1 Samuel 4 – 6, Luke 9:1 – 17 • Key Verse: 1 Samuel 4:3
Here’s a short assignment. Do a study on the use of the word luck in the Bible. Let me make it
easy for you—-it isn’t in the Bible. Most people like the idea of have “good luck,” a force at
work making things go well. Sometimes, though, it is. “bad luck” that gets the blame for an
undesirable turn in circumstances.
If only “luck” could be manipulated! Perhaps carrying a rabbit’s foot would help. You do not
have to look far to find examples of things people carry, things they do or don’t do, or rituals
they follow all in hopes of nudging luck to be good fortune.
That is essentially what Israel tried to do in a battle with the Philistines. They took the ark of God
and treated it like a good luck charm. After a defeat they decided to “‘bring the ark of the Lord’s
covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies’”
(4:3).
At first, Israel was encouraged and the Philistines discouraged by this act. When the Philistines
heard the cheering from Israel’s camp they were afraid. “Were in trouble!” they said. “Woe to
us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?” (vv. 7-8).
In the battle that followed, however, Israel was defeated and the ark captured. It didn’t go as
planned because God is not a good luck charm, something to help make things go well for us.
How do you regard God? Is your heart set on pleasing Him, or is your desire that He please
you?

Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
www.backtothebible.in