There is a story told in 1 Samuel 4 about the defeat of Israel by the Philistines. They had sent out the Ark of the Covenant with the army thinking it would give them special favor with God and that He would guarantee their defeat of the Philistines. But that didn’t happen. You see, they had gone out without seeking God. The short of the story is that they were defeated and Eli, the High Priest and Judge of Israel at the time, fell over backwards when he got the news of the capture of the Ark and because he was a very heavy man, and died. His sons, who were bearing the Ark of the Covenant, were also killed in the battle. One of his sons was named Phinehas. Even as Eli lay dead on the ground, when the wife of Phinehas heard that her husband was dead, being great with child, she immediately went into labor and gave birth right then and there. In the process of the birth, she too died. They appropriately named her baby, Ichabod, which means, “no glory” or “the glory has departed.” How would you like to go through life with that hanging over your head?
For this message I want to do something I rarely do. I’m going to take that out of context a bit for the sake of the point I feel led to make. Can you imagine going through public school with a name like Ichabod? I can hear the nicknames already. “Hey, there goes Ichy!” or “Look it’s sticky Ichy!” Imagine that you were either very skinny or very fat. Now the name becomes Ichy Bod! I can identify with that because growing up in school I was very skinny. I heard all the names and was teased in about every way you could imagine. But now I’m fat!
As a young man I could eat. I have nearly always loved to eat! In fact, early in my marriage with my deceased wife, Debbie, we had some friends that we formed a Gospel group with. After practices and sometimes after we’d go to a singing somewhere, we’d stop to eat. My friend would tease me saying, “you must have a hollow leg!” He said that because I could eat most people under the table and never gain a pound.
But that didn’t last forever. When I hit 40, I began paying for all those years that I ate without gaining weight. At 40 it seemed that all I had to do was think about food and I gained 10 pounds! Talk about an icky body! I went from a guy who had come out of the Army with a six pack to a guy with a full keg around his waist!
Because I had spent some time in the US Army, we lost contact with our friends for a few years. Sometime after that we re-established our relationship and we met for dinner one Sunday. He took one look at me and I had no problem reading the look on his face. Without him saying a word, I answered his question, “My hollow leg filled up!”
I can talk about myself having an icky body, but I wouldn’t put anyone else down. You see, some folks have a large body because of a gland disorder or some other physical problem that is beyond their control. Others, due to health concerns, are forced to take medicines that unfortunately, result in weight gain. I know people who hardly eat anything and still have a weight problem. These situations are due to circumstances beyond their control.
I can’t claim either of those excuses. Nope. I have an icky body simply because I made very bad choices in life. I like food and I chose to over-eat instead of controlling my habits. For my poor choices I paid with an icky body.
The message I want to relate to you in the story of Ichabod, is that many times we feel like life has dealt us a bad hand, when in reality, in most situations, our misfortune is a result of our poor choices. Most of us could change our habits and with a lot of work, change our icky body. It isn’t nearly as easy as it was putting the weight on, but it can be done.
This goes for spiritual matters too. We make bad choices then wonder why God hasn’t done more for us. We choose to not do the work and expect miracles. There’s an old story, which some of you may have heard, but it goes like this: A man was stranded in the desert. His vehicle had broke down and so he had set out for his destination on foot. But after several miles in the hot, sweltering sun, he became desperate. He prayed, “God, please get me out of here. I believe you are a God of miracles, and can help me.” He wanted to stand in faith so on he trudged.
In a bit, a man on a camel came by. “Sir, do you need a ride?” Not wanting to let God down in a lack of faith, he politely said, “No thanks. God is going to get me out of here.” After a while longer, as he was beginning to faint in the brutal sun, a man in a jeep came by. “Sir,” he asked, “Can I help you?” Still hanging on in faith the man answered, “Thanks but no thanks. God is going to take care of me.” Finally, a man in a helicopter flew over and spotting the man walking in the hot sand, he landed and asked, “Sir, let me give you a ride.” Once again, the man responded, “No thank you. God is going to take care of me.” After a few more hours the man, desperate and confused prayed, “God, I just can’t understand why you are letting me down like this.” To which God responded, “Man, I sent you a camel, a jeep and a helicopter. What more do you want?”
Sometimes we are like that. We refuse the obvious, wanting God to take care of our bad decisions. He will forgive our sin. He will save our souls. But sometimes we just have to see what He has already provided, and do what God’s common sense tells us. Someone once said, “God owns the cattle of a thousand hills, but sometimes if we want one we have to go up and drive it down ourselves!” — Jerry D. Ousley is the author of “Soul Challenge”, “Soul Journey”, “Ordeal”, “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional” and his first novel “The Shoe Tree.” Newer books include “Finality” and “Dividing God’s Church.” Visit our website at spiritbread. com to download these and more completely free of charge