Answering a Great Question Poorly: 1 Samuel 4:1-10

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  This is a direct quote from James 4:6.  James isn’t saying success is bad.  What he is saying is whether we succeed or fail, the status of our heart is the driving factor.  Our heart matters.

The conflict between the Hebrew people and the Philistines is well documented.  In modern day, the word Palestine is a derivative from the same root word as Philistine.  The ancient conflict between these people continues still.

These ancient enemies line up for battle, and on this day the Philistines win triumphantly.  After watching men die, the Hebrew leaders hatch a plot.  They send for the ark of the covenant, believing to bring the ark will force God to fight for them.  If God fights for them, who can withstand?

The decision turns sour.  On the day the Hebrew people bring the ark, they lose more than seven times as many soldiers!  Bringing the ark didn’t make matters better, it inspired the Philistines to fight harder and make matters worse.

This is a phenomenal story about God’s power and God’s priorities.  Human logic dictates God should always want to win.  We use words like omnipotent and omniscient with God.  If He is all-powerful and all-knowing, shouldn’t He also be all-victorious?

The long answer is God is all-victorious.  God always triumphs.  His victories don’t always look how we think they should look.  His victories appear like defeat to us.  For the greatest example of a victory in disguise of defeat, look at Jesus on the cross.

God isn’t interested in our definition of victory or success.  God wasn’t vested in the Hebrew people demonstrating their superiority over the Philistines.  God’s agenda isn’t central to the Hebrew people controlling all the land in the area!

God’s agenda is the status of our hearts.  God desires we seek Him and humble ourselves before Him.  Our heart is the battlefield God cares about.

Here is where the Hebrew people went wrong.  They think the ark will force God to fight for them.  They treat the ark as a talisman, attempting to control the omnipotence of God through the ark.  They were so close to success, though!  They asked the right question.  “Why has the Lord defeated us today?”

This question should have led to humbleness before God.  It was an opportunity to stand before God and realize their hearts are not right before their Lord.  Instead, the question leads to a plan to manipulate God’s power.

So often we stand at the same crossroad.  We frequently ask the question why God – or life – seems against us.  God wants the question to be an opportunity to look inward.  It is a character-building opportunity!  God wants it to be a moment we remember our humility.  So often, though, we use the question as an opportunity to dig in our heels and come out swinging.  God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.