“Now take and prepare yourselves a new cart and two milk-cows that have never been under a yoke. Harness the cows to the cart, but put their calves back in the shed. Then take the ark of Adonai and lay it on the cart. In a box next to it, put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Then send it away to go off by itself, but watch to see if it goes up the road to Beit-Shemesh in its own territory. If it does, he is responsible for this great tragedy; if not, we will know that it is not his oppression which has been over us, but that what has been happening to us has been only by chance.”
So the Philistines have decided on the mode of transportation to use to return the Ark back to Israel…
They were to take two milk cows who had never before been yoked and attach them to a newly built wagon.
However, there was further nuance added to those instructions.
These 2 milk cows also had young calves.
So the idea was if these two cows who had never been yoked before went against their natural instincts…
And left behind their own baby calves to head off into Hebrew territory…
Then that would be proof positive the God of Israel was directing the whole situation.
And wouldn’t you know it?
That’s exactly what happened!
The cows, as if being directed by some invisible force, headed straight up the road into an Israelite village called Beit-Shemesh.
When the Philistine leaders who were following the cart saw what happened, they knew it was no coincidence.
The Lord was controlling everything.
Now there’s something here I want you to catch.
Notice the basis of the test was to see whether the cows went against their own fleshly nature or not.
In other words, if they went against their natural instincts…
THAT was the surefire evidence that God was directing things.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
To be directed by the Lord and be guided by His Holy Spirit means that more often than not you will be forced to act contrary to the pull of your fleshly nature.
Just like how those milk cows acted when they left their nursing and crying baby calves behind.
The prophet Isaiah also reinforced this idea in the following verses:
“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord.
‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.'”
-Isaiah 55:8-9
So if you’ve ever wondered why it can be so hard to obey the Lord’s commands which are spiritual in nature…
It’s because to do so means to declare war against your natural human tendencies which are fleshly in nature…
Ya feel me?
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“So I say, walk by the Spirit,
and you will not gratify
the desires of the flesh.”
-Galatians 5:16
Leave a Reply