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7 months.
7 months of terror, suffering, and death. The Philistines experienced the white-hot flame of God’s fiery judgment. This was their encounter with the Living God because He will not share His glory. In a land of false religion, where men were clinging desperately to their own human creations of Him, His presence could not be constrained. Storming out of the gate like a gladiator entering the Coliseum, God confidently drew His sword against everything false in the land of the Philistines.
It is a travesty that some only know God in this way. For many, their experience with God is one of constant upheaval. He battles their sin as they clinch their hands and strain their muscles to hang on with every last ounce of energy. In the end, it comes down to a choice – let go of your sin or let go of the One True God. The Philistines chose the latter.
For the people of Israel who were mourning their choice to take the ark into battle, 1 Samuel 6 now brought grace. How could two cows who had never been yoked together walk in a straight line back to the Israelites? How could two nursing cows be eager to walk in the opposite direction of their calves? This is God’s grace. It is a place where we see the collision of our free will and His sovereignty. The cows were mooing for their young as they were being divinely led toward God’s glorious revelation.
The cows started off on the road to Beth Shemesh and headed straight toward it, without turning off the road. They were mooing as they went. The five Philistine kings followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.
1 Samuel 6:12 GNB
Did the people of Israel deserve to have the ark back? Did they do anything to produce such a change? We cannot overlook the unmatched grace of God that never fails to meet us in our sorrow and drive us forward toward His greater plan of redemption. He is an unchanging God who ventures beyond time and space into the impossible realm that contradicts the physics of His own creation. He woos us back with His unmatched grace.
But there are some who try and venture into the impossible realm along with Him. After the ark had returned, some wondered about the hidden glory of God. Their prying eyes searched through God’s hidden place.
The LORD killed seventy of the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked inside the Covenant Box. And the people mourned because the LORD had caused such a great slaughter among them.
1 Samuel 6:19 GNB
What does this look like today? Many zealous Christians arrogantly venture into theological topics with opinions on God’s sovereignty, election, free will, heaven, and hell. It is a covenant box that, on some levels, exceeds the human mind, yet, many will waste no time opening up its contents and haphazardly regurgitating their human discoveries. There are places reserved for God alone. We must believe we can worship Him and appreciate His gifts without knowing everything He knows.
“…God has shown reserve in what He has revealed about them, so men ought to show a holy modesty in their manner of treating them. And even in the handling of sacred things generally, in the way of theological discussion, a want of reverence has very often been shown. It becomes us all most carefully to beware of abusing the gracious condescension which God has shown in His revelation, and in the use which He designs us to make of it. It was an excellent rule a foreign theologian laid down for himself, to keep up the spirit of reverence—never to speak of God without speaking to God.”
William Garden Blaikie