Commit Your Way to Yahweh

Anyone living in this world will keep coming to a fork in the road and must choose one of the two ways. Once a choice is made, turning back takes a long time. That is why we must always live with great care.

In Psalm 37:4-9 David shows us how we, as believers, should live. First, if you delight yourself in Yahweh, God will give you the desires of your heart. Second, God promised that if you commit your way to Yahweh and trust in him, he will, by his might and power, make your faith and your justice shine out like the noon day sun. Third, he told you to rest in Yahweh and wait patiently for him, and even if you see the wicked scheming and perhaps prospering more than you, not to resent God or complain against him as Habakkuk did. For letting such thoughts take hold of your heart even for a moment is, in the end, despising God’s power and helping Satan do evil. Only when you stand firm in faith will you see evildoers cut off and receive the eternal inheritance as a blessing.

Listening to David’s confession, we can see how foolish a choice the Philistines made in sending the ark of the covenant, the ark of blessing, back to Israel. The Philistines used cows because they wanted to know whether God had sent the disaster or whether they had met disaster by chance. They decided to take it that if the cows went to Beth Shemesh, God had sent the punishment, and if they went to their nursing calves, the disaster was chance. That is a choice utterly different from David’s confession that if you commit your way to Yahweh and trust in him, God will do this. Entrusting one’s life to God takes faith, so it is never easy; but believers who have received new life must entrust their lives wholly to God. The Philistines, however, looked only at the earth. They saw only the disaster that had broken out right in front of them, and so they entrusted their lives to a cow, a mere animal.

When the cows left behind their calves, which were crying for their mothers, and went straight to Beth Shemesh, lowing as they went, only then did the Philistines admit that the disaster had come from God. But their fear of God went no further than that. Because they had sent the troublesome ark of the covenant to Israel, they thought all their suffering was over. They were just like us, who grow proud again once suffering has passed. Children are happy when an exam is over, whatever their scores. If their grades are poor, they will have a great deal to face from then on, yet they laugh and chatter. Like those children, the Philistines, once they had sent the troublesome ark back to Israel, went back gladly to their god Dagon.

God did not send disaster on the Philistines because they were Gentiles. Rather, it was the love of God, who wanted them to recognize their sin through suffering. In the same way, if you rely on anything other than God, God will allow suffering and disaster in order to bring it down.

Like Jesus, who came into a world full of sin, the ark of the covenant that had been in Philistia was despised and rejected by people. It was because of human beings who could not see their own sin that he endured suffering and disease. The Philistines are by no means people who have nothing to do with us. They are us, and the sin they commit is the sin we are still committing now. Only when we see our own sin through what the Philistines did will we keep from committing the same sin; and when we repent of our sin within the word of truth, God will see that faith and declare us righteous.

Numbers 10:35-36

35When the ark went forward, Moses said, “Rise up, Yahweh, and let your enemies be scattered! Let those who hate you flee before you!” 36When it rested, he said, “Return, Yahweh, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.”

Because the ark of the covenant symbolized God’s presence and rule, the people of Israel had no need to fear the world, if only they obeyed God. This is how Moses always prayed when he marched with the ark. “Rise up, Yahweh”—these words do not simply describe the motion of getting up from where one was sitting; they describe leaping up in haste on meeting an enemy. It is a prayer asking God to fight the enemy ahead of us. Moses was a man who had entrusted himself entirely to Yahweh. He knew how to rest before Yahweh and wait patiently, and even when he saw the wealth and glory of the people of the world, he did not complain to God. He only prayed that God would protect this people. The prayer that those who hate the Lord would flee before him is, in the end, an earnest prayer asking God to protect me, because I will hide behind his power. It is when God and Moses have become one that one can pray as Moses did, and be protected.

If you, who have become one with God, are defeated in the world, the world will rejoice over your failure. But because that could look like God’s defeat, God will stand against them so that you are not put to shame. That is why it matters so much that you live by faith. I hope you will be on the same side as God. For that, you must entrust your life to Yahweh and learn to be content, and you should stop complaining and cease from anger. If you only live by faith, then even without your pleading and fussing for help, God will count the world as his enemy and fight in your place. Do not send the ark away as the Philistines did. Only when you pray as Moses did, asking Yahweh to return to Israel and be with them, will he protect you.

Just as Yahweh came to Israel, God said in Isaiah 7:14 that the Lord himself would therefore give them a sign: the virgin would conceive and bear a son, and would call his name Immanuel. Translated, “Immanuel” means “God with us.” Immanuel is Jesus Christ; he is God who is with us. Yahweh, whom Moses prayed so earnestly to return and be with them, came to us as Jesus Christ, who is with us forever. The Lord did not come because human beings longed for him; he came of his own accord. If we fail to welcome him, we too, like the Philistines, will load him onto an animal and send him far away. I hope you will always stay spiritually awake and live understanding the Lord’s will.

Deuteronomy 28:13-14

13Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail. You will be above only, and you will not be beneath; if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you today, to observe and to do, 14and shall not turn away from any of the words which I command you today, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The cow left behind the calf it loved and headed for Beth Shemesh, lowing. When an animal gives birth, it eats the whole afterbirth; it is said that it does this to protect its young, lest other animals smell the blood and come. Forgetting even the pain of birth, it gives its whole heart to protecting its young. And the Philistines forcibly separated such a loving mother from her calf. Usually a mother nursing a baby only has to think of the baby for her milk to come in and simply flow; this is motherhood. God gave the mother an unconditional love so that she would raise her baby. Without such love, many babies and young animals would be abandoned and could not survive. When her udder was full, the cow would have been anxious to go to her calf, and the calf would have been crying desperately for its mother.

I hope you will see the mother cow, held by God and going to Beth Shemesh, as the believer, and the calf crying for her not to go as the world. Because the cow, held in God’s hand, had to carry out its mission, it went straight to Beth Shemesh without turning to the right hand or to the left, though leaving its calf was hard. You who have been born again through the Word and live by faith must go without fail, even if the road of leaving the world and going to God is hard and painful. Meeting God does not make it a road on which you can easily leave the world behind. It is so hard to leave everything behind—the wealth and power you loved in the world, your own righteousness and pride, even your children—that you look back, you weep aloud, and you cry out in prayer.

But like the cow held by God, it is a road you have no choice but to take. Going straight on, without turning to the right or to the left however strong the world’s temptations, is what those who have made their decision in faith must do. Do you see how hard it is to live by faith? Being held by God and taking steps in faith is by no means easy. But just as the mother left her calf and walked straight on as God led her, you too must go straight on without looking back.

The cow that obeyed arrived at Beth Shemesh and was offered as a burnt offering and a peace offering. This is the life of those who carry out God’s work. The cow that became a burnt offering was burned up completely. Its blood was sprinkled on the altar, and its hide was used for the priests’ clothing. The cow gave all of itself to God. Are you now serving God better than this cow did? Have you ever tried to give God everything, even your life, like the cow that left its young and set out?

Jesus willingly offered himself as a peace offering. He gave everything for sinners, his life, his water and his blood, and gave himself up to fulfill God’s word. Just as the cow carried the ark of the covenant, which reveals what human sin is, Jesus willingly became a peace offering in place of humanity’s sin. Are you still making a deal with such a Lord, telling him that because you have let go of the world and are doing God the favor of believing in him, he should fill you with blessings in return? I hope none of you at Watercourse Church will ever do that.

To carry out the mission God has given you, do not let go of the Word; keep your eyes forward and go on, like the cow. The moment you turn aside toward the world, even for a moment, to the right hand or to the left, Satan will not miss the chance; he will snatch you away. You can never defeat Satan, and when Satan tempts you like the crying calf, the moment you look at that calf you will meet eternal death. Even if it hurts to let go of the fruits of the flesh and you weep aloud, you must go forward, and you must never look back.

1 Samuel 6:19

19He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into Yahweh’s ark, he struck fifty thousand seventy of the men. Then the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter.

In Exodus 25:22, God said that he would meet Moses at the ark of the covenant, and that from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, he would tell him all that he would command him for the children of Israel. The cherubim, together with the mercy seat, are very important parts of the ark of the covenant. The mercy seat is the cover over the ark, and the cherubim are made of gold and cover the mercy seat with their two wings. In this way God is atoning for human sin, forgiving it, and covering it.

It is true that God worked through the ark of the covenant, but the ark itself is not a god. God made the ark to forgive Israel’s sins, yet the people thought of it as a god that would protect them and carried it onto the battlefield; that was a mistaken faith. The law only exposes sin; it cannot atone for it. Believers who do not know this pour everything into keeping the law by their deeds, boast of those deeds, and make them their own righteousness. That is why, even after many years of church life, they do not grow. When the ark came back to such people, many of them looked into it and died, and this event is an example that shows how they thought of God and treated him.

When the people of Beth Shemesh saw the cows bringing the ark of the covenant on the new cart, they rejoiced greatly and offered the cows as a burnt offering. The Levites put Yahweh’s ark, and with it the coffer of treasure in which the Philistines had put the images they made of gold, together on the great stone. If they were Levites, they would have been priests appointed by God. Such people committed the sin of setting the ark of the covenant and the coffer of golden jewels sent by the Philistines in the same place. Until now the ark of the covenant had been kept in the Most Holy Place; it was the holy ark that even the high priest could see only a few times a year. Even if there was now no tabernacle and so it could not be kept in the Most Holy Place, their putting the coffer sent by the Philistines beside the ark shows that their faith still did not fear God. Levitical priests who served God should have thrown far away the five golden tumors and the golden mice the Philistines had sent. I have thought about whether they would have put those things beside the ark if they had been images carved from stone or wood rather than gold. The moment they saw gold, they thought of its value.

That the images the Philistines, afraid of disaster, had made of gold were set beside the ark of the covenant means that Israel’s faith had not changed at all from the time the ark was taken. If this was the faith of the priests, the faith of the people hardly needs mentioning. We must be careful here, because when those who serve God before the people act like this, it kills the souls of those whose faith is not yet mature. Many of the people who saw the priests handle the ark carelessly looked into the ark and died on the spot. This disaster had already been foreseen.

Look at Leviticus 16:2. Yahweh told Moses to tell Aaron not to come at all times into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die, because Yahweh would appear in the cloud on the mercy seat. God does not kill or discipline unilaterally, without warning. He always speaks first, waits, and guides, and only then, if people still do not listen, does he discipline or rebuke them. Despite God’s command, the people looked into the ark. Though he had said that coming before the mercy seat at all times meant death, they ignored the Word. They were glad the ark had come back, and they looked in with the human thought that surely nothing would happen.

Scripture clearly says that there is a veil before it. Because that veil had not been torn through Jesus’ atonement, they were sinners who could never meet God directly. Even so, they acted as they themselves thought best, and died. We are no different now: we set our wealth, our pride, our children and our power in a place equal to God and serve them alongside him. That is because people think God ought to protect everything they own, rather than obeying God’s word. When they are answered as they wish, they call it blessing and prosperity. They boast that they have their lumps of gold and their children have succeeded because God blessed them, and they take all the credit for themselves. How could God embrace people like this?

Those who looked into the ark probably did so because they had not learned the law from the priests, or because, even if they had learned the Word, they took it lightly. But the point is that, whether they knew it or not, God had already proclaimed his law, and that law decides life and death. So people must strive to know God’s law rightly and keep it. For keeping that law is blessing, and not keeping it is death.

Our Savior came as the one who saves his people from their sins. Jesus came to shine life on those who sit in the shadow of death and to guide them into the way of peace. The Lord’s coming to this earth is glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Because the Lord alone is the way to heaven, the life and the truth, we must rely on Jesus alone and believe in him. Now what will you do? Having heard the whole Word, will you stay in Philistia because you cannot let go of the world? Or will you ignore the Word and commit the sin against the Holy Spirit?

In 1 Samuel 7:1, the men of Kiriath Jearim did not throw Yahweh’s ark far away as the Philistines had; they brought it into Abinadab’s house and consecrated his son to keep Yahweh’s ark. The men of Kiriath Jearim, who served the ark in holiness, kept it well for twenty years, and because of that they enjoyed the peace God gives. Abinadab, whose faith was not like an empty field but like a mountain, set his son Eleazar apart from the world, made him holy by the Word, and then had him keep the ark. Scripture explains in detail how the ark of the covenant is to be kept.

As I close this sermon, what I earnestly ask of you is to live set apart like Eleazar, with faith like Abinadab’s. I want to finish by setting before you the faith of the Philistines, the faith of the Israelites who looked into the ark of the covenant, and the faith of Abinadab, who consecrated his son Eleazar to keep Yahweh’s ark. Which faith you will choose will be yours to decide.

But there is one thing we must not forget. The faith of Abinadab and Eleazar received, on the contrary, the spiritual blessing of peace, even though the ark of the covenant that had brought disaster was with them for twenty years.

Whether you will live like Israel and the Philistines, or like Abinadab and Eleazar, now depends on your heart. At this fork in the road, you must make the choice. May you make the right choice and be blessed as children of God. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.

1 Samuel 7:5-14

5Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you.” 6They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah. 7When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” 9Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to Yahweh. Samuel cried to Yahweh for Israel; and Yahweh answered him. 10As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines came near to battle against Israel; but Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel. 11The men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and struck them, until they came under Beth Kar. 12Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Yahweh helped us until now.” 13So the Philistines were subdued, and they stopped coming within the border of Israel. Yahweh’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel recovered its border out of the hand of the Philistines. There was peace between Israel and the Amorites.