1 SAMUEL 4:1-3 – And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?”

THEME OF THE DAY. LIVING A DUAL LIFE. The Christian is a person who lives in two worlds simultaneously. We live in a physical world of sense while also existing in the spiritual and eternal world. In His High Priestly prayer, our Lord Jesus prayed, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16). Twice the Lord tells us we are “not of this world” but we live in this world. The Apostle Paul also affirmed this truth to the Colossians – “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-4).

For Christians to live a Christ-honoring life, we must learn the necessity and importance of living this dual life. Without this awareness, worldliness will creep into our lifestyle; deadening our witness for Christ. And it doesn’t take habitual sin to do this to us. All it takes is to get so wrapped up with all the tasks, responsibilities, and pleasures in this world that our hearts and minds are rarely drawn to the next. Let our minds and hearts be attached more to this world than the eternal world, and what we offer the watching world is a moral people with a little religion sprinkled into our weekly routines. This is not Christianity nor is it a picture of a life radically changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet something else will happen to us if we lose sight of living in two worlds simultaneously. And this something is significant. This something is found in today’s scripture.

Notice the two highlighted portions in the 1 Samuel 4 passage. They describe the same event but reveal a different response to the same event. It is a difference that helps us live the dual life God calls us to. Here is the scene. The Israelites were literally defeated by the Philistines. It was a fierce battle with many casualties. It was real and happened in the realm of living life in this world. But pay attention to the second highlighted scripture. The elders of Israel acknowledged there was Someone behind this literal battle. Yes, they were defeated by the Philistines, but this was really a spiritual issue. The real cause behind the literal defeat of Israel was their God. The lesson for us is clear. We are going to experience a lot of trying situations and circumstances in the physical world we live. That is simply the fact of living in a sinful world and still battling sin, but if we are going to spiritually grow through these things, we must see behind them to the sovereign hand of God. This is what it means to live a dual life; to interpret all things in this life through the lens of the next and particularly to the God who orchestrates all things in this life. Without this awareness, we will react in a sinful complaining way over tough circumstances. We will not honor God when difficulties come into our lives because we see them through a one-dimensional life. Yet, by remembering we are a people of dual lives, we may spiritually profit when such times come by seeing our God behind every situation and circumstance.

A dual life. That defines our Christian experience. May God help us keep this awareness ever before us. It determines everything in our walk with Him.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to live by faith, not by sight, as Your will unfolds in my life.”

QUOTE: “Behind every situation and circumstance in our lives is the hand of God at work.”