Prayer: Father, why do you tend to be the last option? When we have had all of life come against us, we finally cry out to You. Help me to make You the first and only option. Amen.
Reading: 1 Samuel 4 key: vs. 6-9 “When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they wondered, “What’s this noise of a great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?” When they realized that the ark of Adonai had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” So they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has ever happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of this mighty God? This is the God that struck down the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. Be strong, and conduct yourselves like men, O Philistines, or else you will become enslaved to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be like men and fight!” TLV
Attention: I have lived in the greater Seattle, Washington area most of my life. On January 8, 2011, something occurred in Seattle which garnered national attention. It was a Monday night NFL play off game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New Orleans Saints. The Saints we favored by 10 points and then a play happened, called “Beast Quake.” The play caused such an eruption at the stadium in Seattle that it registered on the Richter Scale. Here is a link to Wikipedia’s article about that game: Beast Quake – Wikipedia.
When the Ark of the covenant of Adonai entered the camp, there was a shout which caused fear in the Philistine army. Interesting that an enemy of God, recounts the historical events of the Hebrew nation in Egypt. How plagues at God’s hand, extracted the Hebrew nation. Would they now want to become slaves to the Hebrews? No, they fought hard and stole the ark of God. However, as we will see in future chapters, possession of the ark did not mean they were invincible or that their god was in control.
The Philistine commanders’ concern about dominance was well founded. They knew that the Hebrew children were former slaves of Egypt, would they allow the Hebrews to make slaves of them? Notice that in verse 9, the phrase, “or else you will become enslaved to the Hebrews as they have been to you.”
The apostle Paul correctly addresses the issue of spiritual and physical slavery in Romans 6, with emphasis in vs’s 16-18, “Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching under which you were placed; and after you were set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.”
Did you get that? We are slave to that to which we are “obedient.” There are only two masters. Which Master are you obedient to? One Master brings life, one master brings death. I encourage you to declare your obedience to the One who gives life!
Action: I choose today to give my life, heart, mind, and soul to Adonai.
Yield: I choose today to give my allegiance to Adonai.
Engage: I choose today to engage with the Holy Spirit in transforming my life.
Relationship: I choose today to draw close to Adonai, staying in His presence.
Prayer: Father, thank You for the promise that if I would draw close to You, You will in response, draw close to me. Thank You also for the promise to never leave me. I declare my allegiance to You. I love You. Amen.
Memory Verse: Joshua 24:15 “If it seems bad to you to worship Adonai, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers worshipped that were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will worship Adonai!” TLV
Music Video: Ray Boltz—I Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb https://youtu.be/hqdNx-QoQLA
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”