{"id":32843,"date":"2024-10-04T22:00:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T05:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-4_1-11-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-09-17T16:44:24","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T23:44:24","slug":"1-samuel-4_12-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-samuel-4_12-22\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing Compares to God\u2019s Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Samuel 4:12-22\u00a0 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Samuel 4:12-22.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Samuel 4:12-22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?” The man hurried over to Eli,
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes were set so that he could not see.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.” Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel”–because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a012-22: \u00a0An unnamed Benjamite returns from the Israelites’ battle against the Philistines with a report for the priest Eli. He reports that (1) the Philistines inflicted heavy losses on the Israelites, (2) his sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed in battle, and (3) the ark of God has been captured.\u00a0 It\u2019s when Eli hears the news about the ark\u2019s capture that Eli\u2019s response is the most dramatic, and fatal: he falls back off his chair, breaks his neck and dies.\u00a0 Phinehas\u2019 wife also hears the news and tragically passes while giving birth to her son.\u00a0 Before dying, she names her son Ichabod, which means \u201cno glory\u201d, saying that with the ark\u2019s capture the glory has departed from Israel.<\/p>\n

Why were Eli and Phinehas\u2019 wife seemingly more disturbed and disheartened by the capture of the ark than the death of Phinehas and Hophni?\u00a0Perhaps it’s because both Eli and his daughter-in-law knew that Phinehas and Hophni had acted wickedly and deserved to die, whereas the ark of God was a symbol of national significance and represented the presence of God.\u00a0 Both Eli and Eli’s daughter-in-law feared losing God’s presence even more than they feared losing their son, husband or brother-in-law.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the worst thing we could ever lose is God’s presence.\u00a0 But praise God for Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection gave us permanent, eternal access to God’s presence, and whose His promise for us is that He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6).\u00a0 He will remain faithful, even when we are faithless.<\/p>\n

God, nothing compares to Your presence.\u00a0 Though I lose other people and things, thank You that I can never lose Your presence in my life.\u00a0 Thank You that no matter how difficult things can get, You are always with me, faithful to the end.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Samuel 4:12-22.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n1 Samuel 4:12-22 (NIV)
\n12\u00a0\u00a0That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head.
\n13\u00a0\u00a0When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a012-22: \u00a0An unnamed Benjamite returns from the Israelites’ battle against the Philistines with a report for the priest Eli. He reports that (1) the Philistines inflicted heavy losses on the Israelites, (2) his sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed in battle, and (3) the ark of God has been captured.\u00a0 It\u2019s when Eli hears the news about the ark\u2019s capture that Eli\u2019s response is the most dramatic, and fatal: he falls back off his chair, breaks his neck and dies.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32843"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32846,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32843\/revisions\/32846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}