Title: Stand still / 1 Samuel 12:6-18
Content "Stand still"
The most difficult thing for humans to endure is that they are worthless and worthless before God. If so, I think, for what purpose did we first create and call us humans? You think you created it and called it because you have something to do. However, God's will for humans as revealed in the Bible is different. It was not called out because of human worth, but because God saw what and how he planned and accomplished it and called him out as a witness to deliver it as it is (Psalm 23:3, 1 Peter 2:9). “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the goodness of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Anyway, God thinks that he cannot do this kind of work without us human beings, but he is not the one who cannot work just because we do not have human beings. In Isaiah 2:22, which says that even these stones will make them descendants of Abraham, and that human beings are completely denied, and that life is not worth numbers, God does not regard humans as special, but only as sinners. You just see it. Here, sinners mean that we Christians are sinners when we open our mouths, and we are not sinners who say we are sinners, but that sinners can only sin no matter what they do.
Ecclesiastes also says, "There is a season for everything under the heavens, and a time for every purpose to be fulfilled" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The time we are talking about here refers to the time set by God, not the time set by man. It is also a word that completely denies human beings.
Nevertheless, the way of thinking of modern people is full of the idea that everything should be viewed in a positive way. What he says is that 'a man's work depends on his mind'. This word also comes from Buddhism, and it was once uttered to famous Taoists with the tone of annoyance because it was so annoying when a large crowd was making a public proclamation. This has been distorted today, and it has been transformed into the truth that money comes in as much as any human being if he has greed. Among the popular words in the human world, 'love', 'conscience', 'humility', 'sacrifice', etc. will be Therefore, all the visions, dreams, and hopes that humans dream of are a form of selfishness stemming from the struggle to see if everything goes well.
And the work of God is to deny this world and to judge the world. This is being revealed through the cross. The cross is the proof that he expressed his extreme anger toward the world of God through the cross. Jesus also said that if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. So, if you want to follow Jesus, self-denial must come first, which means you have to get rid of a positive mindset.
The church is the gathering of Jesus' disciples, that is, the gathering of those who deny themselves. Still, today's church members think that even God cannot do anything without humans. This is what an unbeliever looks like. A true believer is one who lives with the attitude that he himself is a worthless servant before the Lord. “In the same way, when you have done all that was commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, we have only done what we were supposed to do” (Luke 17:10).
There aren't many words in today's text that deserve our attention, but if you're going to find it, verse 7 says, "Therefore, stand still." The contents of verses 1 to 5 of this chapter are that Samuel's words when he called the people of Israel set up the king you wanted. But have I ever taken a bribe to judge the people while living with you from my childhood until now? Or have you ever been scammed? that there is no The people also acknowledged it. Nevertheless, they point out how sinful it was for them to save a human king. It does not stop with the sin of betraying Samuel, but ultimately becomes the sin of refusing to be the king of God.
Samuel is reminding the people of a historical event by telling them to stand still. First, the story of the event that occurred during the Exodus, where God delivered them from the Red Sea and Pharaoh of Egypt by the power of God when they were walking right and left by the Red Sea, and the event of saving them from the hand of Sisera, the general of Hazor (Judges 4:1-3). Even though Deborah Judge must appear at the time of writing, 'Bedan' refers to 'Barak' (LXX). As we well know, Barak was a coward who couldn't even be called a man, and he was the kind of person who humiliated Deborah to not move even a single step if she didn't go to war. Also, the mention of Jerubbaal (a nickname for Gideon) or Jephthah does not bring up Israel in the sense that without these people, Israel would not have been saved, but through these, non-human, lowly ones, God took care of His people. It is revealing the fact that He saw and rescued you.
All of these had no qualifications or abilities to expect as saviors. Nevertheless, if Israel were to be saved, it was the total power of God, and it was God's mercy and mercy toward his people, and it must be viewed from the point of view of the fulfillment of the covenant. .
Jehovah God is a mighty warrior (Exodus 15:3-5). “Be so furious among the nations. Prepare for war, encourage the warriors, and let all the warriors come near and come up. Make your plowshares into swords, and your sickles into spears. Say, be strong, come quickly, all ye nations all around, and gather ye; O LORD, let thy mighty men come down there; move the nations, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will sit there and judge all the nations that surround it. Come and tread on it; it is ripe; the winepresses are full, and the wines are overflowing, for their wickedness is great” (Joel 3:9-13).
In the holy war of Jehovah, man can never be God's collaborator or helper. Human strategies or means are entirely excluded. The victory and defeat and glory of war are to go only to the Lord. Jehovah also becomes the eternal King of Israel. Therefore, not only the people of Israel but also the chosen king must obey and obey only the Word of God, who is the true king, and serve only Him (verse 14). Then, it just leaves a lingering impression that it is not. ♣