Commit Your Way to Yahweh

All of us, as we go through life, will keep coming to a fork in the road, and we must choose one of the two ways. Once a choice is made it takes a long time to turn back, so we must always live with great care.

In Psalm 37:4-9 David shows how those who belong to God ought to live. First, he promised that if you delight in Yahweh, God will grant you the desires of your heart. Second, if you commit your way to Yahweh and trust in him, God by his power and might will make your faith and your justice shine like the noonday sun. Third, be still before Yahweh and wait patiently for him; and even if you see the wicked scheme their way into a better life than yours, do not resent God or complain against him as Habakkuk did. To let such thoughts take hold of your heart even for a moment is, in the end, to despise God’s power and to help Satan do evil. Only when we stand firm in faith will we see evildoers cut off and receive the eternal inheritance as our blessing.

David’s confession shows us what a foolish choice the Philistines made in sending the ark of blessing back to Israel. They wanted to know whether God had sent the disaster or whether it had simply befallen them by chance, so they used the cows. If the cows went to Beth Shemesh, God had disciplined them; if they turned back to their nursing calves, the disaster was a matter of chance. That was what they resolved to believe. How far that choice is from David’s confession, that if you commit your way to Yahweh and trust in him, he will bring it to pass! Placing our lives in God’s hands is never easy, for it takes faith; yet anyone who has received new life must give their life over to God completely. The Philistines, however, looked only at the earth. Because they could see nothing but the disaster in front of them, they staked their lives on an animal, a cow.

When the cows left behind the calves crying for their mothers and went straight to Beth Shemesh, lowing as they went, the Philistines at last admitted that the disaster had come from God. But their fear of God went no further than that. With the troublesome ark sent back to Israel, they thought all their troubles were over. They are like us, who grow proud again as soon as hardship has passed. Children are delighted when their exams are over, whatever their scores. Bad marks will bring them a mountain of work to face, yet they laugh and chatter all the same; just so, once the vexing ark was back in Israel, the Philistines went gladly back to Dagon.

God did not bring disaster on the Philistines because they were Gentiles. It was rather his love, which wanted them to recognize their sin through suffering. In the same way, if you look to anything other than God, he will allow suffering and calamity in order to tear it down.

While it was among the Philistines, the ark was despised and cast aside by people, as Jesus was when he came into a world full of sin. He bore sorrow and grief because of people who could not see their own sin. The Philistines are by no means strangers to us. They are us, and the sin they commit is the sin we are still committing today. Only when we see our own sin in what the Philistines did will we keep from committing the same sin; and when we repent of it within the word of truth, God will see that faith and call 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.”

The ark symbolized God’s presence and rule, so as long as the people of Israel obeyed God, they had no need to fear the world. Whenever he set out with the ark, then, Moses prayed in this way. “Rise up, Yahweh” does not describe someone merely getting up from where they had been sitting. It pictures someone springing to their feet in haste when an enemy appears. It is a prayer asking God to go ahead of us and fight our enemies. Moses had given himself entirely into Yahweh’s hands. He knew how to be still before Yahweh and wait patiently, and he did not complain to God when he saw the wealth and glory of the people of the world. 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 plea to be kept safe while hiding behind God’s power. It is when we are one with God, as Moses was, that we can pray as he did and be protected.

If you, who are one with God, were defeated, the world would rejoice over your failure. But God will stand against them so that you are not put to shame, for your defeat could look like his own. This is why living by faith matters so much. May you stand on God’s side. To do so, you must commit your life to Yahweh and learn to be content, and you must stop complaining and forsake wrath. If only you live by faith, God will treat the world as his enemy and fight on your behalf, even without your begging him for help. Rather than sending the ark away as the Philistines did, we must pray as Moses did that he would return to Israel and be with us; only then will he protect us.

Yahweh came to Israel; and in Isaiah 7:14 he likewise declared that the Lord himself would give a sign: the virgin would conceive and bear a son, and his name would be Immanuel. Translated, “Immanuel” means “God with us.” Immanuel is Jesus Christ, God who is with us. The Yahweh whom Moses so longed to see return and be with them has come to us as Jesus Christ, who is with us forever. He did not come because people longed for him so earnestly; he came of his own accord. If we fail to welcome this Lord, we too will load him onto a beast and send him far away, as the Philistines did. I hope you will always live spiritually awake, discerning 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.

Leaving behind the calves they loved, the cows set out for Beth Shemesh, lowing as they went. It is said that an animal that has just given birth eats the whole afterbirth, so that the smell of blood will not draw other animals to its young. Forgetting even the pain of labor, the mother gives her whole heart to protecting her newborn. The Philistines tore mothers who loved their young like this away from their calves by force. A mother nursing her baby will often feel her milk come in and simply flow at the mere thought of the child; this is a mother’s heart. God gave mothers this unconditional love so that they would raise their young. Without it, many babies and young animals would be abandoned and could not survive. With their udders full, the cows would have been aching to get back to their calves, and the calves must have cried out desperately for their mothers.

Let us see in the mother cow, held by God and led toward Beth Shemesh, the one who believes, and in the calf crying for her not to go, the world. The cow was in God’s hand and had a task to fulfill, so she went straight to Beth Shemesh without turning to the right or the left, hard as it was to leave her calf. Those of us who have been born again through the word must take the road that leaves the world behind and goes to God, however hard and painful it may be. Having met God does not mean we can simply abandon the world and walk away. It is hard to leave behind everything we loved in the world, our wealth and power, our own righteousness and pride, even our children; so we look back, we weep aloud, and we cry out in prayer.

Still, like the cow held fast by God, it is a road we cannot help but take. However strong the world’s temptations, we must go straight ahead without swerving to the right or the left; this is what those who have made a decision of faith must do. Do you see now how hard it is to live by faith? To take even one step in faith while held by God is no easy thing. But just as the mother left her calf and walked straight on as God led her, you too must go straight ahead without looking back.

Having obeyed, the cows reached Beth Shemesh and were offered as a burnt offering and a peace offering. This is what life looks like for those who take up God’s work. The cow given as a burnt offering was burned up completely. Her blood was sprinkled on the altar, and her hide was used for the priest’s garments. She gave all of herself to God. Are you serving God better than this cow? Have you ever tried to give God everything, even your life, as she did when she left her calf behind and took that first step?

Jesus willingly offered himself as our peace offering. He gave his life, his water and his blood, all of it for sinners, and laid himself down to fulfill the word of God. As the cow carried the ark that reveals what human sin is, Jesus willingly became the peace offering, bearing the sin of all humankind in our place. Are we still bargaining with such a Lord: “I have given up the world to believe in you, so make it up to me with blessings”? I hope that no one at Watercourse Church will ever do this.

To fulfill the calling God has given us, let us hold fast to the word as the cow did and keep our eyes forward as we go. The moment you swerve even briefly toward the world, to the right or the left, Satan will seize the chance and snatch you away. You can never defeat Satan, and when he tempts you like that crying calf, the moment you turn to look at it you will meet eternal death. Even if letting go of earthly fruit hurts so much that you cry aloud, you must keep going forward and 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, and that from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim on the ark of the testimony, he would tell him all that he would command for the children of Israel. Together with the mercy seat, the cherubim are essential parts of the ark of the covenant. The mercy seat is the lid that covers the ark, and the cherubim, made of gold, spread their two wings over the mercy seat. Here God atones for human sin, forgives it, and covers it over.

But while God truly worked through the ark, the ark itself is not a god. God had the ark made for the forgiveness of Israel’s sins, but the people treated it as a god that would protect them and carried it into battle; that was a false faith. The law only exposes sin; it cannot atone for it. Believers who do not understand this pour all their effort into keeping the law by their works, then boast of those works and make them their own righteousness. That is why they fail to grow, however many years they spend in the church. When the ark came back to such people, many looked into it and died, and that event shows how they thought of God and how they treated him.

When the people of Beth Shemesh saw the cows bringing the ark on the new cart, they rejoiced greatly and offered the cows as a burnt offering. The Levites set Yahweh’s ark on the great stone, and beside it the coffer holding the golden images the Philistines had made. Being Levites, they would have been priests whom God had appointed. These very men, though, committed the sin of placing the ark of the covenant and the coffer of Philistine gold side by side. Until then the ark had been kept in the Most Holy Place, a holy thing that even the high priest could see only a few times a year. Granted, there was no tabernacle now and no Most Holy Place to keep it in; even so, setting the box the Philistines sent beside the ark shows that their faith still did not fear God. Levitical priests who served God should have thrown the five golden tumors and the golden mice from the Philistines far away. I have wondered whether they would have put those things beside the ark if they had been images carved of stone or wood instead of gold. The moment they saw the gold, they thought of what it was worth.

Afraid of disaster, the Philistines had set golden images beside the ark. What this shows is that Israel’s faith had not changed in the least since the day the ark was captured. If this was the faith of the priests, there is no need to speak of the people’s. Conduct like this from those who serve God in front of the people kills the souls of those whose faith is not yet mature, so we must be on our guard. Many of the people who saw the priests handling the ark carelessly looked into it and died on the spot. This disaster had already been foreseen.

In Leviticus 16:2 Yahweh told Moses to tell Aaron not to come at any time he pleased into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat on the ark, so that he would not die, for Yahweh would appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. God does not strike or chastise without warning. He always speaks first, waits, and leads; only when people still refuse to listen does he discipline or rebuke them. God had given his command, and still the people looked into the ark. He had said that whoever came before the mercy seat at will would die, yet they paid no heed to his word. Glad that the ark had come back, they looked into it with a merely human thought: surely nothing will happen.

Scripture states plainly that a veil hung before it. That veil had not yet been torn through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, so they were sinners who could never meet God face to face. Still, they did as they saw fit, and they died. We are no different today: we set our wealth, our pride, our children, and our power on a level with God and serve them alongside him. This is because people care less about obeying God’s word than about having God guard everything they own. When they get the answers they want, they call it blessing and prosperity. They boast that the gold in their hands and their children’s success are there because God blessed them, and yet they take all the credit for themselves. How could God take such people to his heart?

Those who looked into the ark had most likely never been taught the law by the priests, or else they had learned the word but taken it lightly. The real issue, though, is that whether they knew it or not, God had already proclaimed his law, and that law decides between life and death. People must therefore strive to know God’s law rightly and to keep it, since keeping it brings blessing and breaking it brings 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 means glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. The Lord alone is the way to heaven, the life, and the truth, so we must look to 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 disregard the word until you commit the sin against the Holy Spirit?

In 1 Samuel 7:1 the people of Kiriath Jearim did not cast Yahweh’s ark far away as the Philistines had. They brought it into Abinadab’s house, consecrated his son, and had him keep Yahweh’s ark. Honoring the ark as holy, the people of Kiriath Jearim kept it faithfully for twenty years, and through it they enjoyed the peace God gives. Abinadab’s faith was not like an empty field but like a mountain. He set his son Eleazar apart from the world, sanctified him through the word, and only then had him attend the ark. Scripture explains in detail how the ark of the covenant must be cared for.

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

But there is one thing we must not forget. Abinadab and Eleazar had among them for twenty years the very ark that had brought disaster, and yet, far from suffering, their faith received the spiritual blessing of peace.

Will you live like Israel and the Philistines, or like Abinadab and Eleazar? That now rests with your heart. At this fork in the road, the choice is yours to make. May you choose rightly 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.