It's my pleasure to share with you
the 3 lessons I gleaned from the Bible today. Enjoy and be blessed by them.
1 Samuel 4:1-11
Now Israel went out to battle
against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines
encamped in Aphek. 2 Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array
against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the
Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. 3 And
when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the
LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the
covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save
us from the hand of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they
might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells
between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there
with the ark of the covenant of God. 5 And when the ark of the covenant of the
LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. 6
Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does
the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they
understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp. 7 So the
Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they
said, “Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who
will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who
struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 9 Be strong and
conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants
of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and
fight!” 10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man
fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel
thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 Also the ark of God was captured; and the two
sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
Lesson 1:
DEMONSTRATING THE POWER OF GOD
Everyone living has the breath of
God in him or her, otherwise they won’t be alive. But that does not mean that
everyone can operate in the power and anointing of God. The ability to operate
in the power and anointing of God is, to a large extent, determined by the
individual. Is he/she a worthy vessel to manifest the divine power and
abilities or not? In the passage above, the Israelites jubilated when the Ark
of Testimony was brought into their camp. With the Ark in their camp, they
expected an easy run over their enemies. It had made them prevailed over
challenges before, it would definitely aid them again. But the Ark was carried
there by and was also in care of two unworthy vessels, Hophni and Phinehas, the
sons of Eli. Therefore it did not perform the purpose which they brought it
for.
