Feb
16
Written by:
Route 365
2/16/2010 5:00 AM
written by Sara Albert
Very superstitious (cue Stevie Wonder - I know I'm not the only one who had that going through my head. . .). That’s how the Israelites could have been described. They had an intense superstition revolving around the ark of God, so much so that its capture by the Philistines (along with the death of Eli’s two sons) was enough to invoke shock and fear great enough to result in death. Can you imagine being so afraid? There are lots of things in my life that I’m scared of, but none enough that I can fathom keeling over and dying from. Fear is a very real thing. Fear and superstition are two peas in a pod, and it is all too evident that the Israelites were not strangers to either concept. Likewise, we face fear and uncertainty on a daily basis. Fear of sickness and disease, fear of loss of employment, fear of being alone, fear of conflict, fear of darkness and danger. Fear is an emotion we have all felt at one point or another, and have been driven to act and respond in different ways according to the things that make us most afraid. In general, my response is to run and hide, or pretend the scary thing really isn’t right out there for me to deal with – but that rarely does me any good.
To me, fearing the Lord is a different story. I feel like this is a healthy kind of fear compared to the irrational ones we let rule our lives. I liken it to the way a child fears a parent, and I see it daily in my classroom with the way a student fears a teacher. As children, it’s like we’re programmed to please the adults in our lives. We know which choices will bring praise and which will result in consequence. It’s the similarity between this and our relationship with God that helps me connect with this concept. Fearing the Lord is a commanding way to acknowledge God’s power, and demonstrate that we know He has the ability to show gladness or disappointment in the choices we have been given the freedom to make in our lives. Fortunately for us, we have a God who delivers us from our fears when we have faith to trust that He knows what He’s doing and that He knows what’s best for us. I’m confident that God has my best interests at heart, so maybe there really isn’t anything to be afraid of after all.
Your Fellow Traveler,
Sara
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2 comment(s) so far...
Re: 1 Samuel 4.12-22/Psalm 34 : The Faces of Fear
Another way to describe the relationship between "child and parent/teacher" and "us and God " is respect. Respect is a healthy fear where we understand the power and motivation of someone who has authority or power over us.
I find the parent to child analogy to describe our relationhip with God very comforting. As children we may not have understood why our parents placed restrictions or expectations around our lives, but as we grow older we begin to realize that they have more knowledge about the world than we do and our best interest at heart. Just as God as more knowledge than we will ever know and He is certainly concerned about our best interest, our salvation.
Thank you, Sara.
By Henrik B on
2/16/2010 11:08 AM
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Re: 1 Samuel 4.12-22/Psalm 34 : The Faces of Fear
As I've been reading this story I've been wondering about what it all means. Not that I've come to any real weighty conclusions, mind you ... :)
Sara's identification of the Israelite attitude in this chapter as "superstition"--which, the more I think about it, the more I think is right on the money--made me try to put myself into their shoes and think about what they were experiencing. It seems like they assumed that the presence of the Ark was identical to God being behind their cause.
That reminded me of a sermon Pastor Rob gave a few years ago when he was doing a series on the Ten Commandments. As I recall, he noted that often we as American Christians wind up "taking the Lord's name in vain" by attaching his name to causes that we believe in, but aren't necessarily aligned with his priorities -- be they political, economic, relational, or whatever.
In that sense this passage has been a good reminder for me to slow down and really think about the priority level of stuff I tend to be passionate about. I tend to get really worked up about the sleazy things big software companies try to do to get ahead, for example, and while I'm sure God will someday punish those who have abused people through unfair marketing practices, I have a hunch that he's much more interested in me making some kind of effort to try to bring the Gospel to those sorts of people--and change them from within--rather than dedicating all my resources to trying to (probably unsuccessfully) legislate them into doing good. Hopefully I'll remember to keep doing that the next time my blood gets boiling!
Thanks for a thought-provoking read!
By Jeremy Wolcott on
2/16/2010 10:38 PM
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