Thought from today’s Bible reading from 1 Chronicles 7-10.
There is an interesting piece of information that the Scriptures record regarding the events that transpired after the death of Saul.
“Thus Saul died with his three sons, and all those of his house died together. When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them” (1 Chronicles 10:6-7).
Why is it significant that these Israelites “forsook their cities” following the death of Saul? Remember a few points:
- God, by His power, had given them the land (Joshua 21:43-45).
- Since that time, the Israelites rejected God as their king and demanded a human king (1 Samuel 8:4-7).
- One of the reasons why they wanted a human king was so that he would “go out before [them] and fight [their] battles” (1 Samuel 8:20).
The failure of the Israelites was that they had placed their trust in a human ruler rather than in God. Saul and his sons had been killed. Who could protect them? To them, the answer was “no one.” Even though God was still there, they had forgotten to trust Him to be their protector.
Besides God, everyone and everything else will eventually fail us. We need to put our complete faith and trust in Him. If we do not do this, we will lose what we have gained in regard to spiritual things, just as the Israelites lost the cities they had obtained previously.
Tomorrow’s reading: Psalm 102-104
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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