HCC Monthly Harvest Seed

wandering cows

1 Samuel 6:7-14 - Now therefore, make a new cart, take two milk cows which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us—it happened to us by chance.” 10 Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they set the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors. 12 Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh. 13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced to see it. 

~ Gene Roncone - We all have them. Defeats, failures, and painful consequences of being stuck on stupid.

1 Samuel chapters 4-6 summarizes a time when the nation of Israel strayed from God while clinging to religious symbolism. – The nation was in sin. Eli the priest had sons that were committing sin and he did nothing about it because he benefited from it. The Bible calls Eli’s son’s scoundrels.

After being defeated by the Philistines, Israel launched a counterattack with the Ark of the Covenant marching before them. They were confident the Ark would ensure their military success despite their spiritual failure. God was not impressed, and the Philistines defeated them again and took the sacred Ark as a spoil of war.

To the Philistines this was just the symbol of another God.

1 Samuel 4:10-11 (NLT) - So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents. 11 The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.

Isreal was defeated because they no longer valued the presence of God or revered God as Holy.

The Ark of the Covenant represented the Presence of God among His people.

Hophni, Phinehas and Eli were openly sinning and compromising even in the temple.

God purposed to destroy them and their family and to teach Israel a lesson.

Too often we value religion over presence.

We like what religion represents in theory.

The Israelites saw God as a means to an end instead of an end in Himself. He is God!

We are to cherish His presence. Remember when God gave us Jesus, He was to be called Emmanuel or “GOD WITH US”. 

How many times do people pull out God only when they need a victory or when they need something.

This is what religion is. It is transactional. I will do this as long as God does this. It is only about rules and rewards.

The Bible tells us that God is a REWARDER of those who diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Isreal no longer valued the presence of God, they only wanted God for what He could do for them.

Once you lose sight of who God is, once you stop valuing His presence you resort to religion. Israel wanted a formula over God’s presence. They saw God as someone they could manipulate.

Just bring the ark and there will be victory. It is kind of like people who will rub a rosery for answered prayer and will settle for several hail Mary’s and a few our Father’s and they are good to go.

When we no longer value the presence of God it leads to presumption and arrogance. The Israelites believed that as long as they had religion that they had the presence this is when they lost the presence of God.

1 Samuel 4:19-22 - Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she regard it. 21 Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

The Glory departed because the presence of God had departed.

I never want God to write Ichabod over my life or the life of our church. May we always cherish His presence.

Because they handled the presence of God as a thing to be used and not a person to be cherished it was taken away for a season.

Beth – Shemesh reminds us of the Sovereignty of God.

 It teaches us that the goodness that shows up at our doorstep is not a matter of chance or coincidence.

That the lost things God brings back into our lives are not the product of our own genius, random acts or wandering cows.

They are the orders of a sovereign God who uses time, space and circumstances to achieve His will in our life. The rock of Beth Shemesh reminds us that our lives are not blown by the waves of meaningless chaos but directed by the Master of the seas.

“The cart came into the field of a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock...

The large rock at Beth-Shemesh, where they set the Ark of the Lord, still stands in the field of Joshua as a witness to what happened there.”

 For both Israel and the Philistines, Beth-Shemesh symbolizes the times and places God restored what we lost because of our stupidity, arrogance or sin. All of us have a few Beth-Shemesh in our own lives.

When you stop cherishing the presence of God you lose sight of the fact that He is God.

Sovereignty is not a mysterious thing that no one can understand. Sovereignty deals with the fact that He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is Sovereign.

Sovereignty deals with the will and desire of a King or in this case God.

The Philistines believed that things were up to chance. God’s will is not the result of randomness, chance or luck.  Those cows did not just happen to wander into Israeli territory they went there led by God. Lowing as they went.

Someone needs to hear this – Our God makes order out of Chaos even when we make the chaos ourselves.

Proverbs 16:9 - A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.

Beth – Shemesh reminds us of the grace of God.

 It teaches us that no matter how much we lose or how bad we fail, God continues to invite us back into relationship with Him.

When we are willing to repent, no arrogance, no pride and no sin can separate us from a God of grace and forgiveness. His covenant finds us no matter where we are and invites us home.

It was at Beth-Shemesh that God restored His presence.

The people offered sacrifices to the Lord as worship to God.

1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Titus 2:11-14 - For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

I love that line – the grace of God teaches us.

When the prodigal son returned to his father, he didn’t come back empty handed, he came back with the lessons learned.

The Bible says that as that son sat in the pig pen that he came to his senses.

Beth- Shemesh was a place that taught both Israel and the Philistines some lessons.

Thank God for wandering cows directed by the hand of God.

In 2025 may we cherish the presence of Almighty God. May His presence never depart from us for His Glory.

You are loved
Pastor Marvin & Dawn

Image by Arnaud Liégeois from Pixabay

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