To Encourage You

1 Samuel 4:21-22 “And she named the child Ichabod, saying, ‘The glory has departed from Israel!’ because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. And she said, ‘The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.’”

You’ve heard the saying, “The chickens have come home to roost.”  It means that the bad consequences of some action or actions done in the past have finally occurred.  It’s a good way to look at the events mentioned in the verses above.  After years of ungodly leadership in Israel, particularly by the high priest Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas, the Philistines wreaked havoc on the nation. In that defeat, a rapid series of events occurred: over 34,000 Israelite soldiers were killed; both Hophni and Phinehas were also killed; the ark of the covenant, the sacred symbol of God’s presence, was captured by the Philistines; Eli heard of this and fell off his chair and dies as he breaks his neck; and Phinehas’ pregnant wife suddenly went into labor and dies in childbirth.  Just before her death she names her child with the tragic name “Ichabod,” meaning, “the glory has departed from Israel.”  It was one of the darkest days in the nation’s history, and it was all brought about by the leaders of Israel’s sin. 

Such a tragedy had never entered the minds of Hophni and Phinehas during the time that they were greedily eating the portions of the sacrifices that were consecrated to God and as they engaged in sexual immorality in the temple that was likewise consecrated to the worship of God.  They were “living it up,” “grabbing the gusto,” “enjoying life,” in those days.  But all the while God’s judgment was bearing down on them. In their open rebellion against the Lord, they had never counted the cost.  It’s a sobering reminder to all of us to “not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7-8).  As the sons of Eli sowed their corruption, they never considered that that corruption would find them in the end.  Perhaps they thought that because they were Israelites and known as “God’s chosen people,” God would be there for them in the end.  But they were sadly mistaken, for the law of sowing and reaping is true for everyone no matter how we might deceive ourselves that it will somehow be different for us. 

But just as the principle of sowing and reaping is tragic for those who sow sin, it can also apply in a good way for those who would take it to heart. For the same God who has told us that “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption” has also said, “but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Galatians 5:8). 

The law of sowing and reaping: it’s as inevitable as anything has ever been.  May God help us to recognize this and take it to heart, for if not, we can be sure that the chickens will come home to roost someday, as He has so urgently warned us in His Word.