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August 7, 2025 15 mins

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Have you ever trained meticulously for something, perfected every detail, only to have someone switch things up right before the critical moment? That frustrating experience from my high school track days unexpectedly became the perfect analogy for understanding Israel's disastrous mistake in 1 Samuel 4-6.

This week's devotional explores what happens when we abandon systems that work in favor of spiritual shortcuts. 

Israel made a similar error when facing the Philistines. Rather than seeking God's guidance through prayer and repentance, they simply grabbed the Ark of the Covenant.

This devotional challenges us to examine our own lives: Are we replacing relationship with routine? Are we carrying symbols of faith without actually walking with God? Are we trying to "switch up" God's perfect system with our own flawed strategies? 

Subscribe now and join me each week for these brief but powerful devotionals that connect everyday experiences with timeless biblical truths. Your spiritual journey matters, and I'm honored to walk alongside you through these reflections.

Key Passages

1 Samuel 4-6

Joshua 7:6-9

Joshua 8:1

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Podcast Music by: prazkhanal
Song: Whip

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, hello.
You are listening to the JesseMorgan Devotions for the
Christian Heart Podcast, episode65.
This week's devotional istitled you Switched it Up, now
what?
Let's Go.
Hi, I'm Jesse Morgan.
I used to just share home decorand renovation tips on social
media, but now I'm sharingsomething even closer to my

(00:21):
heart my journey and love forJesus Christ, my Savior.
Welcome to the Jesse MorganDevotions for the Christian Hot
Podcast.
This is a weekly devotional.
I started back in May 2024, butthe inspiration for it came
much earlier.
It was rooted in a faithjourney that began when my
daughter was born four monthsearly in 2023.
Through that challenging time,god worked in ways that truly

(00:43):
amazed me.
On this podcast, I sharepersonal stories of faith, woven
together with scripture to showjust how incredible God's word
can be in our everyday lives.
My hope is that through thesestories, you'll be encouraged,
uplifted and reminded of God'slove and presence, no matter
what you're going through.
So I invite you to spend lessthan 15 minutes with me each

(01:05):
week as we reflect on thesedevotionals together.
Let's all pray within.
You switched it up, now.
What Key passages 1 Samuel 4-6,joshua 7-6-9, and Joshua 8-1.
Six through nine and Joshuaeight one have you ever trained
for something for months, pouredyour heart out into it, nailed

(01:29):
every detail, built chemistryand trust with your team, only
to have it all flipped upsidedown right before the biggest
moment that happened to me andprobably to many people as well
Florida relays, my junior yearof high school.
We were undefeated, unstoppable, until our head coach decided

(01:50):
to change everything two daysbefore the race.
It was one of the mostfrustrating, heartbreaking
moments I've experienced insports and, weirdly enough, it's
the first time that.
It's the first like thing thatcame to mind when I was studying
1 Samuel, chapters four throughsix this week.

(02:12):
I didn't expect the connection,but it's there, so let's dive
in, shall we?
We are continuing the study of1 Samuel, fyi, if you don't know
.
Anyways, now for those who don'tknow, I ran track over a decade
, elementary school, throughpart of college.
It was a huge part of my life.

(02:33):
Track is unique for me because,while it looks like an
individual sport, it'sincredibly team oriented.
Your solo performancecontributes to your team's
overall points.
And then there are the relays,which I loved because they're
like pure teamwork.

(02:54):
You rely on each other.
Every step, every handoff hasto be in sync.
It's beautiful when it works.
Handoff has to be in sync.
It's beautiful when it works.
So the focus scripture right nowis that we're really going to
study today is 1 Samuel 4, 5through 6, which says when the
ark of the Lord's covenant cameinto the camp, all Israel raised

(03:18):
such a great shout that theground shook.
Hearing the uproar, thePhilistines asked what's all
this shouting in the Hebrew camp?
When they learned that the arkof the Lord had come into the
camp, the Philistines wereafraid.
So this passage kicks off awild sequence of events.
Israel was losing badly to thePhilistines in a battle, so

(03:41):
instead of seeking God,repenting and praying, they
grabbed the Ark of Covenant likea spiritual lucky charm and
paraded it into battle.
The ground shook withconfidence, but it was false
confidence, for sure.
Their hearts weren't alignedwith God at all.
They didn't even carry the Arkthe way God had instructed,

(04:02):
which the Levites are supposedto only carry it, and that
wasn't happening.
But none of that mattered tothem.
They just wanted to win.
And they lost horribly.
The ark was captured by thePhilistines, eli's sons were
killed Eli was the high priest,remember and Eli himself died

(04:23):
when he heard of the news.
Okay, now back to the trackstory.
It was my like my junior year.
I went to a small Christianschool, but our talent was
serious.
We were competing with the bestof the best state champs,
regional champions, conferencechampions.

(04:45):
Our 4x100 meter relay team wasundefeated that season.
We had chemistry, consistencyand clean handoffs down to a
science.
I was anchor.
The last leg, that was my spot.
Our second leg had been secondfor years.
Our third leg was my childhoodfriend who had the curve

(05:05):
mastered.
We had worked this formationfor months.
It wasn't just working, it wasthriving.
Then, two days before Floridarelays, one of the biggest meets
of the year at the Universityof Florida, our head coach
decides to switch up the order.
He thought we needed to get outfaster, so he swapped me the
anchor leg to the second leg.

(05:26):
I'm now running second and mysecond leg was running anchor.
Now, listen, our sprint coach,who I'm going to give a shout
out to, coach Doreen Mercer.
Our sprint coach, who I'm goingto give a shout out to, coach
Doreen Mercer, who is and alwayswas amazing, fought hard to
keep it the same way.
She believed in us, the way itwas working, but the head coach

(05:47):
had the final say so two daysbefore the race we're scrambling
to relearn our steps, ourexchanges, everything.
I had never passed the batonbefore.
I always received it and now Ihave to figure out how to do
both fast.
I'll never forget that firstpractice handoff with my friend

(06:08):
on the third leg.
I came basically like barrelingdown that lane like a freight
train and she literally jumpedout of the lane and she said to
me Jess, you look so scary.
I wasn't ready.
And we both laughed buthonestly it was stressful.
We had built months of rhythmand now it was chaos.

(06:30):
The night before the race wewere still trying to get it
right.
Race day came, the gun went off.
I got the baton clean from thefirst leg, took off full speed
and handed off to my friend, butthe exchange was just rough.
We lost time.
Then her handoff to our newanchor, last leg, wasn't smooth
either.
We crossed the finish line infourth place.

(06:53):
We had gone from favorites tothe forgotten.
And the worst part that was thelast time really that that
group of four ever racedtogether in that relay.
The opportunity, the medal wasgone.
Now here's the connection thatGod showed me through this story
, this story.
That story is always a littlepainful for me, but I just feel

(07:16):
like God laid it on my heart toshare it.
So here's the connection withwhat we're studying this week.
Just like our coach, you know,who didn't trust the system that
worked, israel didn't trustGod's system either.
Instead of consulting the Lord,they brought out the ark like
it was some magic weapon.

(07:37):
But the ark wasn't God.
The ark represented hiscovenant, yes, but it wasn't a
replacement for the Lord itself,for obedience, the relationship
with God, same for us.
Sometimes we think that becausewe're showing up to church or
doing Christian things, thatwe're good.

(07:59):
But are we seeking him first?
Are we consulting him before wemove?
Israel lost because theyskipped the real work, the heart
work.
They abandoned the system ofsurrendering, listening, obeying
, and they got beat.
Our coach skipped the systemthat had been working because he

(08:19):
thought his way was better, andwe got beat too.
If you look back, you know, backin the book of Joshua, during
Joshua's time, when he ledIsrael into the promised land,
every battle started was with aconversation with God, and you

(08:41):
know Joshua would say somethinglike Lord, should we go?
And the Lord, you know, willyou hand them over to us?
Joshua?
That's the other part he wouldalways say.
And those words to me just meanso much, because that just
shows that Joshua sought Godfirst, always, and that was the
system, that was the rhythm, andit worked.

(09:03):
So let's look back a bit atJoshua 7, 6 through 9, just to
really give context of where I'mcoming from.
It says Then Joshua tore hisclothes and fell face down to
the ground before the ark of theLord, remaining there till
evening.
The elders of Israel did thesame and sprinkled dust in their
heads, and Joshua said Alas,sovereign Lord, why did you ever

(09:25):
bring this people across theJordan to deliver us into the
hands of the Amorites, todestroy us?
If only we had been content tostay on the other side of the
Jordan.
Pardon your servant, lord.
What can I say now that Israelhas been routed by its enemies?
The Canaanites and the otherpeople of the country will hear

(09:45):
about this and they willsurround us and wipe our name
from the earth.
What, then, will you do foryour own great name?
And just to kind of back up here, god allowed Ai, which was a
city that Israel was fighting totake.
God allowed Ai to defeat Israelbecause there was sin in the

(10:09):
camp.
Joshua went and sought out Godas to why they lost, and then
looked for sin.
And then looked for that sinthat was happening in the camp.
Joshua got rid of that sinfulperson in camp and then went
back to God to seek him again.
And it says in Joshua 8, 1,.
Then the Lord said to Joshua Donot be afraid, do not be

(10:29):
discouraged.
Take the whole army with youand go up and attack Ai, for I
have delivered into your handsthe king of Ai, his people, his
city and his land.
You see, joshua sought out Godbefore making any decisions or
new strategy after the initialloss, whereas in 1 Samuel 4,
chapter 4, israel didn't ask,they reacted, they made their

(10:53):
own decision.
And well, it fell flat.
And I wonder how many of us aredoing that, doing the same thing
Sometimes.
Or let me say it like this whensomething doesn't go our way or
we come up with a random idea,when things are working or when

(11:14):
we are challenged, we ratherreach for a quick fix versus
take on the journey that mightbe needed for us to venture into
, or we just slap God's name onit and expect God to bless it.
But the system doesn't workthat way, my friends.
True victory comes when wealign with God, not when we just

(11:37):
carry around the appearance ofhis presence.
So here's my challenge to youand to myself to be honest, are
you trusting the formula thatworks, which is seeking God,
walking with him daily, or areyou trying to change things up
for quick results?
Have you replaced therelationship with God with a

(11:59):
routine?
Have you replaced God'sdirection with your own
assumptions or worldly thoughts?
Because, listen, if it's notGod-led, it won't hold up under
pressure, it just won't.
Let's be people who don't justswitch up the relay or
God-driven formula to dab intosomething else that wasn't

(12:22):
sought out and brought to Godfirst.
As children of God, you have toremember not to just bring the
ark into battle, but to believeand walk with the God of the ark
every step of the way.
It's about the covenant, it'snot about the actual peace.

(12:42):
The ark represented thecovenant.
It was a symbol.
It was not God.
It represented the covenant.
It was a symbol, it was not God.
And as we venture and continueour lives in this world, we
can't focus on symbols.
We have to focus on therelationship with Jesus Christ.

(13:02):
We know, for example, the crossis a symbol of Jesus' salvation
or, you know, being crucifiedper se.
But the cross is not somethingthat we should look to for
guidance.
The cross is not something thatwe should just wear all day and
think that that's enough,because it's not, and I just

(13:23):
want you to really think aboutthat.
Jesus Christ is so much morethan a symbol of a cross.
He is everlasting.
He is the King of Kings, lordof Lords.
So I just encourage you toremember that and remember the
relationship, the reference, theseeking out is what's important
.
It's not the routine, it's notyou trying to switch it up just

(13:46):
because the routine of being achild of God and putting God
first and seeking him, it's arhythm.
It works all the time.
The exchange is always there.
Why are you going to switchlegs when you know that the
exchange and the relay works theway that it has been working
for so long?

(14:06):
Love you, my friends, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you somuch for this amazing lesson
and how this story of my relayjust tied into this beautifully.
Lord, be with everybody who hadan opportunity to listen and
inspire Anybody who needs to beinspired today.
Lord, please comfort anybodywho needs to be comforted today

(14:29):
as they listen to this podcast.
Father, we thank you so muchfor the study of 1 Samuel.
We thank you so much for thelessons that we have learned
from Israel's mistakes, thePhilistines' mistakes and
mishaps, and how just an amazingstory and journey is going to
come through this amazing book.
Lord, father, we love you andwe praise you In Jesus' name.

(14:51):
Amen, till next time.
Friends, love you.
Subscribe so you never miss aweekly episode.

(15:14):
Also, if you feel compelled,leaving a nice review would be
so appreciated as well.
For more information or toreach out, check the show notes
or visit jessimorganhomecom orfind me on Instagram at
jessimorganlife.
Remember God's timing is alwaysperfect.
Keep trusting him Until nexttime.
This is Jessi Morgan, prayingall.
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