The Presence of God

Transcription

1 1 The Presence of God Samuel 7:1-2 So the men of Kiriath-jearim came to get the Ark of the Lord. They took it to the hillside home of Abinadab and ordained Eleazar, his son, to be in charge of it. 2 The Ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for a long time twenty years in all. During that time, all Israel mourned because it seemed that the Lord had abandoned them. (Holy Bible: New Living Translation Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.) 2 Samuel 6:1-4,10-11 Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name, the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. 3 So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. 4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark.. 6 And when they came to Nachon s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. (The New King James Version. 1996, c1982. Thomas Nelson: Nashville) What a contrast between Abinadab's house and Obed-Edom's one!!! Reading these verses, don't you find it strange that in 1 Samuel 7, when the Ark was left for 20 years in the house of a man called Abinadab, the Bible does not mention Abinadab's family until, at the end of the twenty years, his son Uzzah is killed by the Lord for having touched the Ark? By contrast, in 2 Samuel 6:10 the Ark was left for 3 months in the house of Obed-Edom. Abinadab's family become so familiar with the presence of God that Uzzah thought he could walk in front of the Ark and even touch it. They had become familiar with the Presence of God. The bible goes on to say that the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his household and everything he had to the point that even King David heard about it. The difference between these 2 homes was the attitude and the thirst and the hunger, and the reverence for God and His Presence. In fact Obed-Edom loved the presence of God so much that later on, when David took the Ark to Jerusalem, he became a door keeper in the house of the Lord. It is up to us to remain and dwell in His presence all the days of our lives. God wants to live and dwell in our house forever. What about us? Losing God's Presence

2 1 Samuel 2: Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord 13 or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, 14 the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. 15 Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting. 16 The man offering the sacrifice might reply, Take as much as you want, but the fat must first be burned. Then the servant would demand, No, give it to me now, or I ll take it by force. 17 So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord s sight, for they treated the Lord s offerings with contempt. 2 Lack of Fear of God Living for Ourselves The first way that the Presence of God is lost is when there is no fear of God. Our God is to be honored and worshipped. God does manifest Himself when He is respected and honored. Though He is omnipresent, He chooses to manifest Himself when He sees that we truly consider Him as He is and when we do not take His presence for granted. The sons of Eli were robbing God and were choosing to live for themselves. They used the Lord's offerings for themselves. The fat had to be offered to God before the servant could take any meat for the priest, but the priest demanded raw meat. The priest wanted to cook the meat according to his taste. They chose a Christian life A la Carte.. with options.. When we start living for ourselves, we stop living for Him. Tolerance of sin Lack of purity 1 Samuel 2:22 22 Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.* 23 Eli said to them, I have been hearing reports from the people about the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning? 24 You must stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the Lord s people are not good. 25 If someone sins against another person, God* can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede? But Eli s sons wouldn t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to put them to death. When we ignore God's standards His Word and when we allow sin to remain in our lives, we definitely choose NOT to honor God's presence. We must thank God when true spiritual discipline is applied in our lives. For God does not take sin lightly.

3 Neglecting the voice of God the Prophetic 1 Samuel 2: One day a prophet came to Eli and gave him this message from the Lord: Didn t I reveal myself to your ancestors when the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt? 28 I chose your ancestor Aaron* from among all his relatives to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the priestly garments* as he served me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests. 29 So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why do you honor your sons more than me for you and they have become fat from the best offerings of my people! 3 When we ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit, when we close our heart and our ears to what the Spirit of God is saying, when we do not take heed to the prophet, we fall into the realm of flesh. One of the purposes of the voice of God is to bring us back to a true intimacy with the Father and to restore in us a good disposition of heart a clean and broken heart. Having no value for being closed to the Lord 1 Samuel 3: 1-3 The boy Samuel was serving God under Eli s direction. This was at a time when the revelation of God was rarely heard or seen. One night Eli was sound asleep (his eyesight was very bad he could hardly see). It was well before dawn; the sanctuary lamp was still burning. Samuel was still in bed in the Temple of God, where the Chest of God rested. (Peterson, E. H The Message : The Bible in contemporary language. NavPress: Colorado Springs, Colo.) It is so easy to fall into a routine with God as to become familiar with His presence. It is possible to fall in the trap of thinking that His presence will always be here and that going to Church is enough. Samuel represents this kind of Christians who are very serious in their walk with God. They WANT Him so much that they sleep in His presence to awake in His Presence. Abusing or misusing the Presence of the Lord 1 Samuel 4 : 1-3 At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek. 2 The Philistines attacked and defeated the army of Israel, killing four thousand men. 3 After the battle was over, the army of Israel retreated to their camp, and their leaders asked, Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines? Then they said, Let s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it* will save us from our enemies. The presence of the Lord is not to be used to solve our problems only. The Presence of God is not a short-cut for our lack of order, or discipline or holiness... Often, the presence of God will REVEAL what needs to be changed in our lives. We have to know how to behave and how to stand in God's presence. We are not to mishandle the presence of God. We can not use the presence of God without His leading and Will! 1 Samuel 4: She named the child Ichabod Where is the glory? murmuring,

4 Israel s glory is gone. She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her husband and her father-in-law were dead. 22 Then she said, The glory has departed, from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured. When the presence of God is gone, there is no Glory. The reputation of God is no longer active in our life. In other words, people do not recognize anymore the authority, the character and the qualities of God upon us or in our choices : lack of victory, lack of wisdom, lack of peace and joy soon become the norm. Now note that the Ark has been captured. The Ark is between the hands of the Philistines. As a consequence, the World and the Church look alike, the Church becomes common place. The Christian home manifests the same characteristics than a non Christian's one. We do not feel the perfume of Christ anymore. We lose His touch. Cell meeting is just a social club. The presence of God becomes less important than the world. We start to lose the sense of what is important for Christ. We loose sight of His priorities. We loose the Power of Christ... We have not been saved to live a life without God's presence. On the contrary, our God is looking for fellowship. He is longing for us to be in His presence. It is up to us to bring back His wonderful and powerful presence. Bringing Back God's Presence! 1 Samuel 6:1-5 Then David mobilized thirty thousand special troops. 2 He led them to Baalah of Judah* to bring home the Ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. 3 They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the hillside home of Abinadab. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab s sons, were guiding the cart 4 with the Ark of God on it, with Ahio walking in front. 5 David and all the people of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all their might, singing songs* and playing all kinds of musical instruments lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals. 6 But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark of God. 7 Then the Lord s anger blazed out against Uzzah for doing this, and God struck him dead beside the Ark of God. 8 David was angry because the Lord s anger had blazed out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez-uzzah (which means outbreak against Uzzah ). It is still called that today. 9 David was now afraid of the Lord and asked, How can I ever bring the Ark of the Lord back into my care? 10 So David decided not to move the Ark of the Lord into the City of David. He took it instead to the home of Obed-edom of Gath. 11 The Ark of the Lord remained there with the family of Obed-edom for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household. 12 Then King David was told, The Lord has blessed Obed-edom s home and everything he has because of the Ark of God. So David went there and brought the Ark to the City of David with a great celebration. 13 After the men who were carrying it had gone six steps, they stopped and waited so David could sacrifice an ox and a fattened calf. 14 And David danced before the Lord 4

5 with all his might, wearing a priestly tunic.* 15 So David and all Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with much shouting and blowing of trumpets. 16 But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him. Holy Bible : New Living Translation Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill. a) Having a genuine and continual desire for God's presence. (V2-3) This might in most cases require us to concentrate our efforts and to take action. During the reign of Saul, the things of the Lord had been terribly neglected. However, when David comes to the throne, he takes definite steps to recover the Ark and the presence of the Lord. More than anything in his life, David wanted to live in the presence of the Lord. b) Having a true passion for the Word of God. (V6-7) Uzzah paid a high price for his disobedience. Uzzah was responsible for knowing the Law of God, the Philistines didn't have the Law. God had commanded that the Ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites, with golden poles through golden rings on the Ark. It was holy and not to be touched by human hands. (Ex. 25:10-22; Deut 10:8 ) We are by nature shortcut seekers. We think it is alright to shave a little here and a little there. Yet, when the Lord has spoken clearly on a topic, then we are bound to do it His way, or pay the price for our disobedience, (James 4:17) David discovered that God is interested in the details! He wants His people to do His will His way. Nothing else will please Him or honor Him. (V7-12) C) Doing Things God's Way. (V12b-13) These verses tell us that David went after the Ark and brought it back. But, this time, he did it God's way. To see this, we have to look at a parallel passage, 1 Chron. 15:1-2; 13-16; When David discovered that the Lord had a specific pattern for moving the Ark, he was determined in his heart to do it God's way. Notice that he did nothing until he could do the right thing! The word of God is filled with both "precepts" and "principles". A precept is a clearly defined law for living. A principle is a general statement about how life should be lived. If we are serious of not losing God's presence or if we really want to bring back His glory in our life, we have to pay attention to what He says and to do what He says. d)praising and Celebrating the Presence of God. (V14-16) Here is the king dancing and praising the Lord publicly without shame! The Bible says they shouted! They openly proclaimed His glory for all to hear! We are to praise the Lord regardless of others' opinion. When David's wife sees him praising the Lord, she rebukes him. His response to her is worthy of note. He tells her that he has made up his mind that he will praise the Lord, even if it makes him look like a fool in the eyes of men! His praise, then, is an act of his will! He decided that he would praise the Lord and he did! 5

6 What about us? What about His presence in our life? It is time to SEEK HIM... 6