The power of his true presence

1 Samuel Chapter 4

In Chapter 4 of 1 Samuel, we see Israel at battle with the Philistines. When the battle begins, Israel questions God and asks why God is allowing them to be smitten by their enemy. The answer was for them to go and get the Ark of the Covenant. When the Ark of the Covenant was received all the people of Israel announced its Prescence with a loud shout. When the Philistines heard the shout of the people of Israel, they understood that the Ark of the Covenant was with the people. In realizing this, they became  too afraid to finish the battle because they now perceived the battle to be against the Prescence of God rather than a group of people. Knowing that Israel had the Ark of the Covenant was enough to make the Philistines want to retreat. In this moment the battle against the enemy could have been won. But Israel felt empowered by having the Ark of the Covenant and said let’s go to war. In the end, Israel was overthrown and the battle was won by the Philistines.

            While the Bible teaches us that the Ark of the Covenant did hold the presence of God for the people of Israel, Israel failed to truly turn to God. They held a superficial belief in the object of the Ark rather than accepting and submitting themselves to the true God of the Ark.

            The enemy recognized the true presence and power of God behind or within the Ark and was ready to flee. In this case, the enemy had a better respect for the God Israel was placing their faith in than Israel did and in turn they lost the battle and the enemy won.

            As Christians and true believers in Christ, our war is won! Praise God! But we are still called to battle for Christ daily. How many battles are we loosing though? How many times is the enemy ready to flee because of some type of superficial faith we bring until that weakness is identified, and the battle is lost? You might be thinking, how am I bringing a superficial faith to battle, I am not carrying the Ark of the Covenant. No, we don’t carry the Ark of the Covenant but sometimes it might be something much smaller such as a cross necklace on our neck, a bible verse on our back window of our car or hanging in our home or office, a worship song playing, a shared bible verse on social media, or our attendance in a church pew on Sunday mornings. There are so many ways that we carry a picture of faith around with us and proclaim God to the world. Our own form of shouting His presence if you will. All things enough to make the enemy perceive God’s presence and want to flee. All wonderful things we should be doing to share God’s presence with the world! However, is it superficial or are you truly carrying God’s presence with you? We must be surrendering in faith to God and seeking God’s will and guidance daily in our lives, not just showing an outward profession of belief.

            We can win every battle we are called to if we truly seek God and His presence and surrender to His will. Stay prayed up. Stay in the presence of God.

            Don’t just retrieve the ark ( a symbol of God or your faith)

            Retrieve God and His presence and walk in your faith !