Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on July 13, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Did you ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? I remember my first day of University. It was big deal. I attended community college before but heading off to University is still quite intimidating. Moving from a small campus, which the college I went to was, (it had only three buildings on its campus and just a few people in those days) to the big University was quite significant.
UVic was a lot different from Camosun. It is much bigger: UVic has a population of about 20 000 people!1 If UVic was here, it would be the one of the larger cities in the whole province! It is a little intimidating. There are so many buildings, so many people, so much to know.
I try to be prepared though. I go to the campus the day before. I have people show me the building that my classes would be in. I have people show me how read the boards in order to find my classes. I even print out my class lists a whole month before so that I will know when and where my classes are. I have all my books. I put gas in car the night before. I am ready. I am already.
The next day – my alarm doesn’t go off! When I wake up and look at my clock it is five minutes before class is supposed to start; so, I run out the front door as fast as I can and I jump in my car, I turn the ignition and…nothing. I turn it again and…nothing. I turn it again…nothing. Nothing. At this point I am quite upset and am actually practising my creative English skills quite a bit – if you know what I mean.
I run back into my house and call everyone I can think of who has a car. I finally get a hold of Dan who comes and drives me to the school. I run across the campus to the education building. I frantically try to find the class that I am in and try to sneak in the back door without being found out. No luck, I am caught. I am half an hour late for an hour-long class on my first day of school at the big university. I try to elude capture but I am caught. I am caught and the teacher draws attention to me. All I want to do is hide and the teacher is having fun drawing attention to me. I just want to sit down. I just want to hide in the back but my teacher has caught me trying to hide and is targeting me to make a point about punctuality and I am caught. I am vulnerable and in front of the whole class, she is exploiting my tardiness.
I am quite embarrassed by the time she is done shooting me with these arrows of humiliation. When I am finally released from the front of the class to go to sit down as the teacher asks for my name to check it off the list.
“Michael Ramsay,” I say.
“Michael Ramsay?”
“Yes, Michael Ramsay”
“…There is no Michael Ramsay on the list.” I look around again…the students all have musical instruments. This is a music class. Not only am I half an hour late for class – I am half an hour late for the WRONG class. I am embarrassed. I am really embarrassed and I just want to hide.
In our story today we read about Saul when he is caught and he is unable to hide. The archers have found him and they are exploiting his weakness; he was in the wrong class at the wrong time and the teacher, the archers have found him.
1 Samuel 31: 1-6: Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically.
Saul said to his armour-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised fellows will come and run me through and abuse me."
But his armour-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. When the armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul and his three sons and his armour-bearer and all his men died together that same day.
Saul was a man who took so much of his decisions… he took so much of his life in his own hands. Remember when he was about to be made King; what does he do? He, taking matters into his own hands, hides among the baggage (1 Samuel 10:22).
Remember when Samuel was apparently late for offering the sacrifice, what does he do (1 Samuel 13:8-13)? He takes matters into his own hands and offers the sacrifice himself.
Remember when David, the son of Jesse, is anointed and makes friends of King Saul’s children (1 Samuel 16:1-13, 18:28-29), what does he do (1 Samuel 19-30)? He takes matters –and a spear - into his own hand and tries to kill both David (1 Samuel 18:10) and his son with the spear (1 Samuel 20:33).
Remember - just before the battle of today’s passage - when he wouldn’t wait any longer for an answer from the Lord, what does he do? Saul takes matters into his own hands, and consults the witch at Endor (1 Samuel 28). Now Saul is pressed from all sides. It looks like there is no hope for escape and what does Saul do? He takes matters in his own hands; he takes his life by his own hand (but cf. 1 Samuel 16:14). Saul dies.2
So what do we do when life is pressing us from all sides? What do we do when various arrows come flying at us?
What about the arrows of embarrassment and fear of failure? I was humiliated in that music class and honestly, it was difficult for me. You see I can be quite competitive and in post-secondary (when I was in my early 20s). I had developed almost a fear of failure and so whenever I ran into a situation in where I might not be able succeed at the level I had set for myself, I would pour more and more time into it. I would pour more and more of my own effort into it. Don’t mistake what I am saying here about that: work ethic is important and good things come out of hard work. 3
There is a problem with this though and the problem with this is the one we learned from Ecclesiastes and 1 Samuel 17: the battle is not to the strong and the race is not to the swift (Eccl. 9:11); the battle belongs to the Lord (1 Sam 17:47). When we forget this and when we try to do things just on our own strength, when we try to do everything on our own and when we fail, we are often destroyed.
I had a friends of mine who responded to University just like I did by pouring her whole being into her courses. When she did fail – whatever she considered failure – she felt utterly destroyed. She tries to drown herself when she doesn’t do as well as she had hoped. She recovers and is doing really well these many years later but at this time, she was as utterly destroyed as Saul and his sons on Mt Gilboa, when the arrows found them.
What about other arrows that the Enemy fires at us? What about the arrows of death and loneliness? These are arrows that strike many of us when we try to defend against them on our own. I have heard many stories of husbands who die shortly after their wives pass away for just that reason. The one they love is gone and when they try to deal with that on their own, they can’t. I know of people, who have never drank before, who become alcoholics on the passing of a spouse. These arrows of death and lonliness are powerful arrows that can cut any of us down and when we are found fighting on our own strength, we will fall.
What about the arrows of wealth and success?4 Isn’t true that even many of us here today can get so caught up in the business or the trappings of the wealth and success (and I don’t care who we are in this country – even the poorest person in this country lives in the wealthiest per cent of the world) of our society that we can forget God; we can forget about prayer and we can forget about the Bible? Isn’t it true that instead of building a solid relationship with our Lord and Saviour that we can be distracted by things that it seems our wealth provides, like work, gardening, hobbies, TV, family, or even boredom? Isn’t it true that we can be so distracted by the affluence of North American society that sometime we can forget about the shelter our Messiah offers and sometimes we can walk straight out into the arrows of the Enemy; sometimes we can be separated from our Lord and sometimes – maybe - some even die.
I am reminded of a storybook that my daughters have about two real life women pirates. They love the fact that the heroes are girls! (As I’m sure some of the people here do as well!) The heroes are strong women. They are pirates and they are on a very successful pirate ship. They, as well as the male captain and all the male crew, are getting quite wealthy and quite proud and quite content.
One day the two lady pirates are on duty on deck while all the men are drinking, gambling and indulging themselves below - they’re slacking off. They’re slacking off and a ship from the British Royal Navy (the superpower of their day) shows up. The women man the battle stations. The women call the men. The men don’t come up. The women call the men again. The men still won’t come up. (There must be a game on!) The men are too busy drinking, gambling – slacking off. The Navy vessel is getting closer and closer. The women call and the women call but the men, the men remain beneath the deck eating, drinking, gambling – they are just slacking off. They never come up. The soldiers board the ship and take almost everyone captive. The women fight to save the lives of their comrades and themselves but they are captured and – had they not been spared because tehy were pregnant – they would have died on the gallows with all their men folk because the men preferred to indulge themselves rather than to keep a lookout.
This is like Saul. He had many chances to return to the Lord. In many of the episodes that we read, he could have repented; he could have turned to the Lord. When he was about to be made King, he could have repented from hiding among the baggage (1 Samuel 10:22). When he took matters into his own hands and made the sacrifice for himself, he could have repented and cried out before the Lord (1 Samuel 13). When he wouldn’t wait any longer for an answer from the Lord, instead of taking matters into his own hands and consulting the witch at Endor (1 Samuel 28), he could have repented; he could have turned; he could have called upon the Lord tirelessly, without ceasing (Cf. Luke 18:1-8). And Saul now as he is pressed from all sides and it looks like there is no hope for escape. Even in this last moment he could call upon the name of the Lord and be saved (cf. Acts 2:21) but instead he takes his life in his own hands. He took his life by his own hand.
This is what we must remember. We must remember what was spoken to us through David in 1 Samuel 17: the battle belongs to the Lord. We have to follow him. We can’t like those men on the pirate ship who give up keeping watch. No man (or woman) knows the time or hour of our Lord’s return. No one knows the time or hour when our name will individually be called. Some of us will live one hundred years. Some of us will live forty. Some of us will live more and some of us may live less.
Jesus, the scripture says, will return like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2). When he does the question to us will be: have we truly been serving Him or have we - by making our own decisions without consulting the Lord about our work, our family, or our health - have we been serving ourselves? When the Lord comes back, those of us who serve Him; when the Lord comes back, those of us who turn to Him; when the Lord comes back, those of us who realise like David did that the battle does belong to the Lord, we will be raised to eternal life in His Kingdom.
Those of us who continue to do things on our own though – like King Saul – those of us who continue to make up our own minds and continue to serve our own whims – those of us who serve ourselves instead of the Lord will not be in His kingdom but there is still good news: no matter how long we have been serving someone other than the Lord, it is not too late as long as we are still alive. It never too late to turn (repent); it is never too late to turn or return to the Lord. As long as we have a breath in us we can still be saved…and maybe Saul was. Samson in his dying moments, even though he took his life by his own hands, repented and earned his spot as a hero of the faith (Hebrews 11) and Saul may very well have done the same but we don't know that (his name is absent from the walk of fame) and I would encourage us not to leave it to the last moment at any regard. Why die in uncertainty? Why live in uncertainty? Instead, as His yoke is easy (Matthew 11:29), Let us all turn to the Lord today and be saved.
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1 http://www.canadian-universities.net/Universities/University-of-Victoria.html
2 Now to be fair, there is inter-play here between Saul not relying upon the Lord and the fact that the Lord sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. Saul rejected the Lord and the Lord rejected Saul. This interplay is somewhat reminiscent of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart at the time of the mass Israelite exodus from Egypt.
4 The depression that we just mentioned around the king, Saul, certainly is prevalent in our wealthy societies whereas it is almost non-existent in poorer nations. What about the Enemy’s arrows of wealth and success? I read a very good journal article recently that compared the actions of King Saul to a person diagnosed with depression and then they created interesting clinical test to see if the results could be duplicated and they could. It was very interesting. Is it just a coincidence that depression is most common in the post-Christian western world where whole societies almost seem to want to only rely on ourselves?
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
1 Samuel 17:46 – 47: The Battle belongs to the Lord
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on July 6, 2008
Presented to Swift Current Corps on May 2, 2010
Presented to Warehouse Mission Corps, Toronto on July 17, 2016
Presented to 614 Warehouse Regent Park, Toronto, June 11, 2017 (https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2017/06/1-samuel-1746-47-battle-belongs-to-lord.html)
Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, June 21, 2026 By Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay
I played a bit of sports growing up. I won a few soccer trophies. I tried baseball – my team won a trophy in that once for winning the season. I tried curling – my family won some competitions in curling: I never played on any of their teams. I tried basketball too. Now given my great height and size in general (5’7”), one would think that by rights I really shouldn’t be any good at basketball. But you know what? … I’m not. I tried out however for the grade six team…and I was one of ONLY two kids in my whole class - NOT to make the team (and that was my best ever year at basketball). Not only can I not block shots with my height, I also have difficulties making them. My basketball skills never improved.
One day when I was in university, we went down to the park to play some basketball. Now my friends – they were really good at basketball. Some of them actually made the teams growing up. Now because they were all good sports and had a certain degree of patience, they would actually take the time to explain to me that hip checks, slide checks and nose tweaking were not acceptable defensive manoeuvres. Who knew?
After most of guys had gone home, I was left with a few of the more serious players and they decided to have a bit of a competition to see who was the best shot. So how this would work was that one player would try to pick a tricky shot and if he could make it, all the rest of us would have to make it too – or we would be knocked out of the competition. So they would be doing these reverse lay-ups, shots from the three-point line and the like and due to the grace of God, I was actually able to keep up but then came my turn…
So for my turn - I clarified that I could do any shot that I wanted – I clarified that if I made the shot that they would have to do exactly the same thing – so I would make up the most elaborate shooting routine that I could think of: I would do things like roll on the ground eight times, while singing a children’s song and then throw the ball with my back to the net. Or at one point I think I bounced the ball in off another player after tripping and falling over myself. And – guess what - by the grace of God, the ball actually found the net; so here were all these too serious, too skilled players trying to concentrate on these shots while laughing and not being able to concentrate at all and - at the end of the competition - I was indeed the last man standing. It was weird but in life there are times when we can’t really rely on our own skills and abilities to carry us through. After all is said and done we must confess that the battle is not to the strong and the race is not to the swift (Eccl. 9:11). The battle -as 17:47 says- the battle belongs to the Lord.
Now we all know the story of David and Goliath[1] that we read about today (1 Samuel 17), about how a young inexperienced soldier toppled a professional fighter and we know that the battle belongs to the Lord but instead of this – the fact that the battle belongs to the Lord - we often concentrate, when retelling this story, on how a person with just a sling can topple a well-armed soldier.
While it is true that Goliath is painted as a giant of a man, somewhere between 6’9” and 9’9” tall (depending on your translation: MT or LXX, 1 Samuel 17:4)[2] and it is true that he is portrayed as having the most advanced weaponry of his day and age. Remember that the Israelites did not have any iron technology at all (1 Samuel 13:19). Remember that the Philistines forbade them from defending themselves– and remember that after they disarmed them then they attacked them - much like the USA before the second Iraq war or today with some countries and nuclear technology (or even some conventional weaponry) where they are doing their best to make sure that they are the only ones who will use these weapons for war. Here in our text today, Goliath has his century’s version of the depleted uranium bombs NATO dropped on Yugoslavia: Goliath has an iron spearhead that ways about 600 sheckles of iron (17:7). He is a formidable foe, with superior technology but…nonetheless the battle belongs to the Lord.
Now, that being said, sometimes in playing up Goliath we play down David a little too much – remember that David is already referred to as a warrior in 1 Samuel 16:18[3] and, as a shepherd, he has a lot of experience with his weapon of choice – the sling. And you’ll note also that his weapon of choice is a real weapon that real soldiers really did use in battle. They could fire a rock from a sling at over 100 miles an hour and an expert could be deadly accurate (2 Ki 3:25, 1 Chr 12:2, 2 Chr 26:14)[3.5]: Judges 20:16 says that some men who were left-handed could even sling a stone at a hair at a distance and not miss. This is not a child’s toy; it is a pretty powerful weapon that David chooses to bring into the battle.
David is not just a child; he is a pretty powerful tool that the Lord chooses to bring into battle. So then part of the miracle of the Lord’s victory in this battle here is NOT the fact that David is good with a sling but part of the miracle could be that the Lord apparently conceals this sling from Goliath’s sight until the contest begins (notice that in his taunts of 16:43 there is no mention of the sling – only of the David’s rod)[4] so it appears then that Goliath and his shield-bearer – even with their superior superpower class technology - are ill-prepared to face their opponent and why? … Why? Because the battle belongs to the Lord. Goliath and David’s speeches make that quite clear (17:43-47). This isn’t a contest of two men who serve different gods; this is a contest of two gods (one real and one imagined), who have chosen as their weapons/armour different men. This is a significant difference (repeat). The battle belongs to the Lord.
In our own lives, this is true too and I think that we too often forget that indeed the battles we have before us actually do belong to the Lord as well. I have been involved with a couple of different AA (alcoholics anonymous) / NA (narcotics anonymous) groups here in town. We have even been blessed with the opportunity to begin a group for youth here so as to be used as a tool for their deliverance.
You should hear some of the testimonies in these different AA / NA groups. I cannot share any specifics with you in this context given the anonymous nature of the groups but I can tell you that steps 1-3 of AA’s 12 step programme confess that we are powerless over our foe, that only a power greater then ourselves can restore us, and that we need to turn our will and our lives over to God.[5] This is true. When they forget that in group it is not pleasant. When we forget that in our life it is not pleasant but when we remember it…when we remember it, all of a sudden the seemingly insurmountable can be surmounted because really life’s battles do belong to the Lord. They are not ours to fight.
Myself, I remember reflecting on Bonhoeffer…Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a great man: he was head and shoulders above the rest (cf. 1 Samuel 9:2). He was a Lutheran pastor, a theologian, and a person of great fame whose writings are well known - some of this is due to political and religious propaganda of the time but some of it is due to the fact that he truly was and is still used -albeit post-mortem- as an instrument of God. Susan and I, we even have a couple of books that he wrote on our shelves at home.
Bonhoeffer was a man who worked for the Lord and the Church in Europe before and during the conflict known now as WWII. His writings are still being used to affect much good in the world. His last grandiose act, as far as we know, was to be complicit in the cold-blooded murder of three or four men and an attempt to assassinate his Head of State during a time of national crisis. We know that hundreds of more people died very much because of the plot in which he was directly involved.
So what about Bonhoeffer's last act: an act of hate? Bonhoeffer was rightly executed for treason and conspiracy to commit murder. Did he decide not to remain in the vine (cf. John 15)? Did Bonhoeffer, as educated as he was and as influential as he still is in Christianity, did Bonhoeffer forget that the battle belongs to the Lord? We, of course, do not –any of us – we do not know the answer to this question [6] but that does not mean that we should not ask it and that does not mean that we should not ask that same question of ourselves.
We do know from looking at Chapter 15 of 1 Samuel last week, that there was another hero who was head and shoulders above the rest (1 Samuel 9:2), Israel’s first messiah, (Messiah means anointed ones and Saul was the first one anointed king over Israel), Israel’s first king whom God chose and commanded be anointed. God’s handpicked leader for his people, Saul rejected the LORD (1 Samuel 15) and indeed the new king forgot that the battle belongs to the Lord. Remember that instead of following YHWH’s orders, he instead did what he thought was best in his own eyes (cf. Judges 21:25). Remember that set up a monument to himself (1 Samuel 15:12) after the battle. Remember that Saul forgets that this battle belongs to the Lord; and remember that as Saul rejects God, God, it says in 15:26, God too rejects Saul.
What about us here? What do we do when we are faced with life’s conflicts? Are we any better than Saul? Do we set up monuments for ourselves by taking credit for what God does through us? Do we set up monuments to ourselves in our minds by thinking that we are the reason we have a good job and good home and a family? Do we think that we have anything to do with the price of grain or the price of gas or do we remember that the battle belongs to the Lord?
When we are faced with life’s battles, do we just strap on the amour that society offers us - our education and experience - like the amour that Saul offered David in 17:38,39 and try to fight on our own strength? When we are faced with life’s battles, when we are deciding what to tell a friend, what classes to take, what crops to plant, what jobs to take; when we are faced with the battle of deciding what to do with the time and money we have been entrusted with– do we ask God? (really) Do we pray? Do we read the Bible when we are faced with challenges (like this one from Goliath)? Do we, like David, realise that the battle belongs to the Lord. Or, instead, like Saul, do we try to face life’s challenges purely on our own strength (cf. 1 Samuel 15)? God has given us our experiences, and our education and they are indeed as formidable as a stone in David’s sling but only if we remember that it is the Lord’s battle. We need to seek Him because, indeed, life’s battles do belong to the Lord.
In our text today that is made very clear in verses 46 and 47. David says to his foe, “This day the LORD will hand you over to me…and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
It is not by the sword or the spear that the Lord saves. So this is the same in our world. We can have an education that is the equivalent of the king’s armour. If we don’t use it for God it really is useless. We can have as much money as a superpower spends on weapons. It means nothing if we don’t submit to the Lord.
So I know that life sends us many struggles. Everyday, some are facing a new Goliath. I know many people who are struggling with addiction in these parts. I know many friends who are struggling with serious health and family concerns. I know that there are those here that have real decisions to make about their children and real decisions to make about their life.
As this is true, as this is all true, I invite you. I implore you to remember that the battle belongs to the Lord. So then let us load up our slings with the stones of our crops, education, wealth of experience but let’s do so in faith. Remember, no matter how difficult life’s challenges are; no matter how big are the Goliaths in front of us; no matter what seemingly insurmountable difficulty we are facing today – as we turn to Him, as we turn to our Lord, through prayer and Bible study – as we turn to Him and He will be successful for indeed the battle belongs to the Lord.
www.sheepspeak.com
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[1] Ronald F. Youngblood. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Pradis CD-ROM:1 and 2 Samuel. The death of Goliath (17:1-58), Book Version: 4.0.2: The purpose of such contests was "to obviate the necessity of a general engagement of troops which would spill more blood than necessary to resolve the dispute" (Harry A. Hoffner, Jr., "A Hittite Analogue to the David and Goliath Contest of Champions?" CBQ 30 [1968]: 220). Whether this kind of radical limitation on warfare is ever sincerely accepted by either side remains in itself a matter of dispute (for a nuanced treatment of the issue, cf. George I. Mavrodes, "David, Goliath, and Limited War," Reformed Journal 33, 8 [1983]: 6-8). It is clear, however, that contests of champions (to be carefully distinguished from duels, which are individual combats not representing larger groups) such as that between David and Goliath or between Menelaus and Paris (Homer Iliad bk. 3) were not uncommon in ancient times (for additional examples, see Hoffner, "A Hittite Analogue," pp. 220-25).
[2] Ibid.: By any standard of measure, the Philistine champion was a giant of a man (v.4). Some LXX MSS give his height as "four cubits and a span" (so also 1QSama; Jos. Antiq. VI, 171 [ix. 1]), others "five cubits and a span." The MT reads "six cubits and a span" (thus NIV mg.), making him "over nine feet tall." Other comparable heights in the OT are those of "an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet tall" (1 Chronicles 11:23) and Og king of Bashan, whose size is not specified but whose bed/sarcophagus was "more than thirteen feet long" (Deut 3:11). The MT account of Goliath's height is paralleled in modern times by reports concerning Robert Pershing Wadlow, who was eight feet eleven inches tall at the time of his death on July 15, 1940, at the age of twenty-two (Insight [18, 1985]: 51).
[3] There is much debate as to whether chapters 16 and 17 are placed chronologically in order or even if they both originate from the same source or were both originally about the same people for that matter.David was the light infantry as it were.
[3.5] John J. Davis and Herbert Wolf, note in Judges 20:16 in NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA: Zondervan: 2002), p. 361. When I preach from the same text more than once I usually post only the original text. I added this one sentence because I think it is important.
[4] This may have contributed as well to David’s great speed in battle as he was not as encumbered with defensive amour as was Goliath.
[5] AA 12 Steps: http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/
[6] http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
Presented to Swift Current Corps on May 2, 2010
Presented to Warehouse Mission Corps, Toronto on July 17, 2016
Presented to 614 Warehouse Regent Park, Toronto, June 11, 2017 (https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2017/06/1-samuel-1746-47-battle-belongs-to-lord.html)
Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, June 21, 2026 By Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay
I played a bit of sports growing up. I won a few soccer trophies. I tried baseball – my team won a trophy in that once for winning the season. I tried curling – my family won some competitions in curling: I never played on any of their teams. I tried basketball too. Now given my great height and size in general (5’7”), one would think that by rights I really shouldn’t be any good at basketball. But you know what? … I’m not. I tried out however for the grade six team…and I was one of ONLY two kids in my whole class - NOT to make the team (and that was my best ever year at basketball). Not only can I not block shots with my height, I also have difficulties making them. My basketball skills never improved.
One day when I was in university, we went down to the park to play some basketball. Now my friends – they were really good at basketball. Some of them actually made the teams growing up. Now because they were all good sports and had a certain degree of patience, they would actually take the time to explain to me that hip checks, slide checks and nose tweaking were not acceptable defensive manoeuvres. Who knew?
After most of guys had gone home, I was left with a few of the more serious players and they decided to have a bit of a competition to see who was the best shot. So how this would work was that one player would try to pick a tricky shot and if he could make it, all the rest of us would have to make it too – or we would be knocked out of the competition. So they would be doing these reverse lay-ups, shots from the three-point line and the like and due to the grace of God, I was actually able to keep up but then came my turn…
So for my turn - I clarified that I could do any shot that I wanted – I clarified that if I made the shot that they would have to do exactly the same thing – so I would make up the most elaborate shooting routine that I could think of: I would do things like roll on the ground eight times, while singing a children’s song and then throw the ball with my back to the net. Or at one point I think I bounced the ball in off another player after tripping and falling over myself. And – guess what - by the grace of God, the ball actually found the net; so here were all these too serious, too skilled players trying to concentrate on these shots while laughing and not being able to concentrate at all and - at the end of the competition - I was indeed the last man standing. It was weird but in life there are times when we can’t really rely on our own skills and abilities to carry us through. After all is said and done we must confess that the battle is not to the strong and the race is not to the swift (Eccl. 9:11). The battle -as 17:47 says- the battle belongs to the Lord.
Now we all know the story of David and Goliath[1] that we read about today (1 Samuel 17), about how a young inexperienced soldier toppled a professional fighter and we know that the battle belongs to the Lord but instead of this – the fact that the battle belongs to the Lord - we often concentrate, when retelling this story, on how a person with just a sling can topple a well-armed soldier.
While it is true that Goliath is painted as a giant of a man, somewhere between 6’9” and 9’9” tall (depending on your translation: MT or LXX, 1 Samuel 17:4)[2] and it is true that he is portrayed as having the most advanced weaponry of his day and age. Remember that the Israelites did not have any iron technology at all (1 Samuel 13:19). Remember that the Philistines forbade them from defending themselves– and remember that after they disarmed them then they attacked them - much like the USA before the second Iraq war or today with some countries and nuclear technology (or even some conventional weaponry) where they are doing their best to make sure that they are the only ones who will use these weapons for war. Here in our text today, Goliath has his century’s version of the depleted uranium bombs NATO dropped on Yugoslavia: Goliath has an iron spearhead that ways about 600 sheckles of iron (17:7). He is a formidable foe, with superior technology but…nonetheless the battle belongs to the Lord.
Now, that being said, sometimes in playing up Goliath we play down David a little too much – remember that David is already referred to as a warrior in 1 Samuel 16:18[3] and, as a shepherd, he has a lot of experience with his weapon of choice – the sling. And you’ll note also that his weapon of choice is a real weapon that real soldiers really did use in battle. They could fire a rock from a sling at over 100 miles an hour and an expert could be deadly accurate (2 Ki 3:25, 1 Chr 12:2, 2 Chr 26:14)[3.5]: Judges 20:16 says that some men who were left-handed could even sling a stone at a hair at a distance and not miss. This is not a child’s toy; it is a pretty powerful weapon that David chooses to bring into the battle.
David is not just a child; he is a pretty powerful tool that the Lord chooses to bring into battle. So then part of the miracle of the Lord’s victory in this battle here is NOT the fact that David is good with a sling but part of the miracle could be that the Lord apparently conceals this sling from Goliath’s sight until the contest begins (notice that in his taunts of 16:43 there is no mention of the sling – only of the David’s rod)[4] so it appears then that Goliath and his shield-bearer – even with their superior superpower class technology - are ill-prepared to face their opponent and why? … Why? Because the battle belongs to the Lord. Goliath and David’s speeches make that quite clear (17:43-47). This isn’t a contest of two men who serve different gods; this is a contest of two gods (one real and one imagined), who have chosen as their weapons/armour different men. This is a significant difference (repeat). The battle belongs to the Lord.
In our own lives, this is true too and I think that we too often forget that indeed the battles we have before us actually do belong to the Lord as well. I have been involved with a couple of different AA (alcoholics anonymous) / NA (narcotics anonymous) groups here in town. We have even been blessed with the opportunity to begin a group for youth here so as to be used as a tool for their deliverance.
You should hear some of the testimonies in these different AA / NA groups. I cannot share any specifics with you in this context given the anonymous nature of the groups but I can tell you that steps 1-3 of AA’s 12 step programme confess that we are powerless over our foe, that only a power greater then ourselves can restore us, and that we need to turn our will and our lives over to God.[5] This is true. When they forget that in group it is not pleasant. When we forget that in our life it is not pleasant but when we remember it…when we remember it, all of a sudden the seemingly insurmountable can be surmounted because really life’s battles do belong to the Lord. They are not ours to fight.
Myself, I remember reflecting on Bonhoeffer…Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a great man: he was head and shoulders above the rest (cf. 1 Samuel 9:2). He was a Lutheran pastor, a theologian, and a person of great fame whose writings are well known - some of this is due to political and religious propaganda of the time but some of it is due to the fact that he truly was and is still used -albeit post-mortem- as an instrument of God. Susan and I, we even have a couple of books that he wrote on our shelves at home.
Bonhoeffer was a man who worked for the Lord and the Church in Europe before and during the conflict known now as WWII. His writings are still being used to affect much good in the world. His last grandiose act, as far as we know, was to be complicit in the cold-blooded murder of three or four men and an attempt to assassinate his Head of State during a time of national crisis. We know that hundreds of more people died very much because of the plot in which he was directly involved.
So what about Bonhoeffer's last act: an act of hate? Bonhoeffer was rightly executed for treason and conspiracy to commit murder. Did he decide not to remain in the vine (cf. John 15)? Did Bonhoeffer, as educated as he was and as influential as he still is in Christianity, did Bonhoeffer forget that the battle belongs to the Lord? We, of course, do not –any of us – we do not know the answer to this question [6] but that does not mean that we should not ask it and that does not mean that we should not ask that same question of ourselves.
We do know from looking at Chapter 15 of 1 Samuel last week, that there was another hero who was head and shoulders above the rest (1 Samuel 9:2), Israel’s first messiah, (Messiah means anointed ones and Saul was the first one anointed king over Israel), Israel’s first king whom God chose and commanded be anointed. God’s handpicked leader for his people, Saul rejected the LORD (1 Samuel 15) and indeed the new king forgot that the battle belongs to the Lord. Remember that instead of following YHWH’s orders, he instead did what he thought was best in his own eyes (cf. Judges 21:25). Remember that set up a monument to himself (1 Samuel 15:12) after the battle. Remember that Saul forgets that this battle belongs to the Lord; and remember that as Saul rejects God, God, it says in 15:26, God too rejects Saul.
What about us here? What do we do when we are faced with life’s conflicts? Are we any better than Saul? Do we set up monuments for ourselves by taking credit for what God does through us? Do we set up monuments to ourselves in our minds by thinking that we are the reason we have a good job and good home and a family? Do we think that we have anything to do with the price of grain or the price of gas or do we remember that the battle belongs to the Lord?
When we are faced with life’s battles, do we just strap on the amour that society offers us - our education and experience - like the amour that Saul offered David in 17:38,39 and try to fight on our own strength? When we are faced with life’s battles, when we are deciding what to tell a friend, what classes to take, what crops to plant, what jobs to take; when we are faced with the battle of deciding what to do with the time and money we have been entrusted with– do we ask God? (really) Do we pray? Do we read the Bible when we are faced with challenges (like this one from Goliath)? Do we, like David, realise that the battle belongs to the Lord. Or, instead, like Saul, do we try to face life’s challenges purely on our own strength (cf. 1 Samuel 15)? God has given us our experiences, and our education and they are indeed as formidable as a stone in David’s sling but only if we remember that it is the Lord’s battle. We need to seek Him because, indeed, life’s battles do belong to the Lord.
In our text today that is made very clear in verses 46 and 47. David says to his foe, “This day the LORD will hand you over to me…and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
It is not by the sword or the spear that the Lord saves. So this is the same in our world. We can have an education that is the equivalent of the king’s armour. If we don’t use it for God it really is useless. We can have as much money as a superpower spends on weapons. It means nothing if we don’t submit to the Lord.
So I know that life sends us many struggles. Everyday, some are facing a new Goliath. I know many people who are struggling with addiction in these parts. I know many friends who are struggling with serious health and family concerns. I know that there are those here that have real decisions to make about their children and real decisions to make about their life.
As this is true, as this is all true, I invite you. I implore you to remember that the battle belongs to the Lord. So then let us load up our slings with the stones of our crops, education, wealth of experience but let’s do so in faith. Remember, no matter how difficult life’s challenges are; no matter how big are the Goliaths in front of us; no matter what seemingly insurmountable difficulty we are facing today – as we turn to Him, as we turn to our Lord, through prayer and Bible study – as we turn to Him and He will be successful for indeed the battle belongs to the Lord.
www.sheepspeak.com
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[1] Ronald F. Youngblood. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Pradis CD-ROM:1 and 2 Samuel. The death of Goliath (17:1-58), Book Version: 4.0.2: The purpose of such contests was "to obviate the necessity of a general engagement of troops which would spill more blood than necessary to resolve the dispute" (Harry A. Hoffner, Jr., "A Hittite Analogue to the David and Goliath Contest of Champions?" CBQ 30 [1968]: 220). Whether this kind of radical limitation on warfare is ever sincerely accepted by either side remains in itself a matter of dispute (for a nuanced treatment of the issue, cf. George I. Mavrodes, "David, Goliath, and Limited War," Reformed Journal 33, 8 [1983]: 6-8). It is clear, however, that contests of champions (to be carefully distinguished from duels, which are individual combats not representing larger groups) such as that between David and Goliath or between Menelaus and Paris (Homer Iliad bk. 3) were not uncommon in ancient times (for additional examples, see Hoffner, "A Hittite Analogue," pp. 220-25).
[2] Ibid.: By any standard of measure, the Philistine champion was a giant of a man (v.4). Some LXX MSS give his height as "four cubits and a span" (so also 1QSama; Jos. Antiq. VI, 171 [ix. 1]), others "five cubits and a span." The MT reads "six cubits and a span" (thus NIV mg.), making him "over nine feet tall." Other comparable heights in the OT are those of "an Egyptian who was seven and a half feet tall" (1 Chronicles 11:23) and Og king of Bashan, whose size is not specified but whose bed/sarcophagus was "more than thirteen feet long" (Deut 3:11). The MT account of Goliath's height is paralleled in modern times by reports concerning Robert Pershing Wadlow, who was eight feet eleven inches tall at the time of his death on July 15, 1940, at the age of twenty-two (Insight [18, 1985]: 51).
[3] There is much debate as to whether chapters 16 and 17 are placed chronologically in order or even if they both originate from the same source or were both originally about the same people for that matter.David was the light infantry as it were.
[3.5] John J. Davis and Herbert Wolf, note in Judges 20:16 in NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA: Zondervan: 2002), p. 361. When I preach from the same text more than once I usually post only the original text. I added this one sentence because I think it is important.
[4] This may have contributed as well to David’s great speed in battle as he was not as encumbered with defensive amour as was Goliath.
[5] AA 12 Steps: http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/
[6] http://renewnetwork.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html
Sunday, June 22, 2008
1 Samuel 4:1b-7:1: Hockey Card
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on June 22, 2008
Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries on June 14, 2026
By Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay
Do you know what this is? A hockey card: a Paul Coffee rookie card from his debut with the Edmonton Oilers. Some Edmonton Oilers rookie cards are evidently worth more than $2000.00 - if they are in good condition[1] – but this one is not in good condition at all.
Who’d have thought that Hockey cards would become the big business investment that they have in recent years with people keeping them in special cases and only touching them with white gloves and the works.
When I was a kid, we used to actually play with these cards: close –ies, knocksies (I don’t remember what the games were really called) - we would play all these different games with these cards and they would all involve throwing them against a wall – so much for keeping their investment value – we thought these toys were – uh - toys. Who knew we were squandering our retirement funds by throwing Wayne Gretzky, Billy Smith, and Guy Lafleur against the wall.
Did anyone in these parts ever ‘play’ hockey cards growing up? Or was it just a west coast thing? I remember some games that we would have: you would each line three all-star cards up against the wall and then take turns trying to knock down your opponents cards by flicking one of your cards at it. The first person to knock down each of their opponent’s cards would win and got to keep all of the cards – including every one that had been thrown.
The longer these games went on the more that was at stake. You could see cards piling up and kids would really have their entire collection at stake and then, of course, the more exciting it gets the more people who come to watch. Some of the big matches could have almost the entire school watching. This was a lot of fun if you were competing except for one thing - the grade threes. You see the grade threes loved to collect hockey cards but they didn’t win them. They would steel them. They would sneak closer and closer to any game they could find and as soon as they could get close enough the bold ones would scoop up a handful of cards and run for their lives as a couple of grade sixes always took up the pursuit; and then there were the cautious grade threes, they would step on the cards they want one at a time and then bend down to tie up their shoes over each time picking up a new card and putting it in their pocket, footprint and all.
Now, like many kids, I did collect quite a few cards in my time growing up but like I said none of mine are worth much because – well – because most of them have footprints on them – or are severely bent from my running away from the grade sixes. Oh well. “Who’d ‘a thunk?” If I’d known they would be worth so much I might have invested the $0.10 for gum and a pack of cards in those days. Who knew that hockey cards would become so valuable?
This is the same sort of thing that is facing the Philistines in our story today. They are in this big hockey card competition with the Israelites as it were: the Israelites re getting desperate. Most of their cards, most of their soldiers are falling on the field so they feel that they have to risk their most valuable card. They throw in their ‘Ark’ card, as it were. Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, without first getting permission from their dad, Hophni and Phinehas take dad’s favourite card (1 Samuel 4:4,5), this ‘Ark Card,’ Israel’s most precious symbol of the power of YHWH into the match and guess what? They lose it (1 Samuel 4:11) and the ark is captured
The ark is captured. Now this ark for the record isn’t that big boat of Genesis 6 that God used to deliver the builder, Noah, and his family from the flood. Though interestingly enough it is made out of the same material (acacia wood or gopher bark; cf. Exod. 25:10, Gen 6:14). But this particular ark though it is a wooden container it is not a boat. It is a lot smaller and it is all covered in gold. It is commissioned by God – just like Noah’s ark – but it is contracted out by Moses to the partners Oholiab and Bezalel to build it and Bezalel does (Exod 36:1,2; 37:1-3). This ark is a container whose purpose is to hold the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 25:21, 22; Deut 10:3; Josh 3:6; 2 Sam 15:14) among other things and it is carried on polls by at least four Levites (Exod 25:15). It is an important symbol of the presence and power of God.
The top of the ark has two cherubim, which are like four-headed sphinxes[2] and is called the atonement cover – or the mercy seat – which is where we get our idea in our services of coming forward to meet God at the mercy seat (cf. Exod 25:17-22; Lev 16:2, 13; Num 7:89). This bench up here today is symbolic of this same seat of God on the Ark of the Covenant and that is an important symbol for us now and a very powerful symbol of the presence of God for them then. It signifies the real presence and the power of YHWH. It is a holy place and now it is captured by the enemy. The Israelites brought it into the game and they lost it to the Philistines who took it home with the rest of their spoils and now the Philistines realise here (1 Sam 4:7,8) that they have captured something quite special.
It is neat what people do when they come upon special things. My daughters when they acquire some new treasure or something really interesting, they each have what they call a ‘special drawer’ in their dresser – this is where they keep everything that they really don’t want to lose or break or have their sister take without asking them first. They have a place where they keep their important things and we accord them the privacy and security necessary. They have their special drawers.
The Philistines, much like this, when they realise that they have captured something even more precious than a Paul Coffee rookie card. When they realise that they have won something really quite special so they put it in their special drawer:[3] they put it with all their treasures in the temple of their so-called god, Dagon.
So then it appears now to some that YHWH had left Israel. The Lord, it seems, has taken His ark and gone away. So this is interesting then isn’t it if we think about it for a moment? The ark, the symbol of God has left Israel and He has removed it for one of two reasons 1) either the Philistines and/or their gods were too powerful for the LORD to defeat in battle and so He had no choice but to be taken captive by them or 2) YHWH voluntarily chose to have His ark, the symbol of His power, leave Israel. Either God was overpowered by His enemies or YHWH took His ark from Israel of His own accord. Either way it is distressing news and this kind of distress is not entirely foreign to us today.
This is something that in my life and experience comes up all the time. I hear it phrased as, “How could a loving God allow such a tragedy to happen?” “Where was God when I needed Him to face life’s battles for me?” Again, the implication of these questions is either that God is so weak that He is unable to prevent tragedies from befalling His people or that He chooses not to save His people.
Last week I went to my cousin’s burial. Yesterday, while I was conducting a memorial service in Tobin Lake for a young man who died, my mother was delivering the eulogy for my cousin, Helene, who died leaving her husband (George) and two small behind. It has been asked, “Where is your God when that happens? Can’t He stop it?”
When I was in university one Christian friend of committed suicide. I was asked, “Where is your God when that happens? Can’t He stop it?” When I was in my early twenties a friend of mine was flying home to marry his fiancée. He died in a plane crash, “Where is my God when that happens? Can’t He stop it?” My cousin’s children are without their mother. George is without his wife: “Where is my God when that happens? Can’t He stop it?” Can’t He?
The Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s power was taken as was the lives of thousands of Hebrews on the field of battle that day in Palestine. Where was God when that happened? Couldn’t he stop it? The Israelites must wonder if indeed their God has lost His power. If indeed He was powerless to stop their enemies from taking His ark captive and placing the ark in the temple of another. The Israelites must have questioned the power of God.
The Philistines, interestingly enough, never did seem to forget the power of the God of Jacob. When the ark first shows up in the field of battle, they are afraid (4:7). They know, 4:8, what YHWH has done to the Egyptians. They know His strength but they persevere (4:9) and they overcome the Israelites who have taken the ark into battle (without it being recorded anywhere that they bothered to ask God whether they should do this or not, by the way). In this way the Philistines seem to have more fear/deference of the Lord than the Israelites and it seems that God leaves the battlefield with them – the Philistines - rather than with the soundly defeated Hebrews. But lest the Philistines fall prey to the idea that Dagon or they themselves have defeated the Lord, God teaches them, like He taught Pharaoh before them (Exodus), that they should fear the Lord.
Reading from 5:1-6: After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple at Ashdod step on the threshold. The LORD's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumours…
And look at verses 11, 12: So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, "Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people." For death had filled the city with panic; God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumours, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.
And 6:3, They answered, "If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you."
And verses 5 and 6, “…pay honour to Israel's god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When he treated them harshly, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?”
The Philistines get it. Sort of Ironic isn’t it? The High Priest of Israel and his sons die because of the their wickedness and a lack of respect for God but the Philistines as they repent (turn) and send the ark on its way are saved the death and disease that they had brought into their homes. Well, maybe its not actually ironic in this case because those who do repent are saved and those who don’t are not, regardless of race or history. So that is just like today.
But how does this relate to the questions we asked earlier, “Where is God when calamity strikes? Is He powerless to stop it? Is there someone more powerful than He?” The answer to that question from our story is a resounding “No.” No there is none as powerful as the Lord. There is only one God our saviour and if we think that someone else has overpowered Him and that He is powerless to stop the Dagons and the Philistines in our lives then we are sadly mistaken. The Lord is all-powerful and He loves us. He is not a force for us to conjure up to do our own personal bidding like some genie in a bottle, like the Israelites may have supposed before the ark was captured. YHWH is the all-knowing and all-powerful God as indeed the Philistines discovered.
After my cousin was promoted to glory, I had the privilege of going for a run with George her husband. He is a man of faith. He misses his wife a lot. At times he speaks as if she is still there beside him but he knows that the next thing she will know, she will be raised with our Lord Jesus Christ. Why did Helene go on ahead of us? I don’t know but along with George I trust that God does and thank the Lord for His power, His grace and His strength at times like this when we really need Him.
Where is God in the midst of life’s struggles? Right where He has always been (whether it seems like it or not) and that is where we are always invited to be – with Him, by his side - in His arms because indeed, the Lord Himself is a treasure much more valuable than a rookie card and much more deserving of a spot in the ‘special drawer’ of our heart.
Let us pray.
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[1] Apparently this one is worth about $130. Wayne Gretzky is the $2000+ card (ebay.ca).
[2] cf. Ralph W. Klein, WBC 10: 1 Samuel, p. 41
[3] cf. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: 1&2 Samuel, p. 35.
By Captain (Major) Michael Ramsay
Do you know what this is? A hockey card: a Paul Coffee rookie card from his debut with the Edmonton Oilers. Some Edmonton Oilers rookie cards are evidently worth more than $2000.00 - if they are in good condition[1] – but this one is not in good condition at all.
Who’d have thought that Hockey cards would become the big business investment that they have in recent years with people keeping them in special cases and only touching them with white gloves and the works.
When I was a kid, we used to actually play with these cards: close –ies, knocksies (I don’t remember what the games were really called) - we would play all these different games with these cards and they would all involve throwing them against a wall – so much for keeping their investment value – we thought these toys were – uh - toys. Who knew we were squandering our retirement funds by throwing Wayne Gretzky, Billy Smith, and Guy Lafleur against the wall.
Did anyone in these parts ever ‘play’ hockey cards growing up? Or was it just a west coast thing? I remember some games that we would have: you would each line three all-star cards up against the wall and then take turns trying to knock down your opponents cards by flicking one of your cards at it. The first person to knock down each of their opponent’s cards would win and got to keep all of the cards – including every one that had been thrown.
The longer these games went on the more that was at stake. You could see cards piling up and kids would really have their entire collection at stake and then, of course, the more exciting it gets the more people who come to watch. Some of the big matches could have almost the entire school watching. This was a lot of fun if you were competing except for one thing - the grade threes. You see the grade threes loved to collect hockey cards but they didn’t win them. They would steel them. They would sneak closer and closer to any game they could find and as soon as they could get close enough the bold ones would scoop up a handful of cards and run for their lives as a couple of grade sixes always took up the pursuit; and then there were the cautious grade threes, they would step on the cards they want one at a time and then bend down to tie up their shoes over each time picking up a new card and putting it in their pocket, footprint and all.
Now, like many kids, I did collect quite a few cards in my time growing up but like I said none of mine are worth much because – well – because most of them have footprints on them – or are severely bent from my running away from the grade sixes. Oh well. “Who’d ‘a thunk?” If I’d known they would be worth so much I might have invested the $0.10 for gum and a pack of cards in those days. Who knew that hockey cards would become so valuable?
This is the same sort of thing that is facing the Philistines in our story today. They are in this big hockey card competition with the Israelites as it were: the Israelites re getting desperate. Most of their cards, most of their soldiers are falling on the field so they feel that they have to risk their most valuable card. They throw in their ‘Ark’ card, as it were. Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, without first getting permission from their dad, Hophni and Phinehas take dad’s favourite card (1 Samuel 4:4,5), this ‘Ark Card,’ Israel’s most precious symbol of the power of YHWH into the match and guess what? They lose it (1 Samuel 4:11) and the ark is captured
The ark is captured. Now this ark for the record isn’t that big boat of Genesis 6 that God used to deliver the builder, Noah, and his family from the flood. Though interestingly enough it is made out of the same material (acacia wood or gopher bark; cf. Exod. 25:10, Gen 6:14). But this particular ark though it is a wooden container it is not a boat. It is a lot smaller and it is all covered in gold. It is commissioned by God – just like Noah’s ark – but it is contracted out by Moses to the partners Oholiab and Bezalel to build it and Bezalel does (Exod 36:1,2; 37:1-3). This ark is a container whose purpose is to hold the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 25:21, 22; Deut 10:3; Josh 3:6; 2 Sam 15:14) among other things and it is carried on polls by at least four Levites (Exod 25:15). It is an important symbol of the presence and power of God.
The top of the ark has two cherubim, which are like four-headed sphinxes[2] and is called the atonement cover – or the mercy seat – which is where we get our idea in our services of coming forward to meet God at the mercy seat (cf. Exod 25:17-22; Lev 16:2, 13; Num 7:89). This bench up here today is symbolic of this same seat of God on the Ark of the Covenant and that is an important symbol for us now and a very powerful symbol of the presence of God for them then. It signifies the real presence and the power of YHWH. It is a holy place and now it is captured by the enemy. The Israelites brought it into the game and they lost it to the Philistines who took it home with the rest of their spoils and now the Philistines realise here (1 Sam 4:7,8) that they have captured something quite special.
It is neat what people do when they come upon special things. My daughters when they acquire some new treasure or something really interesting, they each have what they call a ‘special drawer’ in their dresser – this is where they keep everything that they really don’t want to lose or break or have their sister take without asking them first. They have a place where they keep their important things and we accord them the privacy and security necessary. They have their special drawers.
The Philistines, much like this, when they realise that they have captured something even more precious than a Paul Coffee rookie card. When they realise that they have won something really quite special so they put it in their special drawer:[3] they put it with all their treasures in the temple of their so-called god, Dagon.
So then it appears now to some that YHWH had left Israel. The Lord, it seems, has taken His ark and gone away. So this is interesting then isn’t it if we think about it for a moment? The ark, the symbol of God has left Israel and He has removed it for one of two reasons 1) either the Philistines and/or their gods were too powerful for the LORD to defeat in battle and so He had no choice but to be taken captive by them or 2) YHWH voluntarily chose to have His ark, the symbol of His power, leave Israel. Either God was overpowered by His enemies or YHWH took His ark from Israel of His own accord. Either way it is distressing news and this kind of distress is not entirely foreign to us today.
This is something that in my life and experience comes up all the time. I hear it phrased as, “How could a loving God allow such a tragedy to happen?” “Where was God when I needed Him to face life’s battles for me?” Again, the implication of these questions is either that God is so weak that He is unable to prevent tragedies from befalling His people or that He chooses not to save His people.
Last week I went to my cousin’s burial. Yesterday, while I was conducting a memorial service in Tobin Lake for a young man who died, my mother was delivering the eulogy for my cousin, Helene, who died leaving her husband (George) and two small behind. It has been asked, “Where is your God when that happens? Can’t He stop it?”
When I was in university one Christian friend of committed suicide. I was asked, “Where is your God when that happens? Can’t He stop it?” When I was in my early twenties a friend of mine was flying home to marry his fiancée. He died in a plane crash, “Where is my God when that happens? Can’t He stop it?” My cousin’s children are without their mother. George is without his wife: “Where is my God when that happens? Can’t He stop it?” Can’t He?
The Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s power was taken as was the lives of thousands of Hebrews on the field of battle that day in Palestine. Where was God when that happened? Couldn’t he stop it? The Israelites must wonder if indeed their God has lost His power. If indeed He was powerless to stop their enemies from taking His ark captive and placing the ark in the temple of another. The Israelites must have questioned the power of God.
The Philistines, interestingly enough, never did seem to forget the power of the God of Jacob. When the ark first shows up in the field of battle, they are afraid (4:7). They know, 4:8, what YHWH has done to the Egyptians. They know His strength but they persevere (4:9) and they overcome the Israelites who have taken the ark into battle (without it being recorded anywhere that they bothered to ask God whether they should do this or not, by the way). In this way the Philistines seem to have more fear/deference of the Lord than the Israelites and it seems that God leaves the battlefield with them – the Philistines - rather than with the soundly defeated Hebrews. But lest the Philistines fall prey to the idea that Dagon or they themselves have defeated the Lord, God teaches them, like He taught Pharaoh before them (Exodus), that they should fear the Lord.
Reading from 5:1-6: After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple at Ashdod step on the threshold. The LORD's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumours…
And look at verses 11, 12: So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, "Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people." For death had filled the city with panic; God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumours, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.
And 6:3, They answered, "If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you."
And verses 5 and 6, “…pay honour to Israel's god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When he treated them harshly, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?”
The Philistines get it. Sort of Ironic isn’t it? The High Priest of Israel and his sons die because of the their wickedness and a lack of respect for God but the Philistines as they repent (turn) and send the ark on its way are saved the death and disease that they had brought into their homes. Well, maybe its not actually ironic in this case because those who do repent are saved and those who don’t are not, regardless of race or history. So that is just like today.
But how does this relate to the questions we asked earlier, “Where is God when calamity strikes? Is He powerless to stop it? Is there someone more powerful than He?” The answer to that question from our story is a resounding “No.” No there is none as powerful as the Lord. There is only one God our saviour and if we think that someone else has overpowered Him and that He is powerless to stop the Dagons and the Philistines in our lives then we are sadly mistaken. The Lord is all-powerful and He loves us. He is not a force for us to conjure up to do our own personal bidding like some genie in a bottle, like the Israelites may have supposed before the ark was captured. YHWH is the all-knowing and all-powerful God as indeed the Philistines discovered.
After my cousin was promoted to glory, I had the privilege of going for a run with George her husband. He is a man of faith. He misses his wife a lot. At times he speaks as if she is still there beside him but he knows that the next thing she will know, she will be raised with our Lord Jesus Christ. Why did Helene go on ahead of us? I don’t know but along with George I trust that God does and thank the Lord for His power, His grace and His strength at times like this when we really need Him.
Where is God in the midst of life’s struggles? Right where He has always been (whether it seems like it or not) and that is where we are always invited to be – with Him, by his side - in His arms because indeed, the Lord Himself is a treasure much more valuable than a rookie card and much more deserving of a spot in the ‘special drawer’ of our heart.
Let us pray.
----
[1] Apparently this one is worth about $130. Wayne Gretzky is the $2000+ card (ebay.ca).
[2] cf. Ralph W. Klein, WBC 10: 1 Samuel, p. 41
[3] cf. Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: 1&2 Samuel, p. 35.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Judges 16:23-31. Samson: Just Dessert.
Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on June 8, 2008
By Captain Michael Ramsay
By Captain Michael Ramsay
To see a similar 2022 homily presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2022/05/judges-13-16-gods-faithfulness-to-and.html
A couple of summers ago we were posted to The Salvation Army Corps (church) in Maple Creek. They had this bakery right across the street from the corps that had all of these great desserts in it. It really was a great bakery and I would often go there for a treat. One day my kids were so good –they’re always good –but they are particularly good this day. They remember their manners, always say please and thank-you and don’t even respond to provocation (it is amazing!). We are so proud of them that Susan decides to take them for a treat, a dessert, at the bakery… then one of them has a temper tantrum (!) and a big one at that! She is quite upset. She is uncharacteristically sticking out her tongue and hitting us and because of this…. well, she doesn’t get her dessert. She doesn’t get her treat for good behaviour. Her actions cost her her treat. It was already purchased for her but she has lost it.
There are ministers and priests working for God in poor, occupied and oppressed lands who often do their best to take care of those in Jesus name, being like the sheep of Jesus’ parable about the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46).[1] And through their impassioned sermons, speeches and the mechanisms of their governments they fight for the poor and the downtrodden – all through South America these days we can see people, entire countries being liberated from various sins and oppression. Liberation Theology, an attractive movement within contemporary Christianity, has really been taking hold in many Latin American countries. Members of the clergy have been fighting for Christ-like governments and in some cases it has cost them their earthly desserts, their contemporary treats: it has cost them their lives or maybe even more…[2]
Samson, was a little different than all this. Samson was not your typical fine upstanding young church goer handing out soup at the soup kitchen or organizing a letter writing campaign to the government advocating change. There is no doubt that he (like us all) has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Even though the Spirit of the living God stirred in him as a child and even though the Lord blessed him (Judges 13:24-25), he slept around. He visited prostitutes, (Judges 16:1), and he did murder apparently innocent people who had not personally provoked him (Judges 14:19).[3] Samson was a liar at times (cf. Judges 16:7) and he was a sucker for listening to others - instead of listening to God (Judges 14:17) –especially women. Samson was a partier; Samson was a brawler; Samson was a fighter. Samson had so much potential; Samson…
Can you imagine how his parents must have felt? An angel, a messenger of God, comes to them before Samson is ever even conceived telling them that Samson is to be a special person, a Nasserite and that he will be used by God to deliver His people from the Philistines (13:2ff). He is this son of promise who has the protection of an extra strong covenant – the Nasserite vow – but he refuses to rely through it –it seems- on God.
This Son of their promise is always rebelling against the promise. He’s always rebelling against the covenant and he’s always getting into trouble. He is always provoking Israel’s rulers - so much so that the men of Judah bind him to hand him over to them. He commits all the sins that we mentioned earlier and he even asks his parents if he can enter into a marriage covenant with a Philistine lady. He demands to marry a women who is one of the people from whom he is supposed (to be used) to deliver Israel. How can this be? What must be going around in his parents’ heads? How can the people’s deliver be ‘in bed with the enemy?’ How can a man of God who was supposed to be set apart for God be so seemingly un-set apart? How can a holy one so indulge his secular, his profane desires? He is dedicated to God. He spends his life rebelling against his Nasserite vow. He spends his life rebelling against this atypical life-long covenant that an angel of the Lord set up for him and his parents. Samson’s parents had such high hopes for him and now Samson won’t even keep his covenant. He just won’t do what’s expected of him. He was so promising but the world seemingly leads him astray.
I have met a few people in the churches like this. They seem to be quite promising. They know their Bible. They pray religiously. The Spirit seemingly stirs in them. Then something happens. They sleep around. They fight needlessly and for nothing. They turn to addictions rather than to God. (These are the things Samson was doing.) In our world, what about our Liberation Theologians or famous priests or kings from history who may have crossed the line? What about those who have lived their lives really well and then at the end seemingly care more about the politics or people or their own country than God and His Kingdom? What about the Saint who has lived the almost perfect life and then at the end decides to throw a rebellious temper tantrum and risk her reward from the bakery? What about her?
Leviticus 19:2 says to be holy, for the Lord your God is holy. 1 Peter 1:16 echoes that call. The Law of Samson’s time speaks of the Ten Commandments. We know them but is adherence to their principles or the Golden rule (cf. Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:27-36, 10:25-28; Leviticus 19:18, 34) of doing unto others as we would have them do to us- is this apparent in our lives?
Samson would have been familiar with the Law and the Ten Commandments. Through rebellion against his covenant, some of these principles, and against God, Samson was maybe like many today who seemingly even try to separate themselves from God. The NT speaks about the fruit of the Spirit that is supposedly evident in every believer, each follower of Christ - such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) How do we do at displaying these in our lives? We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23); so what then? What will be our fate? If we don’t fulfill our part of our contract, our covenant with God (like Samson did not fulfill his Nasserite vow); if we aren’t even holy this side of the cross, what can be our fate?
Well what is Samson’s fate? At the end of Samson’s life, the Lord’s enemies and Samson’s captors are having a celebration. They are celebrating their successes and the power and what looks to be the triumphs of Dagon, their god. They mock the true God and praise Dagon. They are revelling in what they see as their successes. Everyone is there: everyone who is anyone. All the leaders and the important people of Philistia are gathered to celebrate and, in doing so, they mock God.
When their spirits are at the highest as the party progresses, they send for Samson: Samson, who once upon a time was the troubler of Philistia. They send for Samson. They ridicule him. And they ask him to perform for them. He is led out of prison and made to entertain them and he does. Three thousand more people also clamour onto the roof so that they too can see the spectacle of Israel’s once mighty ruler, so they can see the mighty man, Israel’s former Judge performing a show for Dagon, for Dagon and the Philistines.
It is then –if not before- it is then that Samson turns (repents) from his selfish covenant-defying ways. It is then that Samson turns (repents) to the Lord and joins Him in a solid covenant at this one last time. As we read in Judges 16:28, he cries a heartfelt cry to the Lord. He cries, “remember me oh God;” “remember me oh God.” He repents. He turns back to the Lord. He then saves his people as in one blow he is used by God to save (deliver) Israel from the power of their rulers.
The Lord is our strength and Samson’s strength returns to Him. Now the Lord never gave up on Samson and He reached out to Samson long before Samson had ever reached back. Samson’s hair –the symbol of his covenant with the Lord, which was his tie to the Lord’s strength – Samson’s hair (16:22) starts to grow even before his cry. He then, in our story today, pushes the central pillars of the building apart and the whole thing crashes down. Israel is saved. Samson, though he is dead, is saved. The Lord does not give up on Samson even when Samson is not perfectly following the Lord. When Samson disobeys his covenant with God, God does not let the tie that binds break. He does not sever the shackle of salvation nor release him from His covenant – no matter what he did (cf. Rom 3:3,4). When Samson comes out, turns (repents) and asks God to remember him, God lets Samson know that He does. This is good news.
Samson, who in the end ruled Israel for 20 years, Samson is even recorded as one of the ‘Heroes of the Faith’ in Hebrews 11 alongside Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab (the prostitute), Gideon (the doubter?), Barak (of Deborah fame), Jephthah (the son of a prostitute that we looked at the other week), David, Samuel and the prophets.
Now, like Samson, we have two options: as was mentioned the other week, we too can be added to that list as a hero of the faith no matter what we have done. No matter how far we have strayed…or, we can turn away from him. If we continue in rebellion against His covenant, if we do not persevere, we do not get our eternal reward. We do not get our dessert from the heavenly bakery.[4] However, if we (re)turn to God and persevere we will receive our dessert from the heavenly bakery.
Speaking of the bakery, there is a conclusion to the story I told earlier about our daughter who, through her actions, lost her dessert from the bakery. She - who is often so nice - she did not deserve it and we so did not give her a treat. She lost her dessert. In the end though, she did repent and guess what…? Her sister, her sister gave her her treat. She, who did not lose her reward, sacrificed the better portion of her dessert for her sister. She sacrificed (most of) hers for her sister. Likewise, Christ sacrificed himself so that we may be saved.
No matter what we have done, even we may even now be saved. Samson turned; he repented. He is a Hero of the Faith. You too can be a Hero of the Faith. We too can be heroes of the faith all we need to do is confess and turn from our sins to the Lord no matter what are sins may have been. He can forgive them and you know what? He will.
Now is the time to persevere for those of us who have fought the good fight all our lives and now is the time to repent for those who haven’t. The Lord will take us. The Lord will take us back. All we have to do is ask.
If you want to claim that heavenly treat, if you are not sure that your name will be numbered among the heroes of the faith, if you have any doubts. Don’t. Just pray.
---
[1] Oscar Romero, for one famous example.
[2] I have the ‘perseverance of Bonhoeffer debates’ in my mind here. He was greatly used by God BUT in the end he crossed the line and killed others in his attempt to murder his democratically elected head of government (as bad as he was) – thus the debate…did he sacrifice his soul for his politics?
[3] This may not necessarily be bad in this case. It does say that ‘the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power..”
[4] Doctrine 9 of The Salvation Army: “We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.”
A couple of summers ago we were posted to The Salvation Army Corps (church) in Maple Creek. They had this bakery right across the street from the corps that had all of these great desserts in it. It really was a great bakery and I would often go there for a treat. One day my kids were so good –they’re always good –but they are particularly good this day. They remember their manners, always say please and thank-you and don’t even respond to provocation (it is amazing!). We are so proud of them that Susan decides to take them for a treat, a dessert, at the bakery… then one of them has a temper tantrum (!) and a big one at that! She is quite upset. She is uncharacteristically sticking out her tongue and hitting us and because of this…. well, she doesn’t get her dessert. She doesn’t get her treat for good behaviour. Her actions cost her her treat. It was already purchased for her but she has lost it.
There are ministers and priests working for God in poor, occupied and oppressed lands who often do their best to take care of those in Jesus name, being like the sheep of Jesus’ parable about the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46).[1] And through their impassioned sermons, speeches and the mechanisms of their governments they fight for the poor and the downtrodden – all through South America these days we can see people, entire countries being liberated from various sins and oppression. Liberation Theology, an attractive movement within contemporary Christianity, has really been taking hold in many Latin American countries. Members of the clergy have been fighting for Christ-like governments and in some cases it has cost them their earthly desserts, their contemporary treats: it has cost them their lives or maybe even more…[2]
Samson, was a little different than all this. Samson was not your typical fine upstanding young church goer handing out soup at the soup kitchen or organizing a letter writing campaign to the government advocating change. There is no doubt that he (like us all) has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Even though the Spirit of the living God stirred in him as a child and even though the Lord blessed him (Judges 13:24-25), he slept around. He visited prostitutes, (Judges 16:1), and he did murder apparently innocent people who had not personally provoked him (Judges 14:19).[3] Samson was a liar at times (cf. Judges 16:7) and he was a sucker for listening to others - instead of listening to God (Judges 14:17) –especially women. Samson was a partier; Samson was a brawler; Samson was a fighter. Samson had so much potential; Samson…
Can you imagine how his parents must have felt? An angel, a messenger of God, comes to them before Samson is ever even conceived telling them that Samson is to be a special person, a Nasserite and that he will be used by God to deliver His people from the Philistines (13:2ff). He is this son of promise who has the protection of an extra strong covenant – the Nasserite vow – but he refuses to rely through it –it seems- on God.
This Son of their promise is always rebelling against the promise. He’s always rebelling against the covenant and he’s always getting into trouble. He is always provoking Israel’s rulers - so much so that the men of Judah bind him to hand him over to them. He commits all the sins that we mentioned earlier and he even asks his parents if he can enter into a marriage covenant with a Philistine lady. He demands to marry a women who is one of the people from whom he is supposed (to be used) to deliver Israel. How can this be? What must be going around in his parents’ heads? How can the people’s deliver be ‘in bed with the enemy?’ How can a man of God who was supposed to be set apart for God be so seemingly un-set apart? How can a holy one so indulge his secular, his profane desires? He is dedicated to God. He spends his life rebelling against his Nasserite vow. He spends his life rebelling against this atypical life-long covenant that an angel of the Lord set up for him and his parents. Samson’s parents had such high hopes for him and now Samson won’t even keep his covenant. He just won’t do what’s expected of him. He was so promising but the world seemingly leads him astray.
I have met a few people in the churches like this. They seem to be quite promising. They know their Bible. They pray religiously. The Spirit seemingly stirs in them. Then something happens. They sleep around. They fight needlessly and for nothing. They turn to addictions rather than to God. (These are the things Samson was doing.) In our world, what about our Liberation Theologians or famous priests or kings from history who may have crossed the line? What about those who have lived their lives really well and then at the end seemingly care more about the politics or people or their own country than God and His Kingdom? What about the Saint who has lived the almost perfect life and then at the end decides to throw a rebellious temper tantrum and risk her reward from the bakery? What about her?
Leviticus 19:2 says to be holy, for the Lord your God is holy. 1 Peter 1:16 echoes that call. The Law of Samson’s time speaks of the Ten Commandments. We know them but is adherence to their principles or the Golden rule (cf. Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:27-36, 10:25-28; Leviticus 19:18, 34) of doing unto others as we would have them do to us- is this apparent in our lives?
Samson would have been familiar with the Law and the Ten Commandments. Through rebellion against his covenant, some of these principles, and against God, Samson was maybe like many today who seemingly even try to separate themselves from God. The NT speaks about the fruit of the Spirit that is supposedly evident in every believer, each follower of Christ - such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) How do we do at displaying these in our lives? We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23); so what then? What will be our fate? If we don’t fulfill our part of our contract, our covenant with God (like Samson did not fulfill his Nasserite vow); if we aren’t even holy this side of the cross, what can be our fate?
Well what is Samson’s fate? At the end of Samson’s life, the Lord’s enemies and Samson’s captors are having a celebration. They are celebrating their successes and the power and what looks to be the triumphs of Dagon, their god. They mock the true God and praise Dagon. They are revelling in what they see as their successes. Everyone is there: everyone who is anyone. All the leaders and the important people of Philistia are gathered to celebrate and, in doing so, they mock God.
When their spirits are at the highest as the party progresses, they send for Samson: Samson, who once upon a time was the troubler of Philistia. They send for Samson. They ridicule him. And they ask him to perform for them. He is led out of prison and made to entertain them and he does. Three thousand more people also clamour onto the roof so that they too can see the spectacle of Israel’s once mighty ruler, so they can see the mighty man, Israel’s former Judge performing a show for Dagon, for Dagon and the Philistines.
It is then –if not before- it is then that Samson turns (repents) from his selfish covenant-defying ways. It is then that Samson turns (repents) to the Lord and joins Him in a solid covenant at this one last time. As we read in Judges 16:28, he cries a heartfelt cry to the Lord. He cries, “remember me oh God;” “remember me oh God.” He repents. He turns back to the Lord. He then saves his people as in one blow he is used by God to save (deliver) Israel from the power of their rulers.
The Lord is our strength and Samson’s strength returns to Him. Now the Lord never gave up on Samson and He reached out to Samson long before Samson had ever reached back. Samson’s hair –the symbol of his covenant with the Lord, which was his tie to the Lord’s strength – Samson’s hair (16:22) starts to grow even before his cry. He then, in our story today, pushes the central pillars of the building apart and the whole thing crashes down. Israel is saved. Samson, though he is dead, is saved. The Lord does not give up on Samson even when Samson is not perfectly following the Lord. When Samson disobeys his covenant with God, God does not let the tie that binds break. He does not sever the shackle of salvation nor release him from His covenant – no matter what he did (cf. Rom 3:3,4). When Samson comes out, turns (repents) and asks God to remember him, God lets Samson know that He does. This is good news.
Samson, who in the end ruled Israel for 20 years, Samson is even recorded as one of the ‘Heroes of the Faith’ in Hebrews 11 alongside Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab (the prostitute), Gideon (the doubter?), Barak (of Deborah fame), Jephthah (the son of a prostitute that we looked at the other week), David, Samuel and the prophets.
Now, like Samson, we have two options: as was mentioned the other week, we too can be added to that list as a hero of the faith no matter what we have done. No matter how far we have strayed…or, we can turn away from him. If we continue in rebellion against His covenant, if we do not persevere, we do not get our eternal reward. We do not get our dessert from the heavenly bakery.[4] However, if we (re)turn to God and persevere we will receive our dessert from the heavenly bakery.
Speaking of the bakery, there is a conclusion to the story I told earlier about our daughter who, through her actions, lost her dessert from the bakery. She - who is often so nice - she did not deserve it and we so did not give her a treat. She lost her dessert. In the end though, she did repent and guess what…? Her sister, her sister gave her her treat. She, who did not lose her reward, sacrificed the better portion of her dessert for her sister. She sacrificed (most of) hers for her sister. Likewise, Christ sacrificed himself so that we may be saved.
No matter what we have done, even we may even now be saved. Samson turned; he repented. He is a Hero of the Faith. You too can be a Hero of the Faith. We too can be heroes of the faith all we need to do is confess and turn from our sins to the Lord no matter what are sins may have been. He can forgive them and you know what? He will.
Now is the time to persevere for those of us who have fought the good fight all our lives and now is the time to repent for those who haven’t. The Lord will take us. The Lord will take us back. All we have to do is ask.
If you want to claim that heavenly treat, if you are not sure that your name will be numbered among the heroes of the faith, if you have any doubts. Don’t. Just pray.
---
[1] Oscar Romero, for one famous example.
[2] I have the ‘perseverance of Bonhoeffer debates’ in my mind here. He was greatly used by God BUT in the end he crossed the line and killed others in his attempt to murder his democratically elected head of government (as bad as he was) – thus the debate…did he sacrifice his soul for his politics?
[3] This may not necessarily be bad in this case. It does say that ‘the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power..”
[4] Doctrine 9 of The Salvation Army: “We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.”
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