20260701 1 Samuel 4-6 Wednesday Bible Study Dave Dickmann

I will review it because I think there's quite

a few people that weren't here. I don't believe

it's an unfamiliar passage of the Bible for us.

The Israelites take the Ark of the Covenant out.

Well, first they get defeated by the Philistines.

I can't figure out why God would allow that to

happen. They take the Ark out then in front of

the army. and they get defeated again. The Ark

is captured by the Philistines. They take it

to their various cities. I think there's three

listed there. In every city where it goes, a

plague of tumors breaks out in the cities. Thousands

of people die. They set the Ark before Dagon.

Dagon falls over. They do it again. He falls

over and falls to pieces. They finally send the

Ark on a cart led by two milk cows who had just

given birth. And the milk cows, and they take

the calves and they hide them away. The cows

then travel away from their calves back into

Israel where the ark stops in Beth Shemesh. Then

in Beth Shemesh, a bunch of people die as well

before they send it on to Kirjath -Jerub. Now,

what we said last week was that the Israelites

were using manipulation against God when they

sent that ark out in front of them. Their thinking

was, we'll put God's name first and foremost

in the front of this battle. And God then will

feel the pressure of his name. He'll be jealous

to achieve victory in order that the Philistines

don't think poorly of him. And we see that their

manipulation ended in their own disaster. And

we made certain applications, I think, in the

church. We talked about manipulation in... in

relationships and in conversations but I wasn't

satisfied that we had exhausted or talked enough

about how we personally as Christians use manipulation

or can use manipulation in our relationship with

God. Then I asked my dad what he thought and

I didn't ask if he thought I had spent enough

time but he said he wasn't sure that we had spent

enough time there so that was enough for me.

I want to explore this because it's easy for

us to make an application in lots of different

places and for lots of different people. It's

much more difficult to examine ourselves and

to see the application there in a personal way.

So, broadly speaking, Anytime, how can Christians

individually use manipulation against God? And

broadly, we would just say, anytime we begin

to think that our own actions will pressure God

to grant our requests. Now, that's broadly. And

so we won't be satisfied to stop there either.

We can all just kind of throw that off to the

side. So I'm asking you, I have seven. Seven

things on my list. I'm willing to hear more,

and I'm sure we can add more to them, but we'll

for sure find these seven. I'll give you the

first one, and maybe that will spark your imagination

or your thinking in the right direction. So the

first one would be, if I pray for something long

enough, I'll get what I want from God. So I'll

keep praying this in order to try to secure the

thing that I want. Now that's not even prayer

in a biblical definition. How else can we use

manipulation against God? If I do something good,

I'll get something in return. Okay. I have that

in three even more specific things. You said

give, so that's one of them. We're going to check

that off of my list. I think you did say give

money to somebody, right? Yeah. Okay. So I have

both give money to the church and I have give

money to the needy. And then I have keep some

perceived set of laws. So I construct this idea

in my head of what I should be doing, and I do

those things, and I think that if I do those

things, then God surely will give me what I want.

So that's four of the seven. What else? If it's

God's will, he'll take care of me in this way.

I like that. Okay, so that would be presumption

and manipulation, wouldn't it? It's like saying,

well, God has promised this and it doesn't, so

he's bound then to, he said he would give me

food and clothes on my back. He also told me

that I should work hard, but I can just ignore

the work hard part and sit back and do nothing

and then try to manipulate God as I wither away

to nothing. naked on my front lawn. That would

be an attempt to say, God, you better give me

something or else your name is at stake here

in a terrible way. I didn't have that on my list.

That was the one application we made last week,

so I didn't put that on my list, but it certainly

is on the list. Well, we said we might do certain

things to try to obligate God to give us what

we want. What if we say, I'm going to stop. I'm

going to stop doing this sinful habit that I've

allowed develop in my life, and then surely God

will give me what I want. Or what about this

one? I'm going to go to the meetings of the church,

and then God will give me what I want. or I'm

going to have my personal devotional time. And

that way, God will have to give me what I want.

And maybe the desperate, ultimate manipulation

would be, I'm going to do all this stuff because

I really want this thing that bad. Now, it doesn't

have anything to do with what the thing is. The

thing might be, I want to be... I want to be

married. The thing might be, I want to be more,

I want to have a bigger role in the church. I

might be, I want to be an evangelist and go out

into the world and do all these things. Declare

the name of God to the lost and dying world.

But, you know, the opportunity just isn't there.

That's what I want. So the desire may be all

kinds of, I want my kids to be converted. So

we're not saying that the desire is I want to

have more money. What we're saying is that the

attempt to manipulate God into giving you what

you want in any kind of way by putting pressure

on him is manipulation. Anybody else want to

add anything else to the list there? sick. Like,

oh, you're going to heal them. I'm claiming that

you're going to heal them in your name. It's

like you're trying to put the pressure on God

to do this thing because you're saying in Jesus'

name. Right. Like, I don't know where that fits

into the lesson's thing, but it's strange. It's

during the act of prayer. Right. But I've heard

it done often before. Sure. Yeah, I mean that's

essentially what the Israelites did. They treated

the Ark of the Covenant of God as if it were

some kind of lucky charm that was going to bring

them luck and victory. And they used it in an

attempt to use manipulation against God. So essentially

that's what you're saying. I'm going to do this

prayer, I'm going to claim this power for God,

and I'm going to put his name on it, and then

if the person isn't healed, well then it's God's

fault. But certainly God won't want him. himself

to be at fault. He'll heal this person. Alright,

what's the remedy against that type of manipulation?

How are we going to guard ourselves against that

and make sure that we are as far away from that

as we possibly can be? Never want anything. Can

you change your desires? How or what do you mean

by that? I don't know. Desire what God wants.

Okay. So that's definitely on the list. That's

a remedy. I should always attempt to align my

desire with God's will first and patiently await

his answer. Lord, this is what I want. We don't

have to deny what we want. We don't have to deny

our desire, unless it's a sinful desire, of course.

But it may be a very good thing. We want our

children to be converted. That's not a bad thing.

That's a good thing. We should. But I'm submitting

myself to your will. I want to wait for your

answer. I'm not going to use manipulation to

try to get it now. And I'm not going to say,

you must do this or else. I am aligning my will

with yours and I am content with your will. Now,

the only way we can do that is what has to come

before that. We've got to know something. So

everything in the Christian life begins here.

It begins with what we know. It begins with what

has been revealed to us in the word of God. So

what do we have to know if we're going to guard

against this? I'll just give you an example.

If I don't know that God loves me, if I don't

know that God desires my will, if I adopt the

world's view of God and think that God is some

vengeful, raging, almighty being who gets great

pleasure from causing problems in my life, then

I may not be willing to align my will with his.

Right? I may say I don't want anything to do

with that, but what does the Christian know?

Specifics. What do I know about God that's going

to remove manipulation in my thinking? Okay.

So are we settled in that conviction? Do we know

that at the forefront of our minds when it comes

to our desires? God wants only good things for

me. And if this thing that I desire has not been

granted by God, then it must not be good for

me to have it, at least at this time. That's

not a denial of what we want and I'm not saying

that if it doesn't come immediately that we cast

it off and say well that's it. But for now I

will be content because I know that God loves

me and he wants only good things for me. What

else do we have to know? Well if you're not sure

that God is wiser than you or knows more than

you then maybe you think that you can Impart

some wisdom to him and then he'll give you what

you want. Don't you know that I really need this

God? So we've got to know that God knows more

than I do. And God's wisdom is beyond my total

comprehension. He knows the big picture. He has

a plan that is going to be way better than anything

I could plan or I could imagine. Do we know that?

That's a guard against manipulative thinking.

What about myself? What do I have to know about

myself and about God? Who knows me? Who's the

best knower of Dave Dickman? Maybe my wife. Oh,

she's in the nursery. God is the one who knows

Dave Dickman better than anyone else. He knows

Dave Dickman better than I know myself. If we

don't know that, then we may think that what

we want, it has some legitimacy. But it doesn't.

Because God knows what I need more than I do.

And then finally, this is the last one on my

list. His purpose for me is better than the fulfillment

of this desire. Whatever God's purpose is for

me is better than if I have this thing. Whatever

it is. It's better for me to sit content and

to fulfill God's purpose in me and through me

than it is to realize the thing that I want.

Or to take hold of the thing or have the thing

that I want granted to me. To be given to me.

Now that's just fundamental to the Christian

life. If you don't know those things and you

don't remind yourself of those things, then you'll

never be willing to align your will with the

Father's. Alright, so that's two things. You've

got to know something. You've got to then be

willing to and want to align your desire to God's

will. How can we check our desire? Yeah, how

do we examine our desire? What are we looking

for in this desire that I have? I want this thing.

How am I going to check and see if I am leaning

towards manipulation to get it or if I am settled

in God and faith waiting for it? Okay, we're

going to look at motive. So, a godly desire will

be predominantly humble, right? That's the stature

that we're taking before God. I'm humbled because

you know more than me. You have a better plan

than me. You want good things for me. You know

me better than myself. And it will long for God

to glorify himself even at the expense of that

desire. Jesus said, what? Not my will, but your

will be done. And he taught us to pray. How?

Thy will be done. Now, if you're thinking and

if you're an examination of this thing that you

want, if you can't say that I am humble before

God and I am longing to have God glorify himself

in whatever way he sees best, then you need to

get your, it's still where I'm not saying that

that means the desire is wrong. I'm saying that

you're in a wrong place. You've got to correct

your thinking then and get humble. and get before

God. Because if you're not, then you're going

to be closer and closer and closer to attempting

to bend God's will to yours. Anybody else want

to mention anything there? I think along with

motive, to me anyway, is the idea that is it

going to draw me nearer to God? Yeah, I guess

in examining the desire, we first should start

by what is the thing that I want. I guess I'm

assuming that most Christians don't want sinful

things. They want good things. So, but obviously

that would be the place to start. Is this thing

that I'm desiring, is that... Is that a good

thing? Is that a God -honoring thing? That's

the way we pray, I think, right? Hopefully. Lord,

I want this thing. It seems like it would bring

great glory to your name. If you did this thing,

people would wonder at the almighty God, the

gracious and merciful God who is love. Do this

for that reason. Now, that's not manipulation

if it comes from our hearts. That's what Nathan's

talking about. Okay, now we listed all those

things. What's the, I think all of them, I think

all of them are good things. Who's ever going

to say you shouldn't repent from doing sin? Who's

going to say you shouldn't turn to God? Who's

going to say you shouldn't submit yourself to

his will? Nobody. Who's going to say you shouldn't

pray and ask God for things? Isn't that what

Jesus tells us to do that, doesn't he? So then,

I have these seven things here. I didn't include

Brian's eighth point. But how are we going to

know if we're praying properly? Well, we're going,

and this is, okay, we'll give the short answer

here. We gave the broad answer before. We'll

give the short answer here. What is pleasing

to the Lord? Only what is done in love towards

God. Now, that's the short answer. God's not

pleased by anybody doing anything under obligation.

God doesn't ever call any of us to be coercive

towards someone else to get them to do something.

And God is not that way to us, coerce us or force

us. What he wants is what? A heart full of love

that wants to please him. But how is that defined?

How do you know if you're loving God? Well, how

are you praying? God would say, if you love me,

then pray in this way. Seek my will. Submit your

request to me under the knowledge and the assurance

that my will is best. Is that how you're submitting

your request to God? That's pleasing to God.

That comes from a heart of love. I love you.

I'm only asking for this thing if it's good for

me and it redounds to your glory. Repentance.

Yep. Well, there's no such thing as prayer that

doesn't believe. Right? James says, don't ask

wavering. What you're describing would just be

some kind of mindless babble. Right? Why would

you ask if you don't believe God would do it?

Usually when people say, In Jesus' name, that

is shorthand version of saying, according to

your will. Because God acts according to his

character. His name is his character. And what

we're saying is, because you are all these things,

I'm praying in Jesus' name because I'm not trying

to manipulate you. I just want you to act according

to your character. Dave? Yes, ma 'am. Yeah, that

word. How can anybody do that to God when God

is who he is? Well, I don't think that manipulation

necessarily has to have an effect. So I can use

manipulation against you. That doesn't necessarily

mean that you're going to do whatever I'm trying

to do. But that doesn't mean that I haven't used

manipulation against you. I think I've said attempt

to manipulate God. So I understand that to be...

I'm attempting to get you to do what I want you

to do. But you're, yeah, no, I mean, God stands,

what's that? It's not successful. Yes. I know

what you're saying. I understand it. And I know

what you're saying, but you just keep repeating

the not. And I'm thinking, how can we manipulate

him for who he is? I mean, he is Lord. Right,

we attempt to. We do the manipulation. It comes

to God and it falls on its face. And God stands

firm in its purpose. Just like he did with the

Israelites when they took the ark out there.

He stood firm because it wasn't his plan. It

didn't matter what they did. And God would rather...

Stand in his purpose and allow his people to

be embarrassed and humbled. Then change his plan

or do whatever it is he's trying to get him to

do. Okay, then repentance. We talked about repentance

in an attempt to manipulate God. But repentance

motivated by a desire to glorify him. Thankful.

For all that he has done for you. That's how

we love God. That is the definition of love.

You say that you love God. Then you don't live

in sin. That's just Bible. Time spent with him.

Motivated to know him better. That's love. You

say you love God. But you never have a conversation

with him. You never read the book that's written

about him. You don't want to know anything more

about him. And yet you claim that you love God.

Well, the very definition of love includes this

relationship with the Lord. Seeking His face,

wanting to be with Him, wanting to learn who

He is, wanting to glory in who He is. Gathering

with His people, motivated by a desire to worship.

That's love. Well, Come to the meetings because

we want God to do something for us. We come there

burdened by a desire to worship him with his

people. Because we love him. That's love. Giving.

Giving is a good thing. But giving motivated

by thankfulness and cheerful. That's love. You

say you love God, but you don't support His work?

You don't give to the church? Are you not thankful

for all that He's done for you? He sent His only

Son into the world to die on a cross and take

your sin upon Him and give you and give me His

righteousness. The very definition of love includes

this whole idea that I would give anything for

that Savior of mine. What more can I give? That's

the Christian's heart. Am I sure this is all

I can give? The Christian's not, how can I fit

this into my budget? The question is, how can

I change my budget so I can give more? I want

to do more. How can I rearrange my lifestyle

so I can be a better help in people's lives?

That's the Christian's heart. Not what minimal

effort I can put towards God's people. Not what

minimal effort I can put towards the needy. But

how can I get my life to a place where I can

have more of my time dedicated to the people

around me who need it. That's love. That's love

for God. We talked about conforming ourselves

to some list that we've made up, list of laws.

But nobody here would say that it's wrong to

say, I want to be transformed. We spent three

or four weeks talking about transformation. I

want to live more like I see Jesus living in

the Bible. And why? Because it's a wonderful,

beautiful picture that I see there. Here's this

man walking around relating properly everywhere

he goes to sinners, to his disciples, to the

authorities over him. Most importantly, to God

above, his Father. Now that's who I want to be.

I want my life to conform to that. Why? Because

I'm so thankful and grateful for what he's done.

I don't want to do anything or have anything

in my life that would cause anybody to say, I

don't want anything to do with that God that

you claim. I want people rather to look at me

and say, I don't know what God you're worshiping,

but I want that God. I want a God that transforms

lives in that way. That's love. If you don't

have any desire to live the way that Jesus did,

if you don't have any desire for people to know

that you love Jesus, how can you say that you

love God? That's just Bible. Now, If you have

a desire for all of those things, now you've

got a list that you can pray back to God all

the time. Because all those things are straight

out of His Bible. Straight out of His Word. They're

what He instructs for you to do in order that

you would know Him better. In order that you

would share the joy of His Son. Alright. That's

what I have to say about personal manipulation.

Anybody else want to add anything or say anything

or ask a question? Okay, a couple of quick lessons

then before we get done with these three chapters

here. This is a picture for us. It's that Ark

travels through the Philistine cities. and then

they finally put the ark on a cart and send it

back. This is a picture for us, not dissimilar

to the picture that we see of the Egyptians,

who witnessed the word of God through Moses.

They witnessed the power of God in all the plagues.

The Philistines have that, at least they have

revelation from God. They see their own God destroyed.

Now, can you imagine that? This is a proclaimed

deity that you stand up there and the ark of

God comes before it and falls over twice. That's

power. Now maybe you could blame it on a strong

wind or something the first time. The second

time there's no excuse that's going to account

for the fact that Dagon is down left to a stump

and his arms and his legs are shattered in pieces

around him. They saw that. Everywhere this ark

goes, people break out in tumors. They saw that.

They experienced it. It can't be coincidence.

Maybe the first time you'd say, well, it was

just a coincidence. The plague broke out when

the ark was here. But then we sent it to the

next city over, and the same thing happened.

Now, again, that's a gone. That's God speaking.

And they witnessed that, and they heard it. Thousands

of people died. Then they put the ark and they

put it with these two mama cows. And they put

the baby cows over here. And which way do the

cows go? Now normally, Bryson, which way do the

cows go? Right back to the babies. But in this

case, they go in the opposite direction. Now

God can give... worship and praise from rocks

and stones and he can have his word come forth

from a donkey. In this case, he declares who

he is and he declares his word through these

milk cows. To the Philistines, I am God Almighty.

I rule nature. I bring destruction. No one can

blaspheme my name. No one can put me in front

of the God Dagon and think that I will be beholding

to him. It's loud and it's clear. If you've ever

wondered what Paul meant when he said, you're

dead in your trespasses and sins. You're without

hope or with no hope and without God in the world.

This is a picture of that. What did they do?

We would like to think that if we saw half of

that wonder, we would be on our feet, on our

face before God. In our sins, we would think,

well, that would have woke me up. But the truth

is that sin's grip on a man's heart apart from

God is so strong that none of those things have

an effect at all. What happened? They just went

home. No good, the ark is there in Beth Shemesh.

Let's get out of here. We don't need to account

for who God is. We don't need to think about

it. We don't need to consider the message that

we've heard here. We'll just go back to our homes.

Now that's the very definition of without hope.

God speaking from the heavens. God working wonders

among you. And you turn around and you go back

home. Now again, that's easy for us to say, well,

those bad Philistines. But the question for us

is, what do we do with the instruction that God,

the revelation that God gives us? He doesn't

give us revelation in milk cows. He's given us

a much clearer revelation in His Word and in

His Son. And what do we do with that? What do

we do when we hear the instruction of God? When

we read it, when we hear it, do we just cast

it off? Well, that's for some people. Or are

we the people, of course, I'm fine there. We

don't even bother to think about ourselves or

examine ourselves in light of the instruction

that we've heard. So let's not cast too many

stones at the Philistines until we first examine

how it is that we receive the instruction from

God for you and for me. That's the first short

lesson. The second one is, what was the Israelites'

sin? And this is kind of a hard verse. In verse

19 of chapter 6, He smote the men of Beth Shemesh

because they had looked into the ark of the Lord.

Even he smote of the people 50 ,000 and three

score and ten men. That's 50 ,070 men. And the

people lamented because the Lord had smitten

many of the people with a great slaughter. And

then verse 20, And the men of Beth Shemesh said,

Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God,

and to whom shall he go up from us? Now, I don't

know exactly what was going on there. If they

just were gazing at the ark, maybe like it was

a spectacle. I don't know if they actually opened

it up and looked inside. But I do know that whatever

was going on there, they hadn't accounted for

who God is. for his holiness, because that's

what they say. Who is able to stand before this

holy God? Now God had given them very specific

instructions about how the ark was to be handled.

They didn't have anything to do with that. Certainly

they had heard the stories of the tumors of the

dead people everywhere the ark went. Certainly

they wondered when they saw these milk cows full

of milk, so they knew that they had calves somewhere,

but they were walking away towards them. But

they didn't halt at all. So what can we say about

them? They weren't much different than when they

had taken the ark out in front. They were still

the same people. The ark is a novelty. The ark

is a representation of who God is just dismissed.

They didn't take it seriously at all. They weren't

submitted to the will of God for them. They weren't

in awe at his holiness. They weren't in wonder

at his power. And they certainly weren't humbled

by their own sin and by their own lack of reverence

for the ark when they lost it in the first place.

Alright. Let's not be those people. You know,

our God is a consuming fire. Our God tells us,

press on. Because only those people that press

on will make it to glory. There's no giving up.

There's no turning back. Christians don't do

that. Christians attempt to please their God

in the ways that we said and many more. Humbly

before their God, submitted to His will. If God

says put that ark on this kind of a cart and

cover it up and go get these people to carry

it, then what? Then that's what we're going to

do. And in my life and in your life, hopefully

that's our attitude. If God has called me to

this and set this way before me, then I will

walk in that way without question. Because I

know that God loves me and I know that his way

is good for me. And so I'll be content then to

go in his way. In the way that he tells me to

go. And the whole time I will be in reverent

awe and fear of a God who is almighty. who still

takes an interest in little pipsqueaky Dave Dickman.

That's a wonderful thought for you and for me.

All right. That's what I've got in my head and

in my lists. Any questions or comments?