Heart Over Hype: God Defends Himself

Use this curriculum to help you further engage with the sermon, the scriptures, and each other. Allow the Holy Spirit to bring things up to encourage and guide you so that you are always growing in your faith. If the Spirit leads you away from these questions and into conversation and prayer that encourages and points you to Jesus, go for it.

scripture

Read the following scriptures together: 1 Samuel 5.

overview

Following the despair of chapter 4 when the Israelites thought that the glory of God had departed and had been defeated, we see God proving on his own that he is sovereign and fully capable of accomplishing his plans. The statue of the Philistine’s god, Dagon, fell prostrate and broken before the ark of God. What a visual for us to humble ourselves and break off any pride or feeling that we know what's best for ourselves or other people! When we practice reverence – a posture of deep respect, awe, and adoration for God – what often follows is a humble recognition of God's majesty and holiness with a willing submission to his authority. This posture can help eliminate striving and worry in our lives.  

question 1

How can you actively cultivate a posture of reverence in your daily routine? Are there areas of pride, striving, or control that you need to let fall prostrate before God?

discussion

Read 1 Samuel 6.

After the pain of the plagues, the Philistines realized that God was judging them and in surrender, they send the ark back to Israel. The Philistines went through the motions of sending the guilt offerings; their hearts weren’t in it, but they did what they thought they needed to do to stop the pain. Some people think that times of pain and suffering mean that God has left them, but for those of us in Jesus, the Scriptures remind us that he won’t ever leave us. We will go through seasons of pruning and hardship that give us opportunities to grow closer to him and get to know his character more. We too can either go through the motions or we can attune our hearts to God, allowing him to show us his strength and help us get through the trial with more knowledge of his power, love, and compassion. We can white knuckle it or we can choose to recognize his presence and power with us through it all.

question 2

When we remember that God has compassion on us, how can this change our attitude when going through a hard season? 

Andrew reminded us that God doesn’t need us to accomplish his victory and as we read and waited to see where the cows end up, we see this truth so powerfully played out. All logic would say these cows would resist the yoke and head back to their calves, but they march right on towards Israel under God’s direction. God accomplished what the Israelites couldn’t – he defeated the Philistines, and he took himself home. In his grace and love, God invites us to partner with him in his Kingdom work and it’s a holy privilege when he does. It can bring an indescribable joy to watch him at work, but we miss it when we resist his call and attempt to walk backwards or in a direction he never called us into. When we keep the posture of reverence and humility before God, our hearts will more readily move away from things that don’t have spiritual meaning and move closer to him.

question 3

Share something that God has called you into recently and the impact it’s had in your life. Small or big to us, it’s always important to God and the people he loves.

weekly application

If you are in pain or are struggling to believe that God is still with you, find some Scriptures that remind you of his presence and meditate on those. Invite a friend to pray with you as you wait for God to move (Isaiah 41:10, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Psalm 34:18).