IT SEEMED

Today's reading: 1 Samuel 6-10

"...During that time, all Israel mourned because it seemed that the Lord had abandoned them." 1 Samuel 7:2 NLT

Things are not always as they seem, we've all been told.

We don't always see the entire picture.

We don't always have a clear view of the entire scene.

But in Israel's case, how they were feeling may have been an indicator of where their hearts were.

You see, they had wandered away from God. Their God. The God who had set them up as His, set them apart as His, set them aside from enemies as His and set them up with a set of rules to follow as His--and they had chosen otherwise.

And now?

Now they were feeling, well, in their own words abandoned.

How do I know? God revealed it to Samuel and Samuel spoke it over the people in the following verse...

"Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, If you are really serious about wanting to return to the Lord, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the Lord;.." 1 Samuel 7:3 NLT

So whose fault was it? God's for abandoning the Israelites? Or the Israelites for abandoning God?

It makes me thoroughly and in great depth re-think my own problems...