Thus Far...
Recently there has been a passage in the Bible that has been following and encouraging me through my recent days. The passage is as follows...
"Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel. The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far the Lord has helped us.'"
- 1 Samuel 7:10-13 -
This passage is extremely encouraging to me. Right before this passage in the verses before the Israelites had been estranged from God and currently they were turning back to serve Him.
"Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, 'If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.' So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the Lord alone."
- 1 Samuel 7:3-4 -
Though the people had not been following God, the minute they turned back to serving Him, He protected them. It wasn't that long after this last passage (1 Samuel 7:3-4) that the Philistines heard that the Israelites were nearby and decided to attack. This is where the first passage comes in (1 Samuel 7:10-13).
There are three things that really catch my attention in the passage of 1 Samuel 7:3-13:
1. The Lord did what He said He would do.
Day to day we tend to to begin to rely on ourselves more and more, right? Why wouldn't we? It's human nature to want to feel in charge and take the reins. Sometimes, however, this can be very discouraging. The Bible tells us to "count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds" (James 1:2). In that verse it does not say IF but it says WHEN. There will be days where the people of the Lord encounter those various trials. And let's be honest, when we try to go at this by ourselves it gets lonely and discouraging. From this passage in Old Testament we see the nature of God and God's nature shows us that He will be there for us...ALWAYS! (1 Peter 5:10; James 1:12; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Proverbs 3:5-6) God is not someone to just take a vacation from helping His beloved people. That's right, He constantly loves us and our soul. He is constantly caring for us and our soul. Why not take our gift of prayer and use it? (Philippians 4:6-7; 1 John 5:14; Jeremiah 29:12; Romans 12:12) We should never let our pride and human nature get in the way of knowing that God is always there for us and that He will take care of us like He promised us...
"'Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.'"
- Matthew 6:26-34 -
2. The Lord is merciful and loving to those who return to Him.
To me this is one of the most beautiful things about our relationship with God. Let's talk about something we don't always talk about. We talk about people leaving the fold of God but what about the people who return? How hard must that be for them? I'm not talking about it being difficult leaving a lifestyle. What about the shame and embarassment they have? I believe that sometimes the reason that individuals don't return to the Lord is because of that shame and embarassment. So, here's my question: do we ALWAYS have the right attitude to a lost soul returning home? Or are we like the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:25-32)? Are we encouraging, loving, thankful, and rejoicing for our brother or sister? The Lord's response to a sinner returning home is absolutely beautiful and incredibly merciful. Mercy that we don't deserve...
"I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." - Luke 15:7
"In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." - Luke 15:10
"All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." - Isaiah 53:6
"...for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." - Romans 3:23
Then, there is the "Chapter of the Lost" in Luke 15. All the parables Jesus presents to the crowd parallells to sinners who return to the Father. The attitude of the main characters in the parables say it all:
"When he has found [the sheep], he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’" - Luke 15:5-6 (The Lost Sheep)
"When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’" - Luke 15:9 (The Lost Coin)
"So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate." - Luke 15:20-24 (The Prodigal Son)
3. The Lord protected and helped them "thus far".
Like we saw in the first point, the Lord is good with His word. I think the words that press the most importance to me are "thus far" (1 Samuel 7:13). There are two tiers to this phrase to me:
1. If He has helped us "thus far", why would it be any different now if we still continue to be His
servant?
Sometimes we have a tendency to feel like everything we're responsible for in our lives is completely on our shoulders. As individuals living on this earth we are taught that our success is our own. In some ways this is true but in good times and bad we have a Lord and Savior to talk to or seek knowledge/encouragement from. Not only has He kept us in His care "thus far"...those words denote that He will continue to take care of us beyond this point. It's very easy to let ourselves forget that we are not alone in this world. We are surrounded by other brothers and sisters in Christ (a gift of God). God is also merciful enough to watch over us though we owe HIM everything (another gift from God)! Through the course of the Bible God is always reasurring His people that He is with them (Joshua 1:9; Matthew 28:20; Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5). The verses show tough and scary times of battle, persecution, and Jesus leaving the disciples with one of the most important jobs anyone could ever have! Like He promised His people then, we can rest assured that He is promising us today.
"But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 8:37-39 -
2. He has helped us "thus far" because we have been His people. But what would happen if we left?
This realization of this passage is very sobering to me and it is constantly reminding me that...WE have a choice. As followers of God we have a choice of following Him or not. We have a choice of listening to His Word and being a successful servant. Let's think about this for a second though, how terrifying is it that we are responsible for that choice? What would have happened if the Israelites hadn't turned their whole hearts from idols to the Lord in 1 Samuel 7? No doubt they would have been overcome by Philistines. But they were given another chance to be God's people after having turned from Him. This choice given to us is a very big responsibility when it comes to our souls. Wouldn't it just be better if God just made us do what He has asked us to do? Not really, it would keep us from fault BUT our relationship with God would be completely different. He gives us a choice because He loves us and He wants us to want to follow Him. He has promised us great joy with Him, why would we ever leave?
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard. And which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” - 1 Corinthians 2:9
"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve." - Colossians 2:23-24
"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." - Hebrews 11:6
"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." - Galatians 6:9
This passage has been a wonderful encouragement to me but like any other Bible passage it has fair warnings. May we never forget the love and care our Father has for us. "Thus far the Lord has helped us"...He deserves our praise, our service, and our abudance of thanks. He has blessed us with way more than we could ever deserve. Praise God for His amazing mercy and love!
Let me know your own thoughts about this passage below! :)
