DAILY READING
REFLECTION
Are You Leading or Following?
by Julie Ogg
This passage is sad in many ways: the prophesied death of Eli’s sons, the defeat of the army of Israel, the capture of the Ark of the Covenant. Were the Israelites following God at this moment?
In the preceding chapter we learn that “the Word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions” (3:1). There is no indication that Israel sought the Lord’s guidance before going out to fight against the Philistines or when taking the ark from Shiloh. In this account, they seem to try to convince the Lord to follow them! Then the elders wonder why the Lord allowed the Philistines to defeat them. But they don’t appear to have inquired of Eli the priest or the Lord about what to do. They take matters into their own hands. “If the presence of the Lord dwells in the Ark,” they reason, “and we take the Ark, God will have no choice but to follow us into battle.” They felt compelled to make something happen. So they send men to Shiloh to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. (4:4) It is interesting that there is no indication that the presence of the Lord accompanied the Ark as is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture. This strategy of “bringing God along” did not work well for the Israelites. Thirty thousand foot soldiers were killed and the Ark was captured by the Philistines. What went wrong?
As is too often true of us, the Israelites wanted to bring God into their plans instead of seeking to follow His lead. They wanted the Lord to help them out with this battle, make their lives easier, solve this problem for them, follow their lead. Have you ever done this? Have you charged ahead with a decision and then asked God to take care of the outcome? Have you asked God to bless something He never led you to do? Have you sought after the treasures of this world and then expected to have peace? Our God is a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love. I’m so grateful that He does not treat us as our sins deserve. But how much better would it be to leave the leading to Him? Be assured, He is the author and perfecter of our faith and He can be trusted!
PRAYER
Lord, give me faith to follow you knowing that you are a good and loving God and will lead me according to your good plan. Amen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JULIE OGG
I have lived throughout the Midwest, the last twelve years in Columbus with my husband, Dan, and dog, Lollipop. I love to cook, travel, read, garden, and spend time with our nieces and nephews. I am naturally drawn to the Old Testament, particularly the poetic and prophetic books. I am grateful to be a part of the community of believers at UALC.
Oh, so like humans, we get things backwards. We act and then pray for help. If only we always prayed first and sought God's will, then followed His lead. Thanks for this reminder Julie.
Very good devotional. I think that we have all been guilty of charging ahead with a decision and when it starts going bad, we ask God to fix the outcome.