As we move into Holy Week, it’s useful to remember that Jesus died on the cross because none of us is good enough to save ourselves.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8, ESV)

I’m reminded of the memorial service for astronaut Jim Irwin. I’ve written about it before, but it’s worth retelling the main point. The service was preached by Nicky Cruz, former New York City gang member whose story was told in the book Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson. Here’s what Nicky said as best I can remember – I was there:

The miracle is not that I was saved by grace. I was a Puerto Rican street kid. I’ve killed people in gang warfare. I understand grace. I needed grace. The miracle is that Jim Irwin, a good, white, Baptist kid from Pittsburgh, understood grace. – Nicky Cruz at the memorial service for astronaut Jim Irwin

Paul summed it up:

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3.5 – 7, NIV)

I was processing with Ray Bandi the recent homegoing of friend and Navigator colleague Mike Schmid, who passed on his 72nd birthday, March 5 after a four or five-year battle with cancer. A complete obit is here, including the fact that he was able to speak to all of The Navigators Military Ministry staff in Dallas in November. An encouraging friend. A good man.

Anyway, back to my friend Ray who knew Mike when they were both at the Air Force Academy. Ray is class of ’72; Mike, ’74. Ray was talking about another Academy graduate who was in the Navigators’ ministry there, Gary Combs, class of ’69.

Ray said that Gary contracted a fatal disease in his 20s, not that long after graduation, and set up a reunion of Academy grads who had been in the Navigators ministry while they were students. This would have been in the early to mid-1970s, 50 years ago, and Ray still remembers clearly what Gary told them:

Don’t be sad for me. I know the Lord, and he used me. What more could a man ask? What more could a man ask? – Gary Combs, US Air Force Academy, Class of 1969, shortly before his death as a young man

I don’t know if Mike Schmid was at that meeting, but he would have said the same thing. “I know the Lord, and he used me…” for 50 years to disciple men who are following Jesus and discipling others. Mike’s was a life well-lived.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. – Jim Elliot, journal entry, October 28, 1949.

Jim was killed in Ecuador by the very people he and four others were trying to reach, the Huaorani Indians of Ecuador, on January 8, 1956.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (The Apostle Paul, Philippians 1.21, ESV)

Sixth Sunday of Lent…and also Palm Sunday. But it’s hard to get excited about Palm Sunday because I think it’s quite likely that some of the crowds of the Triumphal Entry…

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21.9 – 11, ESV)

…were among this crowd:

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27.20 – 23, ESV)

For sure, many, if not most, in the Palm Sunday crowd were erroneously expecting Jesus to lead a charge to overthrow the Romans. The disciples were still expecting that in Acts 1!

So let’s get right back to our Lenten meditations with stanzas 48 – 53 of George Herbert’s poem “The Sacrifice.” 

(The bullets allow me to single-space the lines.)

• They lead me in once more, and  putting then
• Mine own clothes on, they lead me out again.
• Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• And now weary of sport, glad to engross
• All spite in one, counting my life their loss,
• They carry me to my most bitter cross:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• O all ye who pass by, behold and see;
• Man stole the fruit, but I must climb the tree;
• The tree of life to all, but only me:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Lo, here I hang, charged with a world of sin,
• The greater world o’ th’ two; for that came in
• By words, but this by sorrow I must win:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Such sorrow as, if sinful man could feel,
• Or feel his part, he would not cease to kneel.
• Till all were melted, though he were all steel:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• But, O my God, my God! why leav’st thou me,
• The son, in whom  thou dost delight to be?
• My God, my God ——
•                                               Never was grief like mine. –“The Sacrifice” by George Herbert, stanzas 48 – 53.

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27.31, ESV)

And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. (Matthew 27.35 – 36, ESV)

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27.45 – 46, ESV)

We come to 1 Samuel 8, a transition from the time of the judges, ad hoc rulers, to the monarchy. It begins with the failure of Samuel’s sons:

When Samuel got to be an old man, he set his sons up as judges in Israel…But his sons didn’t take after him; they were out for what they could get for themselves, taking bribes, corrupting justice. Fed up, all the elders of Israel got together and confronted Samuel at Ramah. They presented their case: “Look, you’re an old man, and your sons aren’t following in your footsteps. Here’s what we want you to do: Appoint a king to rule us, just like everybody else.” (1 Samuel 8.1 – 5, MSG)

Appoint us a king because your sons aren’t doing a good job. This demand makes no sense. So when there’s a king, and he dies leaving the kingdom to his son(s), the king’s sons will do a good job?

GOD answered Samuel, “Go ahead and do what they’re asking. They are not rejecting you. They’ve rejected me as their King. From the day I brought them out of Egypt until this very day they’ve been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. And now they’re doing it to you. So let them have their own way. But warn them of what they’re in for. Tell them the way kings operate, just what they’re likely to get from a king.” (1 Samuel 8.7, MSG)

The people’s idea was that our “king will rule us and lead us and fight our battles” (verses 19, 20). Samuel told them the truth about a king in this prescient paragraph:

So Samuel told them, delivered GOD’s warning to the people who were asking him to give them a king. He said, “This is the way the kind of king you’re talking about operates.

• He’ll take your sons and make soldiers of them—chariotry, cavalry, infantry, regimented in battalions and squadrons.
• He’ll put some to forced labor on his farms, plowing and harvesting, and
• others to making either weapons of war or chariots in which he can ride in luxury.
• He’ll put your daughters to work as beauticians and waitresses and cooks.
• He’ll conscript your best fields, vineyards, and orchards and hand them over to his special friends.
• He’ll tax your harvests and vintage to support his extensive bureaucracy.
• Your prize workers and best animals he’ll take for his own use.
• He’ll lay a tax on your flocks and
• you’ll end up no better than slaves. (1 Samuel 8.10 – 17, MSG, bulleted for clarity)

It is always thus. People like to have a king, and this is what kings do. The Russians deposed the Tsars and are now ruled by “presidents” instead: men like Lenin, Stalin,…, Putin. See the difference? Adolf Hitler was called “Der Fuhrer” – the leader – but the “Fuhrer” concept already existed in Germany. Hitler just put himself into it. The US Presidency has ballooned into a royal position of sorts, quite unlike when, say, Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated:

When [the inauguration] was over, he simply walked back. Returning to the boarding house late for dinner, Jefferson took one of the only remaining seats at the far end of the table. Given the occasion, someone offered him a better seat near the fireplace. Staying true to his egalitarian platform, Jefferson refused. From an official account of Jefferson’s inauguration

God is clear about the dangers of not looking to God as our leader but looking to men instead.

The day will come when you will cry in desperation because of this king you so much want for yourselves. But don’t expect GOD to answer. (1 Samuel 8.18, MSG, bulleted for clarity)

It’s chilling that the nation of Israel wanted a king so they could “be like everyone else.” But when God sent them their true King, they rejected him, the very series of events we commemorate starting tomorrow.

They shouted back, “Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!” Pilate said, “I am to crucify your king?” The high priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.” (John 19.15, MSG)

Sometimes I read something that’s too good not to pass on. This is from Sahil Bloom’s The Friday Five, February 23, 2024.

In 2002, Charlie Rose interviewed Will Smith on his television show.

During the interview, Smith tells a story from his childhood about his father asking him and his little brother to rebuild a 16×30 wall on the front of his shop.

The task was understandably daunting for the two boys:

“I remember standing back looking at that wall saying, there’s gonna be a hole here, forever.”

But a year and a half of daily work later, they completed the wall. Reflecting on the experience, Will Smith offered a piece of timeless wisdom:

“You don’t try to build a wall…You don’t start by saying, I’m going to build the biggest, baddest wall that’s ever been built. You say, I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid…you do that every single day, and soon you have a wall.”

This is a powerful mentality for life:

No matter how big the task or project may seem at the start, you just have to lay one brick.

The wall may be daunting, but today’s brick is all that matters.

Extraordinary results are simply the macro result of tens, hundreds, or thousands of tiny daily actions.

Remember: Small things become big things.

So today and all days, let’s lay one brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid… -Sahil Bloom, quoting Charlie Rose, emphasis mine

I wrote about this concept back in August of 2019. It’s worth today’s reminder. Here’s part of a poem from that blog:

Sometimes we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. (2 Corinthians 4.8, Passion Translation)

Again, the advantage of going through these Old Testament books at only one chapter per day is that I see stuff I’ve missed before. After the return of the Ark to Israel, there’s an important battle following a time of confession and repentance:

From the time that the Chest came to rest in Kiriath Jearim, a long time passed—twenty years it was—and throughout Israel there was a widespread, fearful movement toward GOD. Then Samuel addressed the house of Israel: “If you are truly serious about coming back to GOD, clean house. Get rid of the foreign gods and fertility goddesses, ground yourselves firmly in GOD, worship him and him alone, and he’ll save you from Philistine oppression.”

They did it. They got rid of the gods and goddesses, the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and gave their exclusive attention and service to GOD.

Next Samuel said, “Get everybody together at Mizpah and I’ll pray for you.” So everyone assembled at Mizpah. They drew water from the wells and poured it out before GOD in a ritual of cleansing. They fasted all day and prayed, “We have sinned against GOD.” (1 Samuel 7.2 – 6, MSG)

And in the middle of the revival, the Philistines attacked:

When the Philistines heard that Israel was meeting at Mizpah, the Philistine leaders went on the offensive. Israel got the report and became frightened—Philistines on the move again! They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray with all your might! And don’t let up! Pray to GOD, our God, that he’ll save us from the boot of the Philistines.” (1 Samuel 7.7, 8, MSG)

And God did:

While Samuel was offering the sacrifice, the Philistines came within range to fight Israel. Just then GOD thundered, a huge thunderclap exploding among the Philistines. They panicked—mass confusion!—and ran helter-skelter from Israel. Israel poured out of Mizpah and gave chase, killing Philistines right and left, to a point just beyond Beth Car. (1 Samuel 7.10, 11, MSG)

That was some thunderclap! Worth a memorial:

Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it “Ebenezer” (Rock of Help), saying, “This marks the place where GOD helped us.” (1 Samuel 7.12, MSG)

Growing up, I attended a church that sang “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” nearly every Sunday. I don’t know why. But the song has this stanza:

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

The meaning of the Ebenezer is right in the text of the hymn and the scripture: “Hither by thy help I’m come.” “This marks the place where GOD helped us.”

The Philistines don’t go away forever – “David and Goliath” is coming up in a few weeks. Goliath was a Philistine. It goes on today. Have you heard of the Gaza Strip? You can even see on this current map the towns we just read about: Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beth Shemesh where the Ark was taken by the cows. It’s all there and the battle goes on.

But for now, in Samuel’s day…

So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites. (1 Samuel 7.13, 14, ESV)

And fittingly, this description of God’s ultimate victory even includes the ark of the covenant and thunder!

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.

The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. (Revelation 11.15 – 19, ESV)

The Philistines, knowing that they cannot stand before the God of the Ark of the Covenant, devise a plan to send it back and do an experiment at the same time:

“So here’s what you do: Take a brand-new oxcart and two cows that have never been in harness. Hitch the cows to the oxcart and send their calves back to the barn. Put the Ark of GOD on the cart. Secure the gold replicas of the tumors and rats that you are offering as compensation in a sack and set them next to the Ark. Then send it off. But keep your eyes on it. If it heads straight back home to where it came from, toward Beth Shemesh, it is clear that this catastrophe is a divine judgment, but if not, we’ll know that God had nothing to do with it—it was just an accident.”

So that’s what they did: They hitched two cows to the cart, put their calves in the barn, and placed the Ark of GOD and the sack of gold rats and tumors on the cart. The cows headed straight for home, down the road to Beth Shemesh, straying neither right nor left, mooing all the way. The Philistine leaders followed them to the outskirts of Beth Shemesh. (1 Samuel 6.7 – 12, MSG)

I’d like to report that having seen this overwhelming evidence (a successful experiment!), the Philistines decided to worship and serve the true God. Nope. The Philistines have believed in God all along. Look at their response to the Ark coming to the battle in chapter 4:

We’re done for! Who can save us from the clutches of these supergods? These are the same gods who hit the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues out in the wilderness. (1 Samuel 4.8, MSG)

And after the Ark was in Philistia:

When the leaders of Ashdod saw what was going on, they decided, “The ark of the god of Israel has got to go. We can’t handle this, and neither can our god Dagon.” (1 Samuel 5.7, MSG)

“We can’t handle this, and neither can our god Dagon.”

But believing is not the same as following.

Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? (James 2.19, MSG)

We left the Ark of the Covenant in the hands of the Philistines. “It” didn’t save the Israelites in battle, but the God of the Ark is going to have some fun (and try to communicate to the Philistines that there is one true God). Round one:

Once the Philistines had seized the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod, brought it into the shrine of Dagon, and placed it alongside the idol of Dagon. Next morning when the citizens of Ashdod got up, they were shocked to find Dagon toppled from his place, flat on his face before the Ark of GOD. They picked him up and put him back where he belonged. (1 Samuel 5.1 – 3, MSG)

You’d think they would have said, “Wow. Dagon is worshiping the Ark. Maybe we have the wrong God.” Nope. “They picked him up and put him back.” Round two:

First thing the next morning they found him again, toppled and flat on his face before the Ark of GOD. Dagon’s head and arms were broken off, strewn across the entrance. Only his torso was in one piece. (That’s why even today, the priests of Dagon and visitors to the Dagon shrine in Ashdod avoid stepping on the threshold.) (1 Samuel 5.4 – 5, MSG)

“Today, the priests of Dagon…avoid stepping on the threshold.” A practice that was still ongoing until the time of Zephaniah:

On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold… (Zephaniah 1.9, ESV)

Round three:

GOD was hard on the citizens of Ashdod. He devastated them by hitting them with tumors. This happened in both the town and the surrounding neighborhoods. He let loose rats among them. Jumping from ships there, rats swarmed all over the city! And everyone was deathly afraid. (1 Samuel 5.6, MSG)

Tumors and rats. What to do?

When the leaders of Ashdod saw what was going on, they decided, “The ark of the god of Israel has got to go. We can’t handle this, and neither can our god Dagon.” They called together all the Philistine leaders and put it to them: “How can we get rid of the ark of the god of Israel?” The leaders agreed: “Move it to Gath.” So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath. (1 Samuel 5.7, 8, MSG)

Rinse and repeat. Tumors for the people of Gath…

So they sent the Ark of God on to Ekron, but as the Ark was being brought into town, the people shouted in protest, “You’ll kill us all by bringing in this Ark of the God of Israel!” They called the Philistine leaders together and demanded, “Get it out of here, this Ark of the God of Israel. Send it back where it came from. We’re threatened with mass death!” (1 Samuel 5.10 – 11, MSG)

Who can stand before this God? The Philistines figured it out: not us! “Get it out of here!” and they do. Stay tuned.

But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. (Malachi 3.2, ESV)

We continue with the story of Eli’s evil sons Hophni and Phinehas of whom it was decreed:

Hophni and Phinehas will both die on the same day. (1 Samuel 2.34, MSG)

For that to happen, the Israeli army made a really bad assumption. They were getting beaten by the Philistines in battle and someone had a great idea:

The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. And when the people came to 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 here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” (1 Samuel 4.2, 3, ESV)

“It” will save us? The Ark of the Covenant? It’s not the Ark, it’s the God of the Ark. And rather than saving them, its presence motivated the Philistines:

So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts…And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. As soon as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.” (1 Samuel 4.4 – 9, ESV)

The Ark might have been there, but God wasn’t, or at least he chose not to intervene:

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. (1 Samuel 4.10, 11, ESV)

…as advertised. And the death of Eli’s sons, plus the capture of the Ark brought an end to Eli:

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see. And the man said to Eli, “I am he who has come from the battle; I fled from the battle today.” And he said, “How did it go, my son?” He who brought the news answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” As soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. (1 Samuel 4.15 – 18, ESV)

Fret not. Israel will get the Ark back, but not before the God of the Ark has a bit of fun. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, don’t make idols out of God-ordained symbols:

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (Numbers 21.9, ESV)

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign…And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done… He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). (2 Kings 18.1 – 4, ESV)

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5.21, ESV)

We continue our Lenten meditations with stanzas 38 – 47 of George Herbert’s poem “The Sacrifice.” 

(The bullets allow me to single-space the lines.)

• Weep not, dear friends, since I for both have wept
• When all my tears were blood, the while you slept:
• Your tears for your own fortunes should be kept:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• The soldiers lead me to the common hall;
• There they deride me, they abuse me all:
• Yet for twelve heav’nly legions I could call:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Then with a scarlet robe they me array;
• Which shows my blood to be the only way
• And cordial left to repair man’s decay:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Then on my head a crown of thorns I wear:
• For these are all the grapes Zion doth bear,
• Though I my vine planted and watered there:
•                                                Was ever grief like mine?

• So sits the earth’s great curse in Adam’s fall
• Upon my head: so I remove it all
• From th’ earth unto my brows, and bear the thrall:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Then with the reed they gave to me before,
• They strike my head, the rock from thence all store
• Of heav’nly blessings issue evermore:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• They bow their knees to me, and  cry, Hail king:
• What ever scoffs & scornfulness can bring,
• I am the floor, the sink, where they it fling:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Yet since man’s scepters are as frail as reeds,
• And thorny all their crowns, bloody their weeds;
• I, who am Truth, turn into truth their deeds:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• The soldiers also spit upon that face,
• Which Angels did desire to have the grace,
• And Prophets, once to see, but found no place:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Thus trimmed, forth they bring me to the rout,
• Who Crucify him, cry with one strong shout.
• God holds his peace at man, and man cries out:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?  –“The Sacrifice” by George Herbert, stanzas 38 – 47.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. (Matthew 27.27 – 30, ESV)

PS It’s also St Patrick’s Day. This post from 2022 describes his work as an innovative missionary.