Do we unknowingly treat God as a vending machine – that if we fulfil certain conditions and then God will be certain to give us some form of blessing? Do we think that if we only pray hard enough, serve long enough, be devoted enough, evangelise enough, that God should (maybe even be obligated to!) answer our prayers and requests to him?

That was how the Israelites were treating God in the first half of 1 Samuel 4. They were in a battle against the Philistines (and it won’t be the last time). They were losing the battle and decided to bring the ark of the covenant to the battlefield, thinking that God will be with them this time. They lost and the ark was captured. Hophni and Phinehas were killed. This was God fulfilling his judgement mentioned in the previous chapter. When news of that devastating battle reached Eli, he collapsed and died. Then the wife of Phinehas gave birth to their son, in which she also died, she named their son “Ichabod”, meaning God’s glory has departed. The