Seeds for 08/13/2024 - Repent - 1 Samuel 7:2-6
In this series on prayer and scripture, we are following the acronym P.R.A.Y. as a guide for prayer. We are considering scriptures throughout the Bible on each theme. My prayer is that studying scriptures on these themes will give us biblical words to use as our own and simple insights for our praying.
Scripture:
2 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. 3 So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.
5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.
Observation:
A common theme in the Old Testament and the history of Israel in the Bible is the consequences of idolatry. In this text, as in many other examples, the Israelites are under the thumb of their enemies in large part due to their lack of faithfulness to God. This episode is from after the Israelites were in the promised land but before the era of the kings (Saul, David, Solomon, etc). Here are some observations about this as it relates to repentance.
First, the ark, which had been returned to Israel, was not in Jerusalem, but was kept in another town out of the center of their community and worship life. Sometimes we want God around, just not at the center of our life. We may still want to keep our idols even though we like the idea of having God somewhere in the picture.
Second, returning to the Lord involved being challenged to rid themselves of every idol competing for their devotion. Those idols were “foreign,” which is to say the Israelites were taking on the objects of devotion from the people around them.
Third, repentance involved a combination of honest confession and practical change. Both of these were critical. They said, “We have sinned against the Lord” (v6), and they “put away their [idols] and served the Lord only” (v4). Both parts were vital. We need to come clean with God in honest confession, but we must also make a change. We need to make a change, but we cannot avoid being honest with God. Both are important to our heart and life.
Application:
What idols (values, habits, foci of devotion) are you tempted to pick up from outside of the faith?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, purify my heart. Grant me knowledge of my idols that I may put them away and serve you only. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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