1 Samuel 4:8

Reading through chapter four of 1 Samuel is pretty sad. We read in verse 2, Israel was defeated by the Philistines. The children figured, we need the ark! That will give us victory. So they bring the ark back, they cheer, and that makes the Philistines afraid. But then you read Israel was defeated and Eli’s two sons died. Then we read one of the messengers got away, tells Eli that his sons are dead, and then he dies as well. And the chapter continues to get worse.

What strikes me as interesting was that the Philistines were afraid when they heard that the ark was back in their possession all because of what they have heard. All that fear was for nothing because they still defeated Israel. But instead of giving up and turning to the Lord, they ask an almost obvious question, who will save us?

It’s nice knowing that our enemies fear our God. What’s not nice, is them not knowing that they can turn to Him for salvation and they too can have a relationship with the one true God. That they can say “I’m going to pray and ask God for forgiveness because I want what He has.”

May my enemies turn to Him because of what they’ve heard.

Joshua Navarro