This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day three together of our second week of looking through 1st and 2nd
Samuel. We're going to look at chapter 6 today. We're talking together about
God's holiness as we watch this experience of the ark of God being taken from
the people of Israel into the land of the Philistines and now it's going to be
sent back to the people of Israel.

And we're learning these truths about who God is, God's holiness. God's holiness
means that God will not be manipulated. It means that he will not be minimized.

And a third truth we're going to look at today is it means he will not be
masked, he will not be hidden. Listen to what happens in the first couple of
verses of chapter 6. When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory
for seven months, the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and
said, "What shall we do with the ark of the Lord?

Tell us how we should send it back to its place. " So here we see the
Philistines, they decide to send the ark back. But they build in a test, even as
they send it back, to see if this was really God at work with these statues
falling and the sicknesses they were facing.

They build in one final test to really see. Listen to what happens beginning in
verse 7. Here's what they're told to do.

Now then, get a new cart ready with two cows that have calved and have never
been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves away and pen them
up. And take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart and in a chest beside it
put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering and send it
on its way.

But keep watching it. If it goes to its own territory toward Beth Shemesh, then
the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will
know that it is not his hand that has struck us and that this has happened by
chance.

So they build in this test. They say, take a couple of cows that have never been
yoked, so they don't like pulling anything, and they've just had babies, they've
just calved, and take their babies and put them away from them and then see
which way they're going to go. Now anybody knows that a mom of a baby, even a
mom cow of a baby, is going to head towards its baby.

So if these cows went toward Israel instead, they would know for sure that this
is what God had done. So what happens? Verse 12, "Then the cows went straight up
toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way.

They did not turn to the right or the left. The rulers of the Philistines
followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh. " This is an example, this
is a truth that you can't ignore God.

The nature of his holiness will not allow it. They tried even at the end to say,
"Well, this wasn't God, this was just circumstances. " Many people try to hide
behind that in life, to pretend that there is no God.

All that we have is circumstances. All that we have is natural circumstances.
But God showed them even then, "No, I'm even here, I'm even a part of this.

" The Philistines tried to attribute God's actions to blind chance. We have
people even doing that today. They even stacked the deck in favor of that
chance, but God would not allow it.

He just kept showing himself. Now here, he shows himself by the direction that
the cows took. Today he shows himself by the directions that electrons take and
the directions that gravity takes and the directions that photons take and the
directions that black holes show us.

There's so many ways that God shows himself in this universe. He just keeps
showing himself. He will not be hidden.

So the art comes to Beth Shemesh, it goes into Israel. And listen to what
happened, beginning in verse 13, "Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting
their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up, they saw the ark, and they
rejoiced at the sight. The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and
there it stopped beside a large rock.

The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt
offering to the Lord. " First, I just got to say, bad day for the cows. You have
to admit, this was not a good day for these cows, but I think God still cares
about these cows in some way.

The cows are sacrificed as an offering to this ark when it comes in, but this is
not the end of what happened that day. In verse 19, "But God struck down some of
the men of Beth Shemesh, putting 70 of them to death because they had looked
into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord
had dealt them.

" Now they knew God's law. They knew they were not to touch the ark, let alone
to look into the ark, but they thought they had this one opportunity. God will
surely turn His back this one time.

It's just out in the field. It's not in the temple. It's not in a tabernacle.

So they looked into the ark, and because of that, they lost their lives, as God
said that they would. There's no surprise in that, but there is tragedy in that.
Seventy people ignored God's command against looking into the ark, and He
wouldn't allow it.

The truth is, you can reject God, but you can't ignore Him. His holiness means
that He simply will not allow it. You can't hide God.

He's just too big. Trying to hide God in human history is like trying to hide a
bowling ball in a thimble. He's just too big.

That's why you see God working all throughout human history. Jesus' life is the
perfect example of the fact that no matter how hard you try, you cannot mask the
working, the power of God. Jesus' birth seemed to be hidden.

He's born in a small stable in a backwater country in a tiny city, but God
supplied a star and some angels and some shepherds and some kings. You couldn't
hide His birth. And then Jesus' boyhood, He grew up in Nazareth, one of the
smallest towns in all of Israel, but by the age of 12, He'd already attracted
the attention of the greatest leaders of Israel.

You can't hide God. Jesus told the people once He started to minister not to
tell other people of His power, and yet they went and told everybody anyway.
Jesus' love was totally unmasked on the cross.

He was exposed before all, but there God's love was on display. And then they
tried to hide Him in a tomb. They tried, but after three days He burst forth in
a resurrection.

He could not be ignored. He could not be hidden. You can't hide God.

God will not be masked. Now what attitude should we have about this? What heart
should I have towards God when I realize that God's work will not be masked?

What's the right response? The right response is a response of praise, to have a
heart of praise for God and for who He is. We'd see in chapter 6 verse 20 that
the people of Beth Shemesh, they get the right start, but they end in the wrong
place.

Listen to what happens in verses 20 and 21. The men of Beth Shemesh asked, "Who
can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up
from here?

" And then they sent messengers to the people of Kyriathgerium saying, "The
Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your
place. " So they begin in verse 20 with this sense of awe, "Who can stand in the
presence of this holy God?

" But then they decide, "Because of that, let's move Him to a different town. "
You see, when you get a sense of who God really is in your life, and they did
when those 70 people died. When you get a sense of who God really is in your
life, you respond with either panic or praise.

Panic, this is really going to mess up my life if I let it near me. There's so
much power here, I don't understand it. I don't want any part of this.

I just want my little life. I don't want this big life that God might have for
me. Panic or praise.

Praise is the attitude that grows in my life as I gaze with wide-eyed wonder at
what God has done, what God is doing, what God will do. And the truth is, when
you encounter who God really is, you're going to have one of those two
responses. Now, if you try to ignore God, if you try to hide God and who He is,
you can act like He's not really there for much of your life, and you won't have
either of those responses.

But once you come across a circumstance that tells you that He is real, you're
either going to have panic, "How's He going to mess up my life? What's He going
to do to me? " Or you're going to have praise, "How's He going to bless my life?

How's He going to use me? " The people of Beth Shemes, they did not learn one of
the greatest lessons of faith. One of the greatest lessons of faith is learning
to fear God without being afraid of God.

One of the keys to having that attitude, "I fear God. I realize the greatness of
who He is. I live in awe of who He is, but I'm not afraid of Him because I know
that He's a God of love.

I know He's a God who is working for my best because He created me. He loves me.
" How do I have that attitude?

One of the keys is this attitude we're talking about, the attitude of praise.
When I praise God for who He is, it takes away being afraid of God and increases
my sense of awe in who God is. God is holy.

What does that mean? That means He will not be manipulated. And as we said a
couple of days ago, that means I need an attitude of servanthood.

It means He will not be minimized. That means I need an attitude of humility.
And today we've looked at, "He will not be masked.

" And that means I need an attitude of praise. So let's take a moment to praise
Him right now. And just in your mind, take a moment to say, "God, I praise You.

I praise You for who You are. " You might praise Him for one of His character
qualities, faithfulness, love, patience, joy, kindness. You might praise Him for
the things He's done in your life, the salvation He's brought to you, the spirit
He's sent into your life.

You might praise Him for the material and family blessings that He's put into
your life. You might praise Him for being with you even through the difficult
times, lifting you up and carrying you through. Take a moment right now just to
say, "Jesus, Father, Spirit, I praise You for who You are.

And I praise You for what You've done. In Your name I pray, Amen. " Tomorrow
we're going to look together at Samuel's message to the people at MizPah.