Moving with God? Or Just Moving On?
Friday (September 5)
Moving with God? Or Just Moving On?
1 Samuel 6:13-14
"Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD."
Bear in mind that the last time we saw the Israelite people, 30,000 men were lying dead on a battlefield, a 40-year-tenured priest had broken his neck beside a wall, and the cry ringing up from the Promised Land was “Ichabod!” We aren’t given any contextual clues in the narrative as to which of the twelve tribes lost the most men and which are still in mourning, nor are we given insight into the failure or success of the massive rebuilding effort that has taken place behind the scenes. However, doesn’t it strike you as a bit odd that the people of Beth-shemesh are reaping a harvest right now? Perhaps they didn’t send many of their fathers and sons to war against the Philistines—maybe they stayed out of it for good reason—but it still feels as though they’ve just moved on with life as usual, doesn’t it? Not to assume motives, of course; after all, they have to survive somehow, and hard labor isn’t optional in times like these. But the fact that the inspired author doesn’t clue us in as to whether these men were covered in sackcloth and ashes yesterday, or early that morning, crying out to the LORD for help, nor does he tell us how much time has elapsed between the cry of ‘Ichabod’ and the sound of busy hands gathering wheat, casts a long shadow over this scene. Was it a year? A month? A week? And did these men wipe away their tears, look around at all the fertile fields, and come to the conclusion that maybe they didn’t need God’s presence with them after all?
Oh friend, may we seek the LORD’s face in all we undertake today: in our sowing and reaping, grocery shopping and gas pumping, business deals and devotional writing. And if ever we perceive that He’s abandoned our work due to some compromise we’ve made, let’s remain on our knees until we feel His hand lift us up again.