A Course Correction!!!
Welcome to today’s “BIBLE BOOST”. It is my prayer that our few moments together will be a time of encouragement but also a time where we are challenged to walk more faithfully with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Slowly, just like a dripping faucet, the nations drifted farther and farther away from God. While they were moving forward there were cities to conquer, frontiers to explore and oppression to erase, the nation was generally in tuned to God’s leading.
BUT NOW, they were settled into the new country. They built cities, grew the economy and found that their interest in God, like a dripping faucet turned slowly away from God to other things, other frontiers and much learning. Self pleasing and “I” istic goals took the place of God worship and striving to please Him.
Even their religious leaders allowed the devil to step in and direct their lives. They stole food which was supposed to be sacrificed to God. Sex in the temple was used in the name of religion. Even sacred articles were captured by an idolatrous nation and the nationl was left without any strong religious direction. All of these things can be found in the first part of I Samuel in the Old Testament.
Many of these details sound like the good old USA, America. However it is not. The nation of which I speak was Israel of the old testament. Things were bad and the presence of God was lacking. It was so bad that the daughter-in-law of Eli, the High Priest, named her new born son, Icabod, meaning, “the glory of the Lord has departed.”
If ever a people needed a course correction it was Israel and we can also say most assuredly even America needs a course correction. Maybe even WE, individually, need a course correction.
So, God sent a prophet (Samuel) to give instructions for the course correction. A plan for returning to God. This instruction is also available to each us. If we feel that we have drifted far from God and it seems that God is a million miles away we can say with confidence that God is not the one who moved. Israel had moved AWAY from God. God did not move away from Israel. God will not move away from us either.
So God sent the prophet Samuel with the message and the formula by which Israel could return to their God, Jehovah, creator of the universe and provider for the people.
In First Samuel 7 and verse 3, Samuel states the first step of instruction for returning to the Lord. Let us consider step number one.
The prophet says, return to the Lord with your WHOLE HEART. What does that mean to return with our whole heart. Well, Samuel knew that the people had substituted other gods in their worship. They had made idols out of stone and wood and worshiped the creation rather than the Creator. They became lethargic in their love and loyalty to almighty God. An idol is anything that comes between us and our heavenly Father. They had put idolatry in between themselves and Jehovah God. So, Samuel was saying in order to get God’s attention and to receive his blessings Israel had to come back to Him, to return their love and loyalty towards Jehovah. They had to decide whose side they were on. Whether they going to serve and obey God or if they going to continue on their selfish, idolatrous path.
Friends, so of us are just like these rebellious folks in the Old Testament. We have formed a partnership with Israel in our own lives to put other things before God. We have drifted off course. We have set our compass heading on our own various selfish desires and charted our own course. Our love for our Lord Jesus Christ has suffered damage and has diminished.
So, what do I do if I find myself drifting from the Lord Jesus. Well, friends, Samuel gives us the best advice of getting back on course.
I Samuel 7 and verse 3. “Return to the Lord with your WHOLE HEART”.
May God bless you as you journey TOWARDS HIM WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART.
Pastor Leonard Navarre
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Leonard
Leonard Navarre
Associate Pastor Valley View Christian Church in Edgewood, NM
Licensed and Certified Church Consultan
