Denver Seminary

"Then they cried out to the Lord and said: We have sinned because we have abandoned the Lord and served Baalim and Ashtarot.  So now, deliver us from the power of our enemies so that we may serve you." (1 Samuel 12:10)

After the Israelites had received the law at Mt Sinai, journeyed in the wilderness for almost 40 years, settled in the land of Canaan, and received their king from the Lord, they found themselves entangled in a web of confusion and oppression at the hand of their Philistine neighbors.  Unable to bring about their own deliverance, the Israelites reacted as they had done numerous times before—they cried out to the Lord, acknowledged their sins, and sought to be rescued by their Deliverer.

The Israelites knew they had done evil in the eyes of the Lord.  They had broken the first and most important of all the commandments—You shall have no other gods before me (Ex 20:3, Deut 5:7)—and for this, they experienced the continual severe harassment of the Philistines.

God had promised to Moses and Joshua that He would go before them and destroy their enemies. Had He forgotten to deal with the Philistines?

God promises us peace and joy. Yet reality reminds us that we are still living in a fallen world, where obstacles, inconsistencies, inconveniences, and conflicts plague our daily lives.  God’s promises are yea and amen to the glory of God, but some of these will be completely manifested only in the kingdom of heaven. Let us be steadfast, patient, wise, and determined to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives, even in the midst of difficulties.