Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you return to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. 1 Samuel 7:3
The Path to Restoration
The Israelites were in trouble. They had been living in sin, oppressed and depressed, and God was silent. His absence was felt by everyone. Samuel was the only way they heard from God at all. Samuel had been raised by Eli, the priest and father of Hophni and Phinehas. Even though Eli’s sons were wicked and immoral, God had protected Samuel, preparing him for his purpose as he grew in stature and favor with the Lord and with men. Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man. 1 Samuel 2:26
Israel began to lament as they realized their situation. Samuel called a revival and they all gathered to rededicate their lives to God. They confessed and renewed their commitment. At this gathering, Samuel gave them some things they needed to do to find restoration with God.
Repent and Return - If you return to the LORD with all your heart…
Repentance is turning away from sin and turning to the Lord. When we engage in sin we have to turn away from God to do so. To restore a relationship with God we must turn away from the sin and look to the Lord. Repentance is a change of mind leading to a change of action. It is not just being sorry, it requires action. It is action that is a result of Godly sorrow. Israel repented and returned to God and God redeemed and restored. They had to acknowledge their weakness and failure. We are never too far gone for there to be restoration between God and us. When we humble ourselves before Him and confess our sin, He will redeem and restore.
Remove All Idols - remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you…
The first thing they needed to do was to get rid of all the false gods. God is a jealous God and He shares His throne with no one and no thing. The Israelites had physical false gods that they were worshipping instead of Yahweh. We also can have false gods, though they are not usually in statue form. They come in the form of things and people and even food, drugs, and alcohol. Whatever we depend on or live to please is an idol. Just as with the nation of Israel, there is no place for idols in our lives. They must go for there to be restoration with God. What do you need to let go of so that you can restore your relationship with God?
Serve Only Him - direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone…
This goes back to the idols somewhat. We cannot hang onto our idols and serve Him too. When we serve Him, we serve Him with our whole life and that means giving Him our whole life. It is all or nothing. We can’t pick and choose what we let Him have and keep what we don’t want to let go of. He gets it all. Partial commitment leads to partial service and the serving of two masters which God says is impossible and will lead to conflict in our life. Our service to Him is a direct display of our obedience and commitment to Him.
God does not choose to step out of our lives. We make that choice. We put Him on the shelf or in the junk closet with all our other junk. He does not belong there, and we will not experience His presence and Power until we follow the steps for restoration and put Him back where He belongs.
