The Gain of God's Presence

We are continuing in 1 Samuel and this morning we are going to be focusing in on Chapter 6. If you haven’t been with us or not following along on the website, this series is on the people of God and the preparation for a King.

I once again have broken up the message into two parts. The first part we will look at what the philistines did with the Ark of God and the second part will look at the response to the Ark from the People of God.

As most of us have been doing we watch the news, attempt to find the truth and how this pandemic will afflict our lives. We move from fear to unknown rather quickly.

Introduction

Many of us have heard the phrase 2020 vision. The moment we reflect on an event and begin to see how we would have approached things. I was watching the news the other day and they were commenting on it now and following the virus and found that many of the cases that were brought to BC were not from the country of China as expected, rather the strain was from the visits from over the other pond. Europe. I thought to myself, really? 2020 is amazing.

As many of you must know by now, I tend to be a forward thinking type of person. I am constantly looking forward to see what is in store, coming up with ideas of what is going to happen. I would describe the future events as possibilities and the past as things completed. I look to the unknown and march forward, while many people I know are evaluators of the past. Some cultures describe the past is right in front of you and the future is behind you because you can’t see it.

As we move forward in discovering what the future both near and far will look like it can make us respond in one of two ways. trust of test

Trust or Test

This morning’s text for the first part of this message is the response of the Philistines to the pandemic they are The facing in having the Ark of God in their lives. The pandemic that the people in the Philistine country were experiencing was not do to a virus, but an Almighty God. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying the result of the pandemic we are facing today is because of an Almighty God bringing wrath upon the earth, but I do hold to scripture that says,

2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

God is a God that heals and we must turn to him on a daily basis and give control of our lives to Him.

God desired this for the Philistines, yet they didn’t.

Trust or Test?

Think about that for a moment.

When we find ourselves in a moment of crisis, what is our go to response?

When we began to face this pandemic, did we trust or test the authorities.

When in our lives we come to a cross roads in both a direction or belief, what is our response. Trust or test.

What about our neighbors, friends, relatives that do not have an intimate relationship with God. What is their response?

let’s begin by looking at the text

1 Samuel 6:1–5 ESV

1 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land.

trust or test

Seven months of destruction. Seven months of pain and suffering. Seven months of moving the ark of God around from town to town only to now seek help.

We are now sitting at 3 months and I am note sure about you, but I am wondering when this is going to end.

Here in BC we have been looking towards our government and Health Care for answers and direction.

They asked their pastor. Ha...

Well actually they asked the priests and the people that practiced watching the stars and coincidences.

What shall we do..

The people cried out.....

have you ever cried out in your life… What shall I do?

Look back over your life and remember when there was a moment or crisis in your life and you found yourself asking many questions.

The response of the people should have been easy. Bow to the Almighty God and seek His face.

Recognize that this God is the one true God that will one day redeem His people.

Instead they turned to appeasing God. Thinking that this would solve their problem.

This is where Trust vs Test comes into the story.

How many times are we watching a movie and the main character is facing a crisis in their life.

Maybe it is in the hospital room and they are sitting beside a loved one who is suffering. They are looking for answers.

In the movies we see these people make their way to the hospital chapel and begin pleading with God.

They move into the Test area of dealing with God

Test

Most often when we, friends, and even the Philistines approach God with the intention of testing him it begins with Guilt.

They started by giving a guilt offering. The priests told the people you need to be guilty of something.

Home many movies have you seen people coming to God and feeling guilty.

God, this is… it’s been a while. or God, this is ..... I know you know my friend or spouse, I am sorry I haven’t talked to you before this but if you......

We see them talking or attempting to communicate with God of whom they do not really believe that He exists

Guilt offered followed by a test

You see the people found in this story is that we are seeing the people testing God. Testing to see if the ark that was bringing on all this problem. If He truly was an almighty God, then please take this away.

You see testing comes in two forms.

Explained and Unexplained (supernatural)

Explained: They begin by sending back the Ark with a guilt offering. If what was happening stops, then this test is complete. It was God that did this..

The priests sent back the Ark with symbols of what they expected would please this God. Symbols that would remind the sender who was affected and symbols of their acknowledgement that they are giving up something.

How many times have you heard someone say.

God, if I give up this habit, would you please.......

God, I promise I will be faithful in..... if you would only answer my requests.

Its an explained test.

Simple put, Let me explain this to you God. Here are the terms of the contract we have set out.

I will do this if you do the following.

The real reason behind this type of test is to see if God is real in your own expectation of God.

The Philistines had yet to realize that they were dealing with an Almighty God. Not a god that appears to be controlled by expectations, rather a God that is sovereign and almighty.

Folks when we get in the habit of asking God to act in the way we feel He should act, we too are putting God to the test.

God if you are really a loving God, a God that truly cares for me you would do this for me. God, I will be faithful if you are faithful to the demands I need.

God asks us to come to Him. He expects that we are to ask, but the problem with coming in the form of a test it shows how we see God

Those who come to God to test Him are looking for their own response and wishes from God.

If those wishes and desires are answered, then it’s God’s Fault.

And you truly know it is a test of expectations when you blame God for the incorrect response or answer.

The second type of test was found not in explainable test but an unexplained or supernatural test.

We all want a miracle to happen.

For God to interview in our lives in an un-explainable way.

Not by chance but by a miracle.

Remember, this is a miracle by testing to see how powerful God is and His ability to act in our lives.

I truly believe that God is a God that answers in miracles, but the miracle in this story was a test.

The miraculous test was to see if an cow that has never fulled a cart would leave their newborn and head with a cart in tow in the opposite direction of their calves.

Natural Life

Just after college I once had a summer job working for a local dairy farmer in southern Manitoba. It was quite an eye opening experience for me. One of the many things I learned was that it brought great pains to remove a new born calf away from its mother. For the cow this is not natural. They would bawl and cry out for their calf.

For this to happen in the story for a cow to do this is quite miraculous.

Testing verses trusting.

The way God wants us to respond is to trust in Him. Trust in a all powerful God who is supreme even when we don’t see why.

You see we can come to him and ask things of him, but the one who trusts him verses testing him is the one described in Isaiah 26:3

Isaiah 26:3 ESV

3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Many of you have heard this song I will trust in you. The chorus is simple

Song, I will trust in you

When You don’t move the mountains I’m needing You to move When You don’t part the waters I wish I could walk through When You don’t give the answers As I cry out to You I will trust, I will trust I will trust in You

The Philistines did not trust in the God Almighty and put Him through two types of test. We need to keep our minds on God and put our trust in Him

Like the song points out, we can come to God and ask Him, but in the end our faith in God is not based on whether he responds to our requests. I will trust in you.

As we break out into our breakout rooms I would like to leave you with this question.

Q1: Has there been a time in your life when you helped someone to Trust rather than test God?

What words of scripture did you use or cling to during those times.

Breakout Rooms

Part 2

Welcome Back,

Let me read the second part of this story

1 Samuel 6:13–16 ESV

13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16 And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

The Gain of God’s Presence

The land of Beth-she-mesh was near the land of the Philistines, some believed them to be Israelite occupying the philistines land, but what is important is that they recognized the ark immediately.

I have titled this message the Gain of God’s presence for this reason, this passage.

Have you ever experienced God’s presence in a real and powerful way.

God is always around us, but His Spirit at times can be very powerful as many open their lives to Him.

I remember a time in a worship service as I was going through a rough time waiting upon God, and the song an message spoke powerfully to me.

It was the same way for the people in that town as the ark approached.

God had returned.

I noticed a couple things in this narrative.

First, the watching Philistines.

They had just witnessed a miracle of the cows carrying the Ark.

Now they witnessed the people taking great pleasure in handling the Ark. The very ark that brought them misery and suffering and these people treated it with Great Joy.

This is a wonderful example of how we are to treasure the very Word of God and the presence of His Spirit among us.

The second thing I noticed is the lack of care for the symbols of the guilt offering.

They were put aside. They were mentioned in the story, but were cast aside.

The Ark was placed on the large rock as a remembrance that God had come back.

The people took the cart and cut up the cows as an offering to God. It stood as a remembrance of God’s returning to the land.

The stone became a witness of God’s working in their lives.

This stone reminded me of our lives.

Do we have a time in our lives that God spoke, acted, or a significant event in our spiritual lives that we have marked and celebrated.

Are their rocks in our lives that we can go back to an remember the graciousness of an Almighty God working in our lives.

For some of us, you journal. You write down the events in your lives that speak to you.

May I encourage you to go back and review those major milestones in your walk with God.

Go back and remind yourself of God’s faithfulness as it strengthens us in our trust in God.

Share it with your family, friends and those who need to hear of the faithfulness of God.

A rock is a symbol of strength and those times when we reflect on the faithfulness of God it will strengthen you to trust in God’s faithfulness.

One such time for me was in a summer before we had children, I needed a summer job. There was a posting at a local inner city mission in Winnipeg working with children and the job was to direct the camp. It seemed to be a perfect fit.

I applied and was accepted for the position; however, the bad news (at that time) was that the posted salary was based on a government grant in which I did not qualify for. They wanted me to work, but I needed to raise my own support and operate as a mission. This summer job turned into a summer mission.

God pushed me out of my comfort zone and the rock I now hold onto was that He was faithful and provided all the funding through the generosity of friends and families. That Big rock I hold onto to this day is that God, when following his direction and guiding, will provide all your needs. He has been faithful all those years and continues to be faithful every day I serve him.

The second part of this narrative is harder to hear.

1 Samuel 6:19–21 NIV

19 But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. 20 And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?” 21 Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.”

God’s standards were not being met. He had laid out some expectations of dealing with the Ark and these men disregarded God’s warning.

Tragedy struck this little community similar to the tragedy the Philistines encountered.

The result was the same, the people asked for the Ark to be removed from their presence.

The different is that the Ark was being asked to move, but because of what was done, rather they believed it was a Holy God and should be held in a place more suited for worship.

When the Philistines move the ark it was to get rid of the curse. These men moved it because of the Holiness in which it stood.

Two things I take away from this.

Do we treat God’s expectations for us as truth or suggestion.

These men knew the commandment from God on not to touch or go into the ark, but chose to test it out as a suggestion.

Are there truths in God’s Word that we need to obey as truth and not of suggestions.

I have over the many years in ministry as I have worked with people follow the same pattern as these men.

We would read over scripture together and the response can sometimes be,

Does it really mean that?

God has a standard for living out our walk with God, not in a legalistic way, but a devoted way, and God way is not a suggestion.

Do we treat God’s expectations for us as truth or suggestion.

Phrases like, “ I know I should be not doing this, but....”

“God won’t mind, its hard for me”

“That is just the way I am, do I really need to love everyone?”

Read through the letters from Paul to the churches. There are many examples of what our actions, speech, and life should be like as disciples of Christ.

may I encourage you today to look to God’s word as a source of strength, follow the leading of His spirit and strive to follow the words found throughout His Word on how we are to live and do it.

2. Do we truly live our lives with the knowledge that we serve a Holy God.

We follow God, not because He is someone waiting for us to mess up so that he can punish us, rather his nature is Holy and that same nature dwells within us to be holy as he is

1 Peter 1:16 ESV

16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Remember as we worked through 1 Peter and the reminder that we are the symbol of the Ark.

We are holy because God dwells within us.

We serve a holy God, we can’t do it alone.

Remember the definition:

a disciple is one who is seeking to know God, while being transformed into the image of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit in the context of community.

Let’s go today and serve God. Like the people in the story to trust God and not test him

Go in Peace and serve God by the power of the spirit.

Amen

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