In the first part of 1 Samuel there are some very interesting stories of the Israelites during a time that hey had very little leadership as a people and the priests who had responsibility for the spiritual needs of the people were very corrupt.  Eli was the leader of the priests and yet he did not call his sons, who were the most corrupt, into accountability for their corruption.  So, the people were on their own for the most part.  We see God preparing a new prophet and priest, Samuel, early in the book.  The interesting thing to me is the attitude of the people toward God.  In chapter 4 the Israelites go out to war with the Philistines and they are defeated.  They ask, “why did the Lord defeat us today before the Philistines?”  My immediate thought is, “that is a good question.”  However, I don’t think it was truly a seeking of God to know His plan or will.  So they come up with an idea, let’s go get the ark of the covenant, we’ll take it into battle with us and surely it will save us from our enemies.  So, they sent men to retrieve the ark from Shiloh.  Two priests were with them, Phinehas and Hophni, the two corrupt priests, sons of Eli.  The ark is brought into the camp of the Israelites and everyone is excited that the ark of the covenant of the Lord is present, victory will be theirs.  Their shouts reached the ears of the Philistines, they panicked, be cause a god has entered their camp.  They had heard of this god of the Israelites and rightfully respected the adversary they were to face.  Into battle the Israelites go with the ark and they are soundly defeated.  Also, the ark of the covenant of the Lord is captured.  Eli’s sons were killed as well.  I would say that was a bad day.

Looking at what transpired we note some interesting things.  First, they did not seek God and whether they were to battle the first time, the result defeat.  Second, they decided that the ark of the covenant of the Lord would be their talisman, their good luck charm.  Again, they thought taking what was consecrated to God would obligate God to do what they wanted, defeat the Philistines.  They were not serious about their submission to Yahweh, they treated God in the same manner the Philistines did.  They knew about the God of the Israelites, but they didn’t know the God of Israel, so it was just a god.  The Israelites made spirituality about them, not God.  Third, their carelessness with the ark of the covenant spoke volumes about their current relationship with their God, it was filled with disobedience.  The result, they suffer defeat once again.

We should learn from their experience.  We cannot treat our relationship with God, the indwelling Spirit, or the body of Christ as bargaining chips to get what we want, rather than letting these important aspects of a believer’s relationship be used by God to direct our lives.  The believer must understand that our relationship with God is truly more about Him and His purposes and plans than us and our desired plans.  We must walk in surrender to His will and His Word always looking to Him for His direction through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  The young shepherd boy had it right when he faced Goliath years later –

“and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear

that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s.

He will hand you over to us.” 

1 Samuel 17:47