Semblance or Substance

In 1 Samuel 4 we have an interesting incident. Confronted by the Philistines who are winning the battle, God's people are desperate. They are not sure why they are losing, but they know they don't want to see this trend continue. So what do they do? The bring out the Ark of Covenant thinking that this object which represented the presence of God would turn their fortunes around.

From the outside this appears (it has a semblance) to be a "religious" move. It has the appearance of relying upon the Lord. It is interesting to note that the Philistines thought it a "religious" move. They said something like "now a god has come into the camp of Israel". They were impressed and even trembled a little.

But what was really going on here? I call it "rabbit's foot religion". Do you remember those rabbit's feet you could get? Do you remember that when you wanted good luck, you would merely need to rub the rabbit's foot? Of course, it never worked, but it was a fun child's game. But now the people of God were treating their God as if He were a rabbit's foot. They thought they could insure God's favor is they took His ark and put it in their midst. What they were really doing, though, is treating God like the servant, not the Master.

The same type of scenario took place in Jeremiah 42. The people have a semblance of repentance. They come to God's prophet, Jeremiah, and ask him to pray for them. They declare that they will do whatever the Lord declares to them through Jeremiah's mouth. From the outside this appears very pious. It appears to be just the thing that they ought to do.

But when you look at Jeremiah's prophecy you can tell there is a little more going on than meets the eye. The Lord, throught Jeremiah, let's the people know that He knows their heart. He knows that they aren't really interested in doing what the Lord wants. All they are interested in is peace and safety and they are hoping God can be used to insure this. As we read the rest of the story we will find out how sincere these people were.

Brothers and sisters, the Christian faith is a faith of the heart. We can do many things on the outside, like go to church, give offerings, carry a BIG bible,....but if these are not accompanied by a heart that is submissive to God an desirous of His will, they will do us very little good.

That seems to be the message of Romans 4. Circumcision is something outward, and as good as it is if it is not accompanied by a heart full of faith and trust in God, it will do you no good.

The heart that the Lord is looking for is a heart of faith, that comes to God only wanting His will to be done. Jesus' words, "Not my will, but Thine be done" ought to be the measuring stick for our hearts. If that is our attitude we will not have the semblance of religion, but we will indeed have the substance. May God give us clear understanding of the difference, and may we, by His power pursue the real thing.