Read: 1 Samuel 4-8
Marked: 1 Samuel 4:13, Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told [it,] all the city cried out.
Israel was in trouble. They were being defeated by their enemies. Eli, the judge over Israel for forty years (V18) had unwisely let them take the ark of the covenant into battle and still they were defeated and the ark captured.
Perhaps they were trying to return to the former days of glory when the ark had gone before them and the Jordan had parted enabling them to cross into the Promised Land on dry ground. Or when the ark had been carried around Jericho and the city was defeated.
I should be careful thinking about the victories or glories of the past without remembering that it was God who had given them. The ark was the representation of God’s presence, but it wasn’t God.
I must remember I am to seek God and obey His Word today, not dwell on past victories. As 2 Chronicles 7:14 reminds me, I am to remain humble, pray and seek God, and turn from sin. Then God will respond, forgive, and give victory over my battle.
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