The Gospel According to Samuel: Faith or Superstition? (1 Samuel 4:1-10)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

Thank you for tuning in to Newsong Church's Sermon Podcast.

At Newsong Church, we want to see Jesus lifted high in Port Perry, Ontario, as we worship, grow, and serve.

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Well, two things you ought to know about me as a small boy.

Because I knew you were wondering.

One, I grew up in a very loving Christian home with uh plenty of Bibles to spare.

If you haven't met my parents yet, you're gonna have the chance to meet them next Sunday at the installation and celebration here.

I grew up in a Christian home, number one.

Number two, I was terrified of thunderstorms.

I was reminded of this recently, our storm on Wednesday night or whenever that was.

When a storm set in, when the lightning flashed, when the thunder boomed, when the house shook, when the deluge fell, I grabbed the nearest Bible I can find in my home, clutched it close to my chest, and I would spend the duration of the storm pacing up and down the hallways of my house.

See, in my own childlike way, I understood that this is God's special book.

And God must care for his special book, I intuited.

God wouldn't let any harm come to his special book.

So when the storm set in, when I felt threatened, when everything in my world was not as it should be, I would clutch God's special book as tightly as I could because I figured this was the best way to ensure that I don't get zapped.

See, if I apply a little pressure in the right place, I figured God is surely obliged to do what I want.

If we're honest with ourselves, maybe it's not just children and thunderstorms who think this way.

We all have things in life that we want God to do for us, don't we?

I mean, there are good outcomes in life worth desiring.

They aren't all bad things.

We have good reason to pray for our sick friend and pray for their healing.

We have good reason to desire security for ourselves.

But if we're not careful, and if our heart is set on an outcome of our own design, we can end up substituting faith in our sovereign and saving God for superstition.

Faith trusts our Heavenly Father on his own terms.

Superstition trusts in our capability to get God to do what we want.

Superstition may have the appearance of faith on the outside.

It may look like piety on the surface, but underneath it's a self-centered attempt to twist God's arm.

Faith says, above all else, thy will be done.

Superstition says, whatever it takes, my will be done.

Where faith submits to God, superstition twists his arm.

It's this kind of superstitious thinking, this kind of arm twisting, my will be done thinking that we see in 1 Samuel chapter 4.

1 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

We began a series called The Gospel according to Samuel last week, and we looked at Hannah's song in chapter 2.

Now the camera zooms out and we see the nation of Israel.

Defeat causes God's people Israel to ask the right question.

Why?

Why did the Lord allow for this to happen?

But Israel comes up with the wrong answer.

They substitute trust and submission to their sovereign, saving God for superstition, and they commit to an arm-twisting course of action that has disastrous results.

See, I think 1 Samuel chapter 4 reminds God's people that He is sovereign over everything.

1 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

His will cannot be charmed, forced, or thwarted by our superstitious arm twisting.

And it challenges us as God's people to consider how do we relate to God?

Is it through faith or is it through superstition?

Friends, this is a brutal passage.

And it lands very heavy on me.

This is a passage that ends with devastating defeat, and it's a very convicting passage.

But if for that reason we conclude that there's no good news to be found, I think we'd be mistaken.

I think there is good news for us here at New Song Church.

The good news is that our untwistable God is his people's supreme deliverer and our sovereign savior.

So let's look at 1 Samuel chapter 4.

1 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

In verse 1, Israel does battle with the Philistines.

The Philistines were a rather brutal coastal nation that has long been an enemy of God's people.

Battling the Philistines is not a new thing for Israel, but suffering defeat is an alarming thing.

Verse 2 tells us that 4,000 Israelite troops died on the battlefield, which is not a small deal.

The text gives no further explanation of this defeat, but if we're reading Samuel with the bigger picture of God's big story in mind, we'll notice a couple of things.

Number one, we'll notice that defeat for God's people is never simply a matter of military strength or lack thereof.

Defeat and victory are both linked to faithfulness and disobedience, respectively.

Deuteronomy 28.25, this is a part of Moses' final sermon to God's people as they head into the promised land.

Deuteronomy 28.25 says this: the Lord will cause you, God's people, to be defeated before your enemies, should you be disobedient.

You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them.

See, defeat is a covenant faithfulness issue.

And it should cause Israel in this moment to some self-examination.

They should be asking, where is sin corrupted us?

Where have we been saying, My will be done?

This brings us to the second point to consider, which is Israel's current moral state in 1 Samuel.

In chapter 2, we met Hannah, who gives birth to Samuel, who we're told in chapter 2 is growing in stature and in favor with the Lord.

But parallel to this boy, Samuel, and his growing in the faith, we meet two young men named Hapni and Phineas, who are two contemptuous and self-interested young men serving as priests in God's temple, and against whom God has pronounced his word of judgment through Samuel in chapter three.

The fact that these two young men can serve in such a sacred and important role amongst God's people does not speak well for the overall state of Israel.

So Israel is defeated by the Philistines in chapter four.

Israel's leaders, the tribal elders, gather together and they ask the right question in verse three.

Why has the Lord defeated us before the Philistines?

In other words, why is it that God allowed this to happen?

But they fail to take God's word into account.

They fail to do any self-examination, and they fail to take the actions of repentance.

Perhaps in moments of defeat, the faithful are called to self-examination of their own motives and to repent, where my will has become the ultimate concern.

Israel asks the right question, they ask why, but they arrive at a superstitious answer.

Verse 3, let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.

You could also translate that it may deliver us, pardon me, that it may come among us, to he may come among us, which is to say, both will be valid translations, but either way, they understand, let's go grab God's special box, and God's going to show up for us in the way that we want him to.

Why do I call this a superstitious answer?

Here's one definition of superstition: it's an unjustified belief in a supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event.

Belief in the supernatural isn't what I mean by superstitious.

In fact, I think at one point or another it's really rather unreasonable not to believe in a so-called supernatural and all-capable God.

I don't love that word supernatural, but that's a whole other sermon.

Rather, I call this superstition because the key to understanding it is that it's an unjustified belief in divine causation.

Superstition means that there's no good reason that taking this action will cause this desired outcome.

It's like rubbing a lucky rabbit's foot, right?

Except a lot more pious, at least in appearance.

Heard the story once of a hard-working fella who saved every spare penny he earned through the year, 51 weeks a year, and for one week took all of his savings with him to Vegas.

And when he was in Vegas, day and night, he'd hit the casino like an absolute maniac, desperately hoping that this year would be the year that he'd win his fortune.

But if he asked him if the casino was the only place he visited while he was in Vegas, he'd answer no.

He begins each and every morning before he goes to the casino by going to the local parish to receive Holy Communion.

And if he asked him why he did that, I suspect he'd share something along the lines of this.

Going to church earns some credit with God.

If I earn enough credit, God is surely obliged to give me the fortune that I want.

Whatever it takes, my will be done.

So Israel believes that the action of marching out the Ark will surely secure the desired outcome of victory in round two with the Philistines.

Now, if you've read the Book of Exodus, or perhaps you've seen Indiana Jones, you're quite familiar with the Ark of the Covenant.

Here's one biblical commentator's take on the Ark.

He says, The Ark of the Covenant was that sacred, gold-covered, portable box which sat behind the thick veil in Israel's worship center in the area called the Most Holy Place.

The Ark pointed to the Lord, the ruling, speaking, forgiving God.

The Ark was also the sign of Yahweh's leading his people, not least against their enemies in battle.

So notice something here.

The ark pointed to the Lord.

The ark was never meant to be a talisman or carried about like a charm.

It's meant to point past itself to the faithful covenant God who claimed Israel for his own and has given them his word, which the ark itself contains.

So in a time of distress, Israel's elders grab what they understand to be God's special box so they can have victory over their enemies.

The same commentator continues to say, their assumption is if we bring the Ark into battle, Yahweh will be forced to deliver us to protect his honor.

Should something happen to the Ark, it would make Yahweh the loser.

And naturally he would not allow that to happen.

He'll have to save us now.

Do what's required.

Rub the lucky rabbit's foot.

I mean, take the body and the blood.

I mean, march the ark out into battle.

And God is surely obliged, obligated, to do what it is that we want.

Twist God's arm a little bit and watch my will be done.

Friends, I think this is so important for us Christians to consider.

Too easily I can fall into the trap.

Frankly, from time to time we get taught by self-styled, even best-selling teachers that God will surely do for you what you want on a couple conditions.

Say you pray a certain way, you use these special words to ask for God's blessing, to ask boldly that God will expand your territory, increase your prosperity, grant you his favor, protect you from all diseases and harm.

Or maybe we say God is obliged to do for you what you want if you do a certain thing.

You use this special water, you use this special oil, you use these special prayer beads, or you send in a donation of this amount.

Or perhaps you've heard this phrase have more faith and God will do it for you.

You're not experiencing victory, the problem is you.

You're not faithing hard enough, so faith harder.

Really mean it this time, and God will do it for you.

In all of these examples, we need to notice that there's no trust in Christ.

There's no spirit-wrought repentance, there's no submission to God's sovereign will.

It's nothing but superstition, vain attempts to twist God's arm, dressed up as if they're faith.

The question is: Am I willing to trust God's sovereign will, even when it means handing over my own will, my own desired outcomes, and giving up my superstitious means of twisting his arm.

Israel's superstition that God's special box will ensure victory leads to a second defeat that is seven and a half times worse than round one.

Did you notice that?

4,000 Israelites died in round one with the Philistines.

March out the ark for round two, thirty thousand Israelites die on the battlefields.

This God-given symbol, the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God's ruling, speaking, forgiving, and leading his people, gets captured by the enemy.

And what follows for the rest of chapter four is a cascade of defeat and death because as one dying mother recognizes, the glory of the Lord has departed from Israel.

I wonder if there's two things that Israel has forgotten that the Lord wants to remind his people in this moment.

Number one, God's strong arm cannot be twisted.

This is what theologians talk about when they talk about the impassability of God.

God's arm doesn't get twisted.

Our will doesn't supersede his own.

Our God is sovereign.

The Lord would sooner allow for defeat than be used by disobedient and superstitious people.

There is no angle from which God's people can charm, force, or thwart God's will.

The remarkable thing is that God is perfectly capable of accomplishing his will on his own, which is what happens in chapters 5 and 6.

The Ark gets captured, it gets taken to Philistia, it gets taken right into their God, Dagon's temple, but the great statue of Dagon keeps falling over mysteriously in the middle of the night and gets shattered.

And then plagues start breaking out amongst the Philistines.

It gets so bad that by chapter 6, they take this prize that they've captured and they take it back to Israel and they say, We don't want it.

You take it, you take it.

Seriously, you take it.

God is perfectly capable of accomplishing his will on his own terms.

His arm cannot be twisted.

The second thing I think God wants his people to see is that God is never obliged to anyone.

Psalm 78, which recalls this episode in 1 Samuel 4, reminds us that the Lord is the most high God.

He is enthroned on the cherubim.

That's what we see in verse 4.

It's a visual reminder that our God is higher than any other.

He's not our divine waiter who takes our order and brings it to the table.

He's not our landlord who comes by to fix a problem when we have it.

He's not our therapist, who just wants us to feel better about ourselves.

God is our sovereign.

And his sovereignty means we're called to submit our will to his, not the other way around.

Hannah understood this.

And her song in chapter two should still be ringing in our ears.

Hannah sings, There is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you.

There is no rock like our God.

God is completely holy, utterly unique, and supremely strong.

He brings low the arrogant, and he raises up the humble and lowly.

Friends, maybe we want to ask this question.

Is there good news for us in this text?

I think there is.

Let's look at verse five.

Verse five is a remarkable verse, because it's something of a real high for Israel's self-confidence.

They've marched out the ark into the battlefield, and they let out a mighty shout so loud that it says it shook the earth, and the Philistines are left quaking in their boots.

Woe to us! We've never experienced anything like this, they're saying.

We're cooked.

But it's in a single remarkable moment of clarity that the Philistines shout, Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?

The Philistines are a little fuzzy on the details, that's for sure, but they do know enough about Israel's history to recognize their deliverance in the past.

These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.

No, I don't think this is a vital saving faith on behalf of the Philistines, but oddly enough, I do think the Philistines understand something in this moment that God's people Israel has forgotten.

When the storms of life set in, when the enemies are at the gates, when chaos threatens to consume, superstition and arm twisting won't cut it.

Only a mighty deliverer will.

It's faith in this deliverer that God's people have forgotten.

Israel's experienced deliverance.

They've been brought out of Egypt and into this land.

But Israel at this moment superstitiously thinks that the ark will save them.

But it's not the ark that saves.

It was only ever meant to point to the sovereign God who does save.

It's even in the face of disaster, faith means forsaking superstition and trusting this saving God to deliver me in his way, not in mine.

1 Samuel 4 ends in a devastating defeat for Israel.

But the story of God's sovereign, saving work on behalf of his people doesn't end here.

Let's stand for a moment at the foot of the cross.

See, the good news of the cross is not that by applying a little bit of pressure, God is obligated to do what we want.

The cross shows us just how defeated by sin and death we are.

It shows us the judgment that we rightly deserve.

The cross tells us that God isn't the least bit obligated towards us.

And it tells us that we aren't in the least able to twist God's arm.

We're only able to twist a crown of thorns.

So the cross also tells us that God so loved the world that he sovereignly purposed to send us his very own Son to take upon himself the judgment and defeat that belongs to us.

It's by Jesus' resurrection that we're delivered from death into eternal life.

The cross shows us that God doesn't wield his sovereign will like a hammer to squash us, but actually God works his sovereign will such to accomplish the deliverance that we cannot accomplish for ourselves.

The cross puts heavenly love and God's sovereign purpose on display.

And it bids us to crucify our superstitions, our attempts at arm twisting, our attempts to put turn God's will into my own.

The cross tells us that our sovereign God is a good deliverer, which gives us the ultimate reason to pray, thy will, not mine, be done.

Faith submits to God's will through the hard road of the cross and discovers the glorious hope of the resurrection.

I don't want to pretend like handing over our will to God is an easy thing to do, because it's a very hard thing to do, isn't it?

It certainly was for Israel in this moment.

And frankly, I like my will.

I like my desired outcomes.

They make me feel secure to one degree or another.

At least I know what my will is getting me into, or so I think.

It's only when the cross and the resurrection of Christ comes into view when I see my when I see God's suffering love and his sovereign saving purpose for me come into the frame that I'm reminded of this.

This God is my deliverer.

He's worth trusting even when I experience defeat, because he can take the defeat of the cross and turn it into new life.

So, how do I relate to God?

Is it faith or is it superstition?

Where faith submits, superstition twists.

So maybe we consider a couple of things.

How is it that we pray?

When we posture our hearts for prayer, are we more concerned with getting God to do what we want, a sort of my will be done prayer?

Or do we pray for acceptance of God's will in all things?

Do we take the time to examine our own motives?

To repent when my will becomes the most ultimate concern?

Do we feel anxious when my desired outcome won't happen?

Or do I rest in the assurance that God in Christ is my deliverer, come what may?

Is it faith or superstition?

Let's pray thy will be done.

Amen.