Who is Able to Stand Before the Lord

1st Samuel 6

To be humble is a hard thing. If you think about it by saying, “I am humble” is not really a humble thing to say. We are called as Christians to humble ourselves before the Lord and that means that we know that He is God and that we are His creation. 

In this chapter we again follow the Ark of the Covenant that is in the hands of the Philistines. 

Action against Action

The Philistines are taking action because of the result of the plagues upon the people. They asked the leaders of divine people of the Philistines what to do (the divine people were like magicians). They told the people that they have offended God and that they need to make things right. So they planned on returning the Ark and also gave God 5 golden mice and 5 golden tumors (weird). This was done as a practice of the Philistines in their religion to make items out of gold and give to their god. 

“Do not harden your hearts,” was said by one of the magician men. He was a smart dude because he told them to not harden their hearts against God because if they do they would need to look at what happened to the Egyptians. Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and God needed to break him and the Egyptians in their pride. 

They sent the Ark back but they did it in a way so they could see if it was the hand of God or just a “coincidence.” They set the Ark on a wagon that would be pulled by two milking cows. These cows never pulled a wagon before let alone be placed in yoke. If it was not the Lord these cows would not be able to go anywhere. Also they would be longing after their calves. God worked and brought the Ark back the Israelites but there was also some other consequences.

In verse 19 we see that 70 men (some translations have 50,070 men) died because they looked upon the Ark. In Numbers 4:20 we are told that we are not to look upon Holy things least we die. These men presumed that they could and they died. They were not sanctified to look upon the greatest of the item which is a reflection of God. The Ark was not God, the Ark was a tool used to represent God. They presumed that they could do whatever they wanted but they guessed wrong.

Who is Able to Stand Before the Lord

When the men had died in the city of Beth-Shemesh they cried out, “Who is Able to Stand Before the Lord.” The same question could be said today. Who is Able to Stand Before the Lord? On our own, no one can. We would have the same consequence happen to us, we would die. On our own we are not worthy of even a glance at the Holy and Glorious God who created us. We are filled with the wretchedness sin and that alone is separation of God. I have confidence though that I will be able to stand before God one day. The reason I can say that is because I know Jesus. He is my personal savior. If you have cried out for the Lord to save you and forgive you of sin, you are able to stand before the Lord. My wretched sin is covered with righteousness. My guilt has been covered. I am able to have confidence in God’s presence because of the Son. Thank You Jesus