On Solid Ground

Discover peace … in the middle of your storms.

Life Application Booklet

Berni Dymet

ON SOLID GROUND

by Berni Dymet

LIFE APPLICATION BOOKLET

Published by Christianityworks© Berni Dymet1st edition - Published 2020

Except where otherwise indicated in the text, the scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design: Mariah Reilly Design, Sydney AustraliaWe gratefully acknowledge the creative contribution of Mariah Reilly in the cover design of this book.

Printed by: Creative Visions Print & Design, Warrawong, NSW, Australia

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CONTENTSCHAPTER 1

A Boy Called Sam 5

CHAPTER 2The Contrast Continues 21

CHAPTER 3Heading Off Without God 37

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CHAPTER 1A Boy Called Sam

When the storms of life hit (as they inevitably do) what we need, you and I, is some solid ground beneath our feet.

Because when those storms hit, the scariest place of all to be is out on a sea in a small boat. We're simply not made for that; we're made to be on solid ground.

And that’s what this booklet is all about; because in the middle of the storms of life – whether it be the financial or health impacts of a global pandemic, the breakdown of a relationship, a desperate sense of loneliness or whatever it may be – it truly does feel sometimes as though we’re out there on that frightening and stormy sea.

But the good news I have for you today is that right in the middle of that storm God is right there with you, and He means to put your feet on solid ground. Absolutely He does.

But how? Well, let’s begin by looking at a story of a woman called Hannah, her son Samuel, and some priests, Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas.

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Now Hannah was a woman who honoured God, and God honoured her in return. These priests on the other hand, though they should have known better, didn't honour God and as we'll see, they reaped their just reward. Now the reason that we're approaching this whole subject through their story is that when we're in the midst of a storm, we so often lose our bearings – we so often lose sight of those things that really matter.

And as we spend just a little time immersing ourselves in their story, I know that it’s going to clarify some things – bring them into sharp focus.

So let’s get into it, amen?!

Hannah is a woman married to Elkanah. Now, back in the day, Elkanah had two wives; Peninnah, who bore him children and Hannah, who didn’t. And as one might imagine, Peninnah constantly taunted Hannah about not having children; an incredibly painful situation for Hannah, I’m sure you’d agree. So Hannah does the best thing she can possibly ever do; she goes and pours her heart out to God. You can read all about this in the first few chapters of the book 1st Samuel in the Old Testament.

Right now, can I encourage you to pause for a moment, grab your Bible and read this story – 1st Samuel Chapters 1 and 2. It won’t take you all that long and, truly, it’s the most awesome story. After all, the Word of God is much better than anything that I could ever write for you, amen?!

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So Hannah goes and pours her heart out to God in the house of the Lord (while Eli, the Chief Priest at the temple, completely mistakes what Hannah’s doing – he thinks she's drunk!) and she discovers peace in her heart.

Of course, that’s inevitably what happens when we do pour our heart out to God; in fact, it’s exactly what God’s Word promises will happen:

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6,7)

But back to Hannah. Ultimately, God blesses her and gives her a son. And as she promised in her prayer to God – (of course you read this for yourself in 1 Samuel, didn’t you?! :-) – she hands her son Samuel back to God, into the care of the priest, Eli.

Now Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas … well, they were what we might refer to today as … bad dudes. They'd been plundering sacrifices and doing all sorts of things that meant that they had not been honouring God. Their father Eli, whilst not a bad man, had been complicit in their behaviour by not pulling them back into line.

Now here’s the crunch of this whole story for us today. There is such a sharp contrast between

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these two families; between Hannah and her family on the one hand and Eli and his family on the other.

Hannah is the “nobody”, the childless woman, on one hand and Eli is the Chief Priest of Israel on the other. The point is that for God, status has absolutely nothing to do with things. I make that point because when we’re in Hannah’s position, when we’re the one suffering, we so typically see ourselves as a nobody whom God would never bother with, am I right?

That’s the thing that we so often miss in life’s storms. Because God is hidden, God is invisible, we forget about Him … or we think that He’s forgotten about us. We go on living our lives wondering why things are going from bad to worse, rather than doing what Hannah did – casting ourselves on God.

Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

So in the middle of this story, speaking into this black and white contrast between the Priests and Hannah …

Therefore the Lord the God of Israel declares: ‘I promised that your family and the family of your ancestor should go in and out before me forever’; but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me; for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. (1 Samuel 2:30)

This is the hinge, the pivot, on which this whole story turns.

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In subsequent chapters, we're going to see how things turn out for Hannah and for Eli. As we’ve already seen, there’s a sharp contrast in their approach to God and here we see that there is a sharp contrast in how God responds to them.

It tells us a lot about God! It clarifies the confusion that we might have in the midst of our storm, and when you get that sort of clarity – when we finally see it from God’s perspective – it puts our feet back on solid ground.

When things aren’t going well for us, when we’re in Hannah’s shoes of pain and disappointment … honestly, the temptation is to behave more like the Priests in this story. The temptation is to behave badly because we feel abandoned by God.

But listen up … let this sink in: God honours those who honour Him, but those who despise Him will be treated with contempt.

That’s an easy thing for me to trot out – it’s much harder to accept when you’re in agony like Hannah. Childless couples the world over know how painful it is not to have a child. Now imagine the salt that’s being rubbed into this wound by Peninnah, the rival for her husband’s affections, who from a position of having borne children to Hannah’s husband, constantly taunts her.

It's just unbelievable, isn’t it? And yet Hannah goes to God and pours out her heart:

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After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.” … And she said, “Let your servant find favour in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. (1 Samuel 1:9-11,18)

Hallelujah – she was sad no longer. And here is the result:

They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and

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remain there forever; I will offer him as a Nazirite for all time.” Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only—may the Lord establish his word.”

So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.”

She left him there for the Lord. (1 Samuel 1:19-28)

So Hannah had this impossible problem, this impossible prayer. It was a humble, heartfelt prayer and, just as His Word says, God honours that. We so often under-estimate the power of humble prayer; a prayer from the heart, a prayer that just lays it out before God the way we see it and the way we feel it. God honours that! And when he honours her with the impossible, she honours God back and gives her son over to Him for the rest of his life.

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It is easy to gloss over that story, but can you see what motivates her? Her incredible heart to honour God.

She honours the Lord by giving up the one thing she desired most; her son. What’s more, she gives her most precious child to be under this wicked priesthood. Figure that out! It is not exactly a great strategic choice, giving up this young impressionable child, but God honours those who honour Him and the more we honour God, the more He honours us. And that’s especially true when despite what the world is throwing at us, despite the pain we feel, despite the temptation to behave badly … we stand firm and honour God, amen?!

And God … well, He just keeps on honouring Hannah as time goes by:

As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord … (1 Samuel 3:19-21)

God honoured her in her storm because she honoured Him.

Young Samuel went on to become the Chief Priest and Prophet, the judge over all of Israel, the one through whom God anointed David to become king. Why?

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Because this nobody, this woman Hannah, honoured God so simply, just by going to Him in her grief – not by acting badly, not by shaking her fists, not by throwing a tantrum – but by pouring her heart out to God and trusting Him.

In the scheme of things, at the time it must have seemed such an insignificant and powerless thing to do: “I can't fall pregnant, I can't have a child – all I can do is weep before God.” So she does that, in the face of this big, ugly, impossible storm – the pain of being childless, the taunts of Peninnah, the impossibility of conceiving.

But for God, nothing is impossible.

God honours those who honour Him. She honoured God in her naivety; and when God blessed her she honoured Him again as she gave young Sam over to Eli. And even there, in that impossible situation, God honoured her again as He honoured this young lad called Samuel.

God honours those who honour Him but those who despise Him will be treated with contempt.

It's so simple; it's so powerful. And when we honour God in the tough times, it’s like solid rock beneath our feet.

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LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS:

QUESTION 1 I hope by now you’ve opened your Bible and read the story for yourself. If not … please do yourself a favour and go there – 1 Samuel Chapters 1 and 2.

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QUESTION 2So put yourself in Hannah’s shoes for a moment and write down how you feel. What are the things going around in your head and in your heart?

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QUESTION 3Have you ever had that sort of a prayer time with God, where you pour your heart out? Why?

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QUESTION 4Now look down on this story from God’s perspective. What do you see through His eyes?

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QUESTION 5When God looks at you, be honest – what does He see? A Hannah, an Eli, or a Hophni and Phinehas?

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QUESTION 6Take some time to pray right now and pour your heart out to God.

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CHAPTER 2The Contrast Continues

Sometimes you and I, we’re so busy looking after good old number one, that we forget something. We forget that, in fact, God is number one and one day, sooner or later, that reality will be the only reality.

I guess intuitively we understand that the things we say and do, the way we think and behave, have consequences. There’s a link between cause and effect – we know that. But oh, how easy it is to delude. We make excuses for ourselves in order to live out our own selfish desires, and so we pretend that “Well really, that cause and effect stuff applies to other people, but not to me.”

You know what I'm talking about. We deny it, we deny it, we deny it … and all along the warning signs are growing. The storm clouds start to gather on the horizon, but sometimes it's not until that first clap of thunder that we take any notice and then, so often, it’s too late. The storm’s gathered momentum and all we can do is brace ourselves for when it hits.

We're going to spend some time now in that space with this man called Eli. He was in exactly

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that situation and he left it too late. Let’s make no mistake; there is a definite link between cause and effect, especially, as it turns out, in our relationship with God.

In the previous chapter we met Hannah, a woman who honoured God, and the priest, Eli, who didn’t. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, did the exact opposite to Hannah, even though they should have known better. And it’s that sharp contrast that we’re going to pick up on.

Because whilst Hannah, in honouring God, had her feet on solid ground (even though she may not have expected as much during her difficult times), the Priest and his sons dishonoured God and found themselves in serious trouble.

You see, Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were men who should have been shepherding Israel. They should have been bringing Israel closer to their God. Instead, Hophni and Phinehas were plundering the sacrifices made by the people to their God, sleeping with prostitutes – and in fact doing anything but honouring God. So let’s take a look at how God reacts to that:

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God

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was. Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.”

So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Then the Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”

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Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” He said, “Here I am.” Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.” (1 Samuel chapter 3:1-18)

Here's the paradox; Samuel, the young boy, didn't recognise God’s voice whilst Eli, through years of experience, did. Yet Samuel was the one who heard from God. Remember the pivot of this whole story is the fact that God says in 1 Samuel, chapter 2, verse 30.

… those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. (1 Samuel 2:30)

Here is that powerful truth working its way out in Eli's life.

We can be beetling away in our own selfish ways, ignoring our conscience, treating people with contempt, treating God with contempt and ignoring God, yet God never stops speaking. If you want to know what He has to say, you just have to listen. He spoke to Eli over and over again but Eli had stopped listening. That’s why he allowed his sons to carry on the way they were.

And God talks to us over and over again too.

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How? In all sorts of ways – principally through His Word – but then, those who’ve stopped listening to Him have stopped reading His Word. So then, perhaps He gives us a dream or a flash of divine awareness or insight. Perhaps that small, still voice speaks in our hearts.

The truth is that God is a creative communicator and He is always reaching out to us, trying to get us to listen, trying to draw us near.

But, as with Eli, eventually enough is enough. Eventually we kindle His anger. Eventually the time comes when we reap what we have sown and that's exactly what happens to Eli, Hophni and Phinehas.

Here it is:

A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with earth upon his head. When he arrived, Eli was sitting upon his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out. When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, “What is this uproar?” Then the man came quickly and told Eli.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set, so that he could not see. The man said to Eli, “I have just come from the battle; I fled from the battle today.” He said, “How did it go, my son?” The messenger replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and

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there has also been a great slaughter among the troops; your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. When she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth; for her labour pains overwhelmed her. As she was about to die, the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or give heed. She named the child Ichabod, meaning, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.” (1 Samuel 4:12-22)

So what God told Samuel actually happened. Israel is defeated by the Philistines. The Ark of the Covenant is captured. Hophni and Phinehas are killed and Eli dies.

God’s judgement fell on that family because they stopped listening to Him. Because Eli, instead of pulling his sons back into line, became complicit in their evil through his complacency.

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This is a wake-up call!

Yes, storms happen in life. Sometimes they happen as a result of circumstances completely out of our control, as happened in Hannah’s life. Other times they're of our own doing, as it was for Eli and his sons.

Yet, as did Eli, we keep going, we keep going, we keep going – deluding ourselves that it’ll all work out fine in the end. We keep pretending that the universal law of cause and effect doesn’t apply to us.

God is a good God. He is a righteous God. He is a God who wants to bless us and love us and hold us and pour His love out on us.

But eventually this truth comes home to roost: that He honours those who honour Him, but upon those who despise Him through either their inaction (Eli) or their action (Hophni and Phinehas), ultimately His judgement will fall. Ultimately those who despise Him will be treated with contempt.

Jesus put it like this:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

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There is a day of judgement coming. One day, you and I will stand before God and He will judge us … He will! We may not like the idea but that doesn't change anything.

One day God will judge us, and this story of Eli (Mr Inaction) and his sons (who through their unchecked actions dishonoured God) should be a huge wake-up call.

Perhaps you’re in the middle of one of those storms of life right now, with things going badly. Have you noticed how, in these difficult times, the temptation to behave badly is stronger than ever?

Let this truth ring in your ears; let this truth drop into your heart as God says to you today:

… those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. (1 Samuel 2:30)

For if we head off in our own direction, if we do an “Eli” or a “Hophni” and “Phinehas” and just go and do what suits us, one day we will reap our just rewards.

Then in that place, when God is against us, there will be no solid ground beneath our feet.

Even today, here and now, there can be no solid ground beneath the feet of those who turn their backs on God. Invariably our rebellion against God feels good for a short while, but ultimately we sow what we reap.

That’s why God’s call on our lives this day, and every day, is to repent of our sin – to turn away

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from that which we know is wrong. But don’t just take my word for it.

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17)

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LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1Read that pivotal passage – 1 Samuel 2:30 – once more for yourself. What is God saying to you today?

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QUESTION 2What’s your assessment of the man Eli, forgetting what his sons did, for a moment? As you read about him – for example, the way in which he treated and spoke to Hannah, and then years later to young Samuel – what impressions did you form of the man?

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QUESTION 3Then, as you read of God’s judgement and his ultimate demise, do you think that they were commensurate with his actions?

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QUESTION 4What is God saying to you about the inaction of Eli; the failure to tackle evil when it confronts us?

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QUESTION 5Looking honestly at your life, when have you dishonoured God through either your actions or your inaction?

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QUESTION 6How often in your prayer life do you repent, do you seek the work of the Spirit, to make you holy?

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CHAPTER 3Heading Off Without God

To be perfectly honest, I’ve done some really stupid things in my life. Truly! No doubt you have too. And invariably we wear the consequences of our mistakes. The question is though, how can we avoid making those same mistakes over and over again?

Because the peace of God evaporates in an instant when we rebel against Him – it’s like a husband and wife having an argument. There can be no peace in the home until they address the behaviour that caused the argument in the first place, and forgive one another.

And we all want peace – it’s one of those deep desires that we all have in our hearts. It’s for that reason that we shouldn’t want to keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over again, be it in a marriage, or even more importantly, in our relationship with God.

So, back to this central question: how do I avoid making the same mistakes with God again and again?

The heart of our problem in repeating our mistakes, I think, is the fact that we presume on

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God. We get this idea that God is our buddy, we remake Jesus into this cuddly, soft Saviour and under those circumstances we imagine that God will look the other way as we dishonour Him.

We presume upon God. We do what the Apostle Paul specifically tells us that we shouldn’t do:

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4)

Of all the dumb things that we can do, it’s imagining that we can impose on God’s grace, by continuing down the same path over and over again.

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means!

Because when we continue in sin we’re, in fact, deluding ourselves … thinking that it’ll be alright, thinking that we’re on solid ground And in that frame of mind, we think we can head off in our own direction, expecting God somehow to tag along behind us and provide the solid ground that we expect along the way.

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We turn the Creator-creature relationship completely on its head, imagining that God will be just fine with that, but …

Listen to Paul. God wants us to walk in newness of life.

What God has planned for us is the power we need to bring our sin under control and the peace that comes from that. And just in case we missed it, in the very next breath Paul goes on to say:

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. (Romans 6:11-13)

God is not okay with our sin! God will not tag along behind and make us feel good about our rebellion. He loves us way too much for that.

And any notion that we can remake God to fit our image of Him, any notion that we can turn the Creator-creature relationship on its head, like I said, is just plain dumb!

Which, as a point in case, brings us back to Eli, Hophni and Phinehas … but before we go there, a quick flashback to Hannah, just to remind ourselves of the stark contrast between

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her honouring of God and their rebellion against Him.

In her pain and disappointment, with the love rival for her husband’s affections tearing away at her soul, the easiest thing for Hannah to have done was to rebel against God. After all, He didn’t seem to be honouring her all that much, so why should she honour Him?

Yet as we saw, she poured her heart out to Him and honoured Him at every turn. But do you remember the outcome of the trust that she placed in God?

Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. (1 Samuel 1:18)

In her distress, before God ever answered her with the son she so desperately wanted, He gave her peace. Her countenance was sad no longer.

Notice this, please: honouring God brings instant results. It brings peace to the soul.

Now, back to Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. As we’ve already observed, these two young men were bad dudes. The executive summary of what God thought about them is this:

Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord; for they treated the offerings of the Lord with contempt. (1 Samuel 2:17)

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There’s that word “contempt” again. They treated God with contempt and were about to get their just desserts:

… those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. (1 Samuel 2:30)

What swings around comes around, and what we’re about to read comes around because Israel presumed on God. They presumed His forbearance in the face of the evil amongst the priesthood. They presumed that God would just tag along behind and give them victory over the Philistines.

Now before you yield to the temptation of skipping over this Scripture (Berni always puts such long slabs of Scripture in these booklets!!!) remember this; what God has to say through His Word is infinitely more powerful, more life-changing, more capable of leading you into the newness of life of which Paul spoke, than anything that I can ever say to you. So that being said, here we go …

In those days the Philistines mustered for war against Israel, and Israel went out to battle against them; they encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle was joined, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. When the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord put us to rout today before the Philistines? Let us bring

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the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, so that he may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh, and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

When the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?”

When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid; for they said, “Gods have come into the camp.” They also said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, in order not to become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.”

So the Philistines fought; Israel was defeated, and they fled, everyone to his home. There was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. (1 Samuel 4:1-11) NRSV

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Do you see it? Israel was so used to having God on their side that they just headed off assuming that He was there, despite the fact that all this sinful behaviour was rife amongst the priesthood.

They did exactly what you and I are prone to do. They deluded themselves into thinking that “There's no cause and effect for us. No! We'll be alright. God is always on our side.”

Without putting too fine a point on it and just to drive our self-delusion home, we take this Almighty God, who created the whole universe, and expect Him to become our performing poodle, don't we? And in the midst of our delusion, we get to believing (quite firmly actually) that His job is to perform tricks on our command.

But God is not like that. He's awesome! He's mighty! He is powerful beyond words and He is holy! So when we are in the process of dishonouring Him – let’s get a revelation here – we should not expect Him to keep honouring us, any more than we’d expect a parent to reward the bad behaviour of a child.

Yes, He will always love us and He will always forgive us when we genuinely repent. He wants us close, but if that closeness doesn’t happen through our repentance, He'll try to bring us close as we’re forced to live out the consequences of our sin.

Intimacy with God happens on His terms, not on ours!

We can't sow dishonour in God’s direction and expect to receive honour from Him in return.

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And back to Israel’s plight – the great humiliation of the story for them is that the Ark of the Covenant itself is captured. This was the place of the very presence of God. In other words, God departed from them.

We can't be living out a life of stiff-necked rebellion against God, and yet expect Him to toddle along on a leash behind us and bless us on cue. But that's exactly what Israel expected.

When you put it that way, it's a bit obvious isn't it?

To tell you the truth, that’s my agenda today: to make this plainly obvious. Let’s all take a big wake-up call here. When the storm hits, do you want solid ground beneath your feet? Do you want to know that God is with you? Do you want the certain knowledge that He's going to bless you, no matter what this world throws at you? I have to tell you, I sure do.

Come on, it's blindingly, glimpsingly obvious – and just to underscore that point in this story, this wasn't some small defeat by the Philistines. It was the mother of all defeats.

They lost four thousand men … so they thought, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant (the Presence of God) into our midst. That’ll do it.”

No one asked God, by the way. Nope … His job was to do as He was told and give them victory. And He was so pleased with them that they lost a further thirty thousand men, and His Presence!!!

Well done, Israel!

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And we somehow expect a different result in the face of our rebellion? Seriously?

Listen up … God yearns deep in His great and mighty heart to be close to you. You see that yearning pretty much from beginning to the end in the Bible:

I will place my dwelling in your midst, and I shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. (Leviticus 26:11,12)

Then He sends us His Son to be in our midst, and to die and rise again to make that possible:

And the Word became flesh and lived [tabernacled, dwelt] among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ( John 1:14)

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ( John 3:16)

The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ( John 17:22-24)

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And then He poured out the Holy Spirit on each one of us, so that He could be even closer:

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ( John 14:15-20)

And how does it all end? The way it began:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3,4)

The whole story of the Bible is that this God of indescribable love created you and me for us to be close to Him – in a rich, deep, intimate, powerful, life-giving, life-changing relationship with Him – from now and for all eternity.

That’s the deepest yearning of His heart.

The one thing that could ruin His plan was your sin and mine; your rebellion and mine.

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But so much did He love us that He sent His Son to die, to pay the price that God’s justice demanded for our sin.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

So now, you and I, we have a choice: Believe in Jesus and repent of our sin (turn away from it and turn our lives back to God), or delude ourselves into thinking that how we respond to God doesn’t matter.

Let’s make this perfectly clear:

For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26,27)

So this prospect of judgement for rebellion isn’t just an Old Testament thing – it’s a truth that persists even for those who believe in Jesus.

But I have good news for you, for:

… the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me; for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. (1 Samuel 2:30)

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God’s heart is to honour you. His desire is to draw you close – closer than you may ever have imagined – so that He can hold you in His love, so that you can worship Him and give Him all the glory for ever and ever, amen?!

May you be lifted up by His Word today. May He draw you into His love, fill you with His power and make you to walk in the newness of life that Jesus died and rose again to give you.

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The Sinner’s Prayer Oh Lord,

I am so deeply aware of my sin. Lord, I fall so short of Your glory and Your love for me. And that truth, in the face of what Jesus did for me on that cross, pierces my heart with a pain that mere words cannot describe.

But You, Lord, see my heart. You, Lord, know that my desire to turn away from evil, my desire to turn back every aspect of my being and my life to You, is the deepest desire of my heart.

Lord, forgive me through Jesus. Fill me by Your Spirit with the power to be holy, for Your sake, for Your glory.

It is the desire of my heart to be in a close relationship with You, to have peace in my heart – the sort of peace that only comes when I am close to You.

Thank You, thank You, thank You for Your grace and mercy towards me through Jesus.

I take You at Your Word. I give my life to You afresh and anew today.

And this Lord, with all my heart I know, is what it means to have solid ground beneath my feet.

I pray all this in the mighty name of Jesus

Amen.

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Here at Christianityworks our passion is seeing countless lives transformed one by one, as we share the good news of Jesus through the media around the globe.

It’s something that we’ve been doing since 1957. Of course back then we were known as Back to the Bible, changing our name to Christianityworks in 2001.

Today, the radio and television broadcasts that we produce with the support of friends like you, reach a weekly audience that we conservatively estimate to be over 20 million people in 160 countries.

We believe that as we make innovative use of mass media – radio, television, digital + online and print – God works mightily by His Spirit and His Word, transforming lives.

In fact, its not something that we just believe, it’s something that we know.

We receive so many testimonies each month from around the globe, of lives that have been saved, touched and transformed as God works through the ministry of Christianityworks.

Thank you for remembering that Christianityworks is a faith based ministry. We rely on the support of friends like you to reach the lost with the saving love of Jesus.

Your secure, online gift today will make a powerful difference in the lives of so many.

To give, just visit: christianityworks.com/donate.

Thank you with all my heart.

Your friend in Jesus,

Berni Dymet

About Christianityworks

Here at Christianityworks our passion is seeing countless lives transformed one by one, as we share the good news of Jesus through the media around the globe.

It’s something that we’ve been doing since 1957. Of course back then we were known as Back to the Bible, changing our name to Christianityworks in 2001.

Today, the radio and television broadcasts that we produce with the support of friends like you, reach a weekly audience that we conservatively estimate to be over 20 million people in 160 countries.

We believe that as we make innovative use of mass media – radio, television, digital + online and print – God works mightily by His Spirit and His Word, transforming lives.

In fact, its not something that we just believe, it’s something that we know.

We receive so many testimonies each month from around the globe, of lives that have been saved, touched and transformed as God works through the ministry of Christianityworks.

Thank you for remembering that Christianityworks is a faith based ministry. We rely on the support of friends like you to reach the lost with the saving love of Jesus.

Your secure, online gift today, will make a powerful difference in the lives of so many.

To give, just visit: christianityworks.com/donate.

Thank you with all my heart.

Your friend in Jesus,

Berni Dymet

ABOUT CHRISTIANITYWORKS

Discover peace … in the middle of your storms.

On Solid Ground

So many people spend so much of their lives travelling

through stormy waters, when all along they yearn to

have their feet on solid ground. And yet in the middle

of it all, it’s not always easy to figure out exactly how

to achieve that. But it turns out there’s a causal link

between how we respond to God on the one hand and

what happens in our lives on the other.

This booklet speaks right into the heart of one of the

most important issues of life – how you can live in the

victory that you already have in Jesus Christ.

B e r n i D y m e t