The Merciful Grace of God (1 Samuel 6:21-7:2)

4/29/2010 8:17 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  The merciful grace of God

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  1Sam. 6:21-7:2

 

            Message of the verses: 21  So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down and take it up to you."

    “1 ¶  And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the LORD and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. 2  From the day that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.”

            Now according to Warren Wiersbe the Ark of God was at Kiriath-jearim for 100 years until David would bring it up to Jerusalem and then Solomon would put it into the temple that he built for the Lord, and that is where it would stay until the time that the Babylonians captured Judah around 586 BC.

            Dr. Wiersbe also writes that the Ark of the Covenant was to Israel what the Lord Jesus Christ is to the Church today.  It took a little while for me to understand what he was talking about with that statement, but when the children of Israel treated the Ark of the Covenant with awe and respect they would prosper and thus it is with the Church today with the Lord Jesus Christ.  He writes, “When Jesus Christ is Lord, the future is your friend, and you can walk through each day confident of His presence and His help.”  He also writes “God still gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.”  

            I want to go back to the statement about how long that the Ark of God was in Kiriath-jearim, for it seem to contradict what is written in 7:2, but this is how long that it was there when Samuel called an assembly of the people to turn from their sins and seek the Lord which is in verse three of chapter seven.  In 2 Samuel 6 David brings up the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, which means that Samuel must have been much older when he anoints David as Israel’s second king. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I know that I have made some pretty bad decisions since my retirement and if it were not for the grace of God I would be in a bad way, but what I must learn from this is to trust the Lord with my decisions and now Sandy and I have some big decisions to make, decisions that could frame what we do for a long time, and I am crying out to the Lord for wisdom, and for His will to be done with these decisions.  Should we stay at GBC and work there, should we sell our house and move down here to Florida where we really like it here, should we take another job with Tim and possibility go to Hawaii for a long period of time.  These are all big decisions and they need to be prayed through and allow the Lord to speak to our hearts so we can do what He desires for us to do.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Allow the Lord to make the decisions that He wants us to make and do them no matter what they are.  Trust Him for the results.

 

4/29/2010 8:45 AM