1 Samuel 4:7-9 KJV
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.
Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
This is such an interesting reaction on the part of the Philistines and it reminds me that we can never predict the reactions of the world to spiritual things. True, the Jews were mistaken in their use if the Ark. It was never meant to be a good luck talisman. But the Philistines were right to be afraid of it, as was proven when they took it to their home.
Why didn't they surrender when the Ark came?
- They had heard what the God of the Jews had done in
- They knew how God had caused the walls of
- They presumably knew about the Red Sea and the Jordan River
Why didn't they surrender under the influence of such terrifying prospects?
Men do not do the rational thing when it comes to faith in God. Just as being saved is not accomplished through a settling of the mind on spiritual things but by grace through faith, so disbelieving is in itself a kind of "anti-faith." It is a religion all its own based upon certain improve able principles the unbeliever believes as tenaciously as the believer believes God. And it is precisely because the unbeliever believes in his unbelief that he will frantically fight what he sees as belief.
- He should surrender to God
- He should concede to God
- He should now before God
He often chooses instead to fight that much more furiously against God.
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