Our Pastor brought his sermon from I Samuel 4 this morning. A lot happened in chapter four. Most of it bad... for the Israelites. Trouble began when they took on the Philistines. The battle did not go well and four thousand men were killed. Their leaders decided they lost because they did not have the Ark of The Covenant with them. Men were sent to Shiloh to bring the Ark. When the people saw the Ark they shouted so loudly the Philistines heard it. They heard the Ark was there and it scared them. One said: "We're in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us!" . One of their leaders stepped forward and said: "Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews. Be men and fight!". Fight they did. This idol -worshiping group of warriors fought so hard they won the battle. Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The Ark was captured, and Eli the prophet lost his two evil sons. When the word was brought to Eli of his sons death, and of the terrible defeat; and most of all, the Ark being captured, the old man toppled over backward in his chair and broke his neck and died. He had led Israel forty years! His daughter-in-law, who had just heard of her husbands death, was in labor. She had the baby but died in childbirth. Just before she died she was told it was a boy. She said for them to name him Ichabod. She said: " The glory has departed from Israel" ,because of the capture of the Ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.
There it is. A worst possible scenario of events. Being Israelites did not help them. Having the Ark of God did not help them. They were defeated and devastated.
Sometimes things do not go well with God's people. It may be their fault, as it was in this story. It may NOT be, as is told in the story of Job and many others. We cannot depend on our faith and service for the Lord to exempt us from difficult times. It simply doesn't work that way. God's great gift in times of trouble is simply Himself.
