“Be strong and conduct yourselves like men”
1 Samuel 4:9-11 “And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.
So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they said, “Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!”
“So, the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. Also, the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.”
My note: This is a sad account of Israel foolishly bringing the Ark of the Covenant into battle, thinking that it was like a good luck charm. They had already been beaten by the Philistines, losing 4000 men. So, they were going to give it another try. When they engaged in battle again, they lost 30,000 foot soldiers and the Ark of God was captured.
Back in verse 9, when the Ark came into the camp, Israel created such a tumult that it shook the earth and frightened the Philistines. The reaction of the leaders of the Philistines was to encourage their men to conduct themselves as men. Twice they were told this.
Today, we find the shoe on the other foot. We Christians are hearing the earthshaking tumult being created by the enemies of God, as chaos reigns in our major cities. They are loud and intimidating. Our ability to worship & serve the Lord is under assault. The enemy wants us to cower in fear, and surrender and be silent.
Our Christian leaders, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are telling us, “Be strong and conduct yourselves like men”.
Many times, Israel was faced with overwhelming odds. When they sought & obeyed the Lord, He gave them victory. When they lived in sin and idolatry, and behaved arrogantly and self-willed, they suffered loss.
We don’t know how much farther God is going to have us go through these last days before the Rapture & beginning of the Tribulation. No matter what comes, the Lord desires us to trust Him, to be holy as He is holy, to put off the works of the flesh and walk in the Spirit. We are to conduct ourselves as men and women of God. We re to be spiritually strong in the Lord.
This is from an article recently posted, on Facebook, by a Christian sister about apostasy in the Christian church in these last days, by Matt Slick 11/24/2008
“As Christians, we need to be very sure that we are clinging to the Truth of God’s word and resisting the inclusion of liberalism, moral relativism, and the oncoming secularism that is all around us. We need to stand on the word of God and never be ashamed of the Truth of the Gospel.”
Finally, it is written in Joshua 24:15 “…..choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve,….as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
- Brother Scott
