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You can't put God in a BoxGod in a Box to

use at your convenience.

1 Samuel 4

September 4, 2011

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1 Samuel 4 1a And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

Samuel was at Shiloh, but every tribe in Israel was hearing his words.Hearing -- but were

they heedingheeding his words?

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1b Now IsraelIsrael went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside EbenezerEbenezer: and the PhilistinesPhilistines pitched in AphekAphek. 2 And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.

Ebenezer

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What is glaringglaring in its absence?There is no mentionno mention of going to the LordLord for

leadership, or to pray for victory.

The Israelites are doing their own thingtheir own thing.

How did it work outwork out for them?

4000 men killedkilled in battle.

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3 And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines?

They blamedblamed their losses on God,

But sinsin is to blame for it all.

God just let themlet them do their own thing.

Too often we don't check ourselves to see whysee why we have suffered losssuffered loss;

We just blame it on Godon God.

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Whenever I face catastrophe or failure of any kind,

I must search my heartsearch my heart to see what is going on.

God nevernever draws back from me.

If there is distance between God and mebetween God and me, it is

my own sinmy own sin or my divided mindmy divided mind to blame.Israel has suffered the lossloss of 4000 men;

Let's see what they do now:

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3b Let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that, when itit cometh among us, itit may save us out of the hand of our enemies.

The Ark did represent the Presence of the LORD in battle (Numbers 10:35; Joshua 6:6) but only when the people carried it in faithin faith and by divine leadingdivine leading.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty.

The Ark wasn't a good luck charmgood luck charm.

They didn't havedidn't have God in a box.

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4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Elitwo sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 5 And when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.

Who was in charge of the Ark?

Hophni and Phinehas --

the two worst sinnersworst sinners in all of Israel.

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6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the Ark of the Lord was come into the camp. 7 And the Philistines were afraidafraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.

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The Philistines had heard the stories of how Israel Israel was victoriouswas victorious in battle,

When the Lord GodLord God fought for them.

DeliveringDelivering them from Egypt

Bringing down the walls of Jerichowalls of Jericho

Many other cities fellother cities fell before the God of Israel.

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8 Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.

Note the pluralplural -- gods.

They didn't understand about the True and True and Living GodLiving God -- Creator of all that is.

One GodOne God -- Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

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9 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.

But then they gave themselves a pep talk:

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How we talk to ourselvestalk to ourselves makes a difference."I dread" steals our joysteals our joy, and sets us up for failurefailure.

"I can do all things through Christ"

Gives us joyjoy, strengthstrength, and sets us up for successsuccess.

"I'm afraid." Sets us up to do nothingdo nothing.

"God has not given me the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind."

Sets us up to step out in faithstep out in faith and do good things.

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10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmenthirty thousand footmen. 11 And the Ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slainwere slain.

4,000 killed the first day.

30,000 killed the next day.

And the Ark was taken by the Philistines.

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Prophecy fulfilledProphecy fulfilled11b the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas,

were slainwere slain.

In chapter 2 a man of Godman of God came to Eli and said,

1 Samuel 2 34 And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.

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Israel could only win when the Lord GodLord God fought their battles for them.

God onlyonly fought for them when they were serving Him and Him alone.

When they committed spiritual adulteryspiritual adultery and began to worship false godsworship false gods,

They distanced themselvesdistanced themselves from the Lord God.

And they were enslavedenslaved by their enemies.

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We serveWe serve the True and Living God, and when HeHe fights our battles for usfor us, we can't lose.

But when we draw backdraw back from the Lord, and begin to worship idolsworship idols, dabbling or wallowing in sinin sin,

We begin to live defeateddefeated lives.Don't try to carry God in a boxGod in a box like a lucky charm.

Serve and worship Him with your whole heartwhole heart.

You will live a life of victoryvictory and blessingblessing.

LoveLove, JoyJoy, and PeacePeace will be your lot in life.