1 Samuel 4:1b–11

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp. So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they said, “Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!”

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

Israel loses a battle and their first reaction is, “Hey, let’s get the magic ark. That wins every time, right?”

Notice how this goes wrong. They ask the right question—“Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines?”—but they ask wrong person. They ask each other instead of asking the LORD.

That’s how they came up with this hair-brained scheme and lost the ark.

At the root of their hair-brained scheme is using God to get what they want. They have no interest in learning what God wants; they know what they want and they know how to use God to get it.

They’re not thinking of God as their Lord. He’s powerful and useful, but not the one calling the shots. So the ark is just a tool they can use to advance their cause. This is, of course, hilariously stupid—until we see that same attitude in ourselves. Of course we don’t have the ark to use to get our way; we have prayer.

So, the takeaway is to not use prayer that way. One popular approach to proper prayer is to use the “Be Thou My Vision” devotional. Another is ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication).

But if the supplications seek His help without seeking His will, they still miss the point.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.