CRU

Last Friday at CRU we had another exciting gathering. Jesse Cochrane was leading the group and he started with a game where participants had to communicate a message to a teammate. Sounds simple enough and yet one of the students was wearing noise cancelling headphones and so could not hear them. It was certainly interesting to see what they thought they were hearing! After this we were given the Bible reading from 1 Samuel 4 and prayed that God would help us understand his word.  

Caleb Schmidt was speaking, and he started with a probing question: have you ever felt far away from God? In today’s passage, the Israelites felt far from God, having been defeated by the Philistines. In an attempt to get God back on their side, Eli’s two sons (the perverse priests from last week’s passage) took the ark of the covenant to battle, thinking this would help them win. However, they did not recognise that their sin cut them off from God, so despite the Philistines being scared, they defeated the Israelites again. In the battle, Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas died, and the ark was captured. When Eli heard the ark was captured, he died as well, and the ark was with the Philistines. The ark caused great panic and chaos, leaving the Philistines’ god Dagon bowing down to it each morning, with the Philistines eventually sending the ark away. They asked: ‘Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?’ While none of us in and of ourselves is able, the real answer to the question is only Jesus. One of the great themes of 1 Samuel is that of leadership and how we need good leaders. Ultimately in the Bible, we see the best and ultimate leader in Jesus. If you feel far from God today, we are reminded that he is a welcoming God. He sent Jesus, his only Son to die in our place so that our relationship with God can be restored if we believe in him. Is your trust in Jesus yet? 

We look forward to continuing our exploration of 1 Samuel next week. 

Daniel Becker 
10 TY4