And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.John 15:9,10
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
Continued disobedience to God results in a broken relationship with Him and makes us lose sight of who He is.
After Samuel's message from God to Eli, decades pass, but it doesn't seem like Eli or his sons have changed. Eli's sons are still wild, being two of the people who basically stole the ark from the temple. Though Eli's role in this is all unknown, he has failed both as a father of two wayward sons and a leader of a rebellious nation. After Samuel's prophecy about Eli and his family, Eli seems unmotivated to change his ways and his sons' behavior. We've seen God's mercy in the Old Testament, where God condemns cities or individuals but after sincere repentence of the condemend sparing their lives. Eli didn't bother to ask God for forgiveness or beg Him to change his mind. Eli seemed resigned, saying merely, "He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes", which to me almost seems like Eli is saying, "Whatever...do whatever you want."
The Israelites forgot who God was. They forgot that He is all-powerful and strong enough to help them defeat the Philistines, they forgot that He is loving and willing to help his chosen people, but above all, they forgot that He is holy, and that all sinners who come in contact with His holy presence embodied by the ark of the covenant will die. To them, God was confined inside the walls of the ark, not an all-powerful ever-present God who would strike down all who disrespected his holy ark.
When we lose sight of who God is, we try to use God for our own selfish desires.
When we lose sight of who God is, we lose sight of who we really are. Instead of recognizing our continual dependence on Him, we rely on ourselves and demand His intervention whenever we run into a little bit of trouble. Although it is easy to condemn the Israelites for attempting to use God's power and presence for their own salvation without desiring relationship, we often do the same in our own lives. We slack in our personal lives, falling into continual obedience, and act like spoiled children and demand God's blessing when life gets tough.
What makes using God and relying on God different? Here are some thoughts:
Using God stems from pride.
There might be a fine line sometimes between relying on God and using God in any one situation, but looking at our life as a whole, it's easy to see where our heart really is. Relying on God comes from a posture of humility because we can't do anything on our own. We rely on God for the big things and the little things. On the other hand, when we use God, we treat him as a car repairman, giving him our life only so he can make it better and wanting it back again. We often communicate "Hey God. I know you're out there and all-powerful. You love me. I know you do. I have this thing in my life that I really don't know what to do or how to deal with it. Can you fix it for me? After you do fix it though, I want it back. Thanks." This all stems for a belief that we can take care of most of life by ourselves. God isn't needed in life most of the time, and we only need Him once in a while, so that's why we only pray every once in a while.
Using God implies selfish prayers.
When we use God, our prayers are for ourselves. Like the Israelites, they had only themselves in mind. Our heart isn't in line with God's heart, and we are too focused on the trials and troubles that we are currently going through and we miss the bigger picture of God's heart for the whole world. In 1 Samuel 4, there is no real indication of why the Israelites were fighting the Philistines. Maybe they were being attacked, maybe they were attacking. We don't really know. However, I can say with certainty that if God had commanded his people to go out and fight, they would not have lost and would not have needed to go steal the ark. The Israelites were living life by themselves and for themselves, and their demand of God to give them a victory in battle stems from selfishness.
Using God lacks praise.
When we use God, we feel entitled to whatever we are asking of Him. God is gracious and often gives us what we desire, no matter how foolish our desires may be. When we use God, we fail to worship him with our lives. Sure, we may praise him in the moment, but we don't praise him with our lives. This of course is very general, and I know of situations where God used a selfish ambition to reveal His power and love and bring their hearts back to Him. However, many times when we come to God with our vending machine prayers ("Hi God. I would like A6, good grades please. Oh and B7, that girl"), when He gives us what we asked for, our pride blinds us to his work and we claim it for our own ("I'm a good-looking genius. Good grades and girls are my own accomplishment.")
I know that a lot of stuff written here is pretty harsh and uncomfortable to identify with, but the reality is that everyone struggles with it. I struggle with continued disobedience and I struggle with selfish prayers. We all do. If we can learn anything from the Israelites in 1 Samuel 4, we should know that if Jesus hadn't died for our sins, we would end up like them: sinful and dead.
Also, don't be like Eli. He was weaksauce and stubborn. Here's a lesson: continued disobedience makes you old, blind, fat, and clumsy enough to die by falling out of a chair.
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