Reflecting the Image

Scripture:

1 Samuel 7:3–4

3 Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you. Direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So Israel put away the Baals and the Astartes, and they served the Lord only. (NRSVUE)

Observation:

God’s people were no longer serving Him wholeheartedly. In many ways, they had forgotten their identity as the people of God.

The beloved ark of the covenant had been returned from the hands of the Philistines and had remained at Kiriath-jearim for many years. But simply having the ark among them was not enough.

The people themselves needed to return to God.

Samuel meets with them and gives very direct instructions:

“If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods.”

For there to be true repentance, something had to change. They could not simply say that they were returning to God while continuing to worship the gods that had captured their hearts.

They had become enticed by the world around them and had forgotten the true God.

Samuel called them to direct their hearts to the Lord and serve Him only.

They listened.

They repented.

They put away their foreign gods.

They served the Lord only.

Application:

How had God’s people become so enticed by foreign gods?

How had they wandered so far away from the faith?

As a teenager, I remember asking myself those questions. I was often stumped by the lack of faith that I read about in the Old Testament.

But now I’ve lived through a number of decades myself.

Recently, I’ve found myself thinking about the handoff of faith from one generation to the next and asking whether we are doing that well.

It is exceedingly important for every generation to experience full salvation for themselves.

Samuel’s words are direct:

“If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart…”

This was another generation of the house of Israel, and they hadn’t necessarily wandered off after foreign gods entirely on their own.

And neither have the children and grandchildren of our day.

Maybe those of us who belong to an older generation need to ask ourselves whether, in some ways, we helped lead them into the land of the foreign gods.

Did we lead our children and grandchildren into a land of plenty, where every need could seemingly be met by the gods of materialism and there was little sense of the need to depend entirely upon God?

Did we skirt older doctrines of the church, like entire sanctification, because they seemed to expect too much of us?

Did we stop having prayer meetings because we became too busy?

Did testimony services disappear because there were no longer testimonies to share?

Those are uncomfortable questions.

But every generation needs times of honest self-examination.

Are we serving the Lord only?

Have other gods quietly captured pieces of our hearts?

Have we handed those gods on to those who have come after us?

If the answer is yes, Samuel gives us a remarkably clear roadmap.

Listen to what the Lord is saying.

Repent of the ways we have wandered.

Put away the things that have captured our hearts.

Return to the Lord with our whole heart.

And then—

Serve the Lord only.

Maybe renewal begins there.

Not by lamenting what has happened to the generations coming behind us, but by allowing God first to search our own hearts.

Return to the Lord.

Prayer:

Lord, search my heart and shine Your light into every corner of my life that needs renewal. Show me anything that has taken a place that belongs only to You. Forgive me for the ways I have wandered, and help me to return to You with my whole heart. May my life faithfully point those who come after me toward You. Amen.