The ark of the Lord signified the Lord’s presence among His people.
Even the Philistines, Israel’s enemies, recognized the presence of God
among His people - “the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the
Philistines were afraid , for they said, God is come into the camp.
And they said, Woe unto us!” (1 Samuel 3:6-7). When God’s ark was
absent, God’s presence was not among the people - “the glory of the
Lord has departed” (1 Samuel 4:21). When the ark of the Lord,
containing the Word of the Lord, is returned to its rightful place
among God’s people, the blessing of God returns. We need to honour God
and His Word, if there is to be blessing among us. If God and His Word
are taken lightly, there will be no blessing.
We read about Elijah in his high-points of strength - the triumph over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36-39) - and his low-points of weakness - he is ready to give up: “I’ve had enough now, Lord” (1 Kings 19:4). How did Elijah get into such a mess? He forgot this: “The Lord’s power was on Elijah” (1 Kings 18:46). In all life’s ups and downs, we must hold on to this: The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us (2 Timothy 1:7). How are we to live in the power of the Spirit? We need to feed on the Word of God and drink in the Word of God (1 Kings 17:4). We need to pray that the Lord will send His showers of blessing (1 Kings 17:14). We are to live our life “according to the Word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:16). For our life of faith to be strong in the Lord, we need to listen attentively to the preaching of God’s Word (1 Kings 17:24).
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