READ: Samuel 7
BACKGROUND: By Verse –
Samuel 7:1: The ark is the physical object where God chose to manifest his presence. The Israelites learned this ark was to be treated with complete reverence! God is HOLY! We must never take lightly the HOLINESS of God!
7:3 – Beautiful words: The people mourn over their sin and seek the Lord!
7:4 – Samuel instructs the Israelites to clean house! Get all the pagan gods out! They had not rid themselves of the Cannanite gods they were commanded to wipe out and consequently, the poison sin had crept into their lives.
7:6 – Fasting, repentance, and confession of sin
7:10 – Does this give you chills? “The LORD thundered with loud thunder…..!” Our GOD is the Lord of Hosts! When He fights a battle He wins! Every time!
THINK: Over the past several weeks, our church has been doing a series on revival. Revival……it sounds really old-fashioned, right? But we’ve been learning that revival really means a new beginning of obedience to God. It is a return to scriptural knowledge, godliness, and practical obedience. Ultimately, revival is a sovereign act of God. He restores his people to repentance, faith, and obedience.
Revival can only take place in the hearts of those who already belong to God, like the Israelites and like all of us who are believers in Jesus Christ. When God began to soften the hearts of the Israelites, the bible says they mourned! God brought Samuel to admonish them to get rid of the filth in their lives – namely the Canaanite idols. I’m not sure if this was a tough decision for those Israelites or not, but apparently they’d been holding on to this pagan junk for some reason! Samuel made it clear that tossing out idols was a necessary first step! Then he led them in prayer. They fasted. They confessed their sin. They repented! And the result? A decisive victory over their enemies, and PEACE in their land! Wow…!
ASK: Do I really believe that following God is better? Am I willing throw out the “junk” in my own life which crowds out the things of God? Do I really believe that God’s presence in my life will bring me JOY? And PEACE? Could I actually live in victory over my enemies….like worry and anxiety and discouragement?
PRAY: Dear Jesus – Let us hear your word and understand! Help us to grow in insight and obedience! You are our the only path to peace and to joy!
Written By: Deb Howard
throughin2.com 