dagon. And so, yeah, we can't touch that because, you know, this happened there. They refuse to join in to the plan of God, the will of God, and submit to God, just like the Israelites did. But God's still at work. He's showing, look, the glory hasn't departed. I'm still at work. I'm still here in the midst of these people, and I'm still, well, I've still got things to accomplish. In verse 6,

So they kind of get over the statue being fallen down and stuff like that. And okay, we'll just kind of have to live with that. But

God steps it up a notch and the hand of the Lord is heavy upon them. And they begin to develop these tumors. And it says that he ravaged them and struck them with tumors. That it wasn't like slight mild things. But there was this radical infestation that was taking place in their whole area. And so kind of like the plagues of Egypt. And they would have this connection because they knew about the plagues of Egypt. But again, notice they still refused to submit to the plan of God.

Instead, they continue to fight and decide, well, God's harsh towards us and dig on our God. And so in verse 8, So it was after they carried it away that the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction.

And he struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them. Now in their understanding of gods, they believed that gods were localized to certain areas. And there was gods of hills and valleys and streams and, you know,

And so they decide, well, this God is not a good fit. You know, there's some conflict. You know, it's kind of like magnets, you know, pushing against each other. So maybe the magnetic poles will be different over in Gath. You know, maybe the gods will be, you know, happy and be able to kind of have fun together and play hockey or whatever, you know. Maybe not hockey, that's kind of violent. But, you know, play cribbage or...

bridge or something, you know, that they'll be able to kind of get along. There won't be all this trouble. And, you know, so let's move this God to Gath. And they're thinking that'll maybe resolve it, that those gods will get along better. But the same thing happens there. And God shows, again, he is greater than all gods. God shows that he will cast down all idols. God shows that he is not limited to a certain place, a certain locality. He is

The God of the heavens and the earth, the creator, everywhere, in all places, all at once. Verse 10. Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

So it was the ark of God came to Ekron and the Ekronites cried out saying, they have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us to kill us and our people. Now, finally, people are starting to recognize, look, God's bigger than our understanding of God's. And the people of Ekron, as the ark's on the way, they're saying, no, why are you trying to kill us? Why are you trying to destroy us? You know, don't send it here. We don't want to have part of that. And they began to recognize that God is greater than all gods. Verse 11.

So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it go back to its own place so that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very severe there. Verse 12, and the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven. And so there's great devastation happening because the glory of God had not departed.

But the glory of God was being manifested in spite of Israel, in spite of the rebellious Philistines. As they fought against God and refused to submit to God. Well, it's a painful experience to fight against God. It's a painful experience to resist God's will. But God is going to accomplish his will with you or without you. And so we get to choose how painful the process is going to be.

We get to choose if we're gonna fight against God and insist on our way and honor other things above God and do what we think is best, do what we want or whether or not we're gonna be connected to God and develop and maintain a close and steady and consistent relationship with God so that we're hearing from God and doing what he blesses, not asking God to bless what we do. That's so important.

Don't get it backwards. Understand that God is going to accomplish His will. That's really what matters. It's not about what I envision for my life. It's not about what I envision for, you know, this person or that person or what I want to happen, what I want to be accomplished, what I dream and hope about. It's not about that at all. It's about what does God want? And God, how can I be part of that with you? How can I walk with you in the midst of what you want and

and not try to manipulate you to give me what I want. Again, not my will, but your will be done. And so this evening, I really want to encourage you to allow God to just kind of minister to your heart. And maybe there has been some disconnect. Maybe there has been some need for you to just kind of get back into that holy place, get back into the presence of the Lord and hear from him about your life.

Not about what you want, but what does he want? How does he want to work? How does he want to move? And so I want to close this evening with just a couple worship songs and just take some time to just seek the Lord and spend time in his presence to hear from God and allow him to speak to us and minister to us so that we can get on board with what he wants and live out lives that are honoring to him as we honor the Lord above all else.

Because he's going to accomplish his will with or without us. He's not going to be our good luck charm. We can't manipulate him into blessing what we want to bless, what we want blessed. He's going to fulfill his word. He's going to accomplish his purposes. He's going to keep on working even when we're convinced he's done. And he's going to cast down all those idols. I mean, if you want something destroyed in your life, just worship it. And God will cast down all idols. He will take them all out. They will not stand.

Because he reigns on high. So let's take this time this evening to just worship the Lord and just be led by the Spirit. And so if you want to be on your own and praying and seeking the Lord, if you want to be on your knees, if you want to pray together, just be led by the Spirit and do what God tells you to do. Honor him as we close out the time of service with worship this evening.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.