One of my favorite tales as a young boy was Washington Irving’s short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The story was first published in 1819 in a collection of essays and short stories titled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, compiled while Irving was living abroad in Birmingham, England.
Business ventures have led me to occasionally contact cohorts who actually work in the real village of Sleepy Hollow, New York.
Ichabod Crane, the fictional school teacher found in the pages of this bigger-than-life tale of a Headless Horseman who wreaks havoc in the community, certainly must have been named from Irving’s knowledge of Scripture.
In 1 Samuel 4, we’re told of the tragic account of the wife of Phinehas. Her husband was killed in battle along with his brother, Hophni, the two sons of Eli the High Priest. Sadly, she died giving birth to their child. Before her death, she named him Ichabod, saying “The glory has departed from Israel” — at least that was her perception and the way the Prophet Samuel conveyed the account.
This period in Jewish history immediately followed the 400-year reign of 13 judges, 12 men and one woman, as found in the Book of Judges. The final verse found in the book (Judges 21:25) set the stage as we’re told, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” The people of the nation of Israel were quite distant from God in those evil days.
The problem in those days and in our present time is our unfortunate perception that “the glory has departed” — which infers God has left the scene. Let us never even start to consider our Lord has departed! Granted, for a season God did not show His presence to the Israelites. After all, they were not following His ways and warranted discipline for their unfaithfulness.
In 1966, the Easter issue of Time magazine boldly printed “Is God Dead?” in large red type against a black background on the front cover. Yes, there was a substantial movement questioning God’s existence back then, unfortunately taking the words of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche written a century earlier out of context.
Let’s include his actual quote to preserve his position on God Almighty. His words follow:
“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
It’s quite apparent from these prolific words that Nietzsche was not an atheist.
Now, let’s return to the question, “Has God really departed?” Certainly, He has not! We’re the ones who have the faulty tendency to distance ourselves from our Maker. We get so encumbered with the trials and tribulations around us that we focus on things of this world rather than our Heavenly Father.
There’s no better place to turn in Scripture than the words of Jesus found in Matthew 6:33-34:
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Jesus lets us know throughout the Gospel messages that His Father is real and He cares about us more than we care about ourselves and others.
Here’s the bottom line, folks: Our Heavenly Father loves us and He has not departed. Please draw near to Him in your time of need!
Passages to Ponder
— Jim Langley has been writing for more than 30 years while working as a life and health insurance agent in Santa Barbara. In recent years, his passion has turned to writing about his personal relationship with God, and his goal is to encourage others to draw near to Him as well. As a longtime member of CBMC of Santa Barbara (Christian Business Men’s Connection), he started writing Fourth Quarter Strategies columns in 2014, and he now reaches an international audience through the CBMC International devotional Monday Manna. He can be contacted at jim@fourthquarterstrategies.com for more information. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.