Twenty-Five Responses to the presence of God (1 Samuel 1-7)

The following are a series of attitudes, responses, results and emotions seen when people come into contact with the presence of God. As we read the list it is quickly apparent that all of these effects happen today in response to God. I have written more about some of these already, so some of the words below are hyperlinks for more information. How we choose to respond to the presence of God is critical, and what happens to us as a result depends on the way we approach him.

In the Old Testament the Ark was intrinsically connected with the presence of God. This teaches us that although God is everywhere, there are specific times and places where his presence is manifest more tangibly. How do people approach or respond to Him?

1. Weeping and despair in the presence (1 Samuel 1:10)
2. Worship (1 Samuel 1:19)
3. Self-sacrifice (1 Samuel 1:22)
4. Prayer (1 Samuel 2:1-10)
5. Rejoicing (1 Samuel 2:1, 2 Samuel 6:5)
6. Ministering to the Lord (1 Samuel 2:11, 3:1)
7. Abusing the presence for selfish gain (1 Samuel 2:15-16)
8. Treating the presence with contempt, scorn and derision (1 Samuel 2:17, 29, 30)
9. Personal growth in the presence (1 Samuel 2:21)
10. Attentive listening to God (1 Samuel 3:1-14)
11. Presumption on God’s presence (1 Samuel 4:3)
12. Resisting the presence (1 Samuel 4:7-11)
13. Falling on your face (1 Samuel 5:4)
14. Creation of ridiculous religious rituals (1 Samuel 5:5)
15. Terror (1 Samuel 5:6)
16. God afflicts those who come into his presence unworthily (1 Samuel 5:6)
17. Some people reject the presence of God and try to keep it away from them (1 Samuel 5:7, 2 Samuel 6:8-10)
18. Some try to “pay off” God with religious acts as though he needs things from us (1 Samuel 6)
19. Some respond to the presence in an overly casual and careless manner forgetting who we are dealing with (1 Samuel 6:19)
20. Some marginalize the presence of God (1 Samuel 7:1)
21. But when the presence is missing or only has a minimal role, the people lament this and should seek it out. (1 Samuel 7:1)
22. It was 20 years before the Presence was over-enthusiastically and naively welcomed back to the center of the nations life (2 Samuel 6:1-15)
23. Carelessly adopting alien modern innovations to promote or protect the presence (2 Samuel 6:3)
24. Welcoming the presence and receiving God’s blessing as a result (2 Samuel 6:11)
25. Reverence AND Dancing (2 Samuel 6:12-15)