Monday 11th March 2019 - Daily Reading:
1 Samuel 5 - Power and Sovereignty by Becky White
What should the Philistines do with the Ark of God now that they have captured it? It turns out that it’s something of a liability.
The god Dagon had been worshipped in the middle-east since 2500 BC and was the main god of the Philistines. Yet just one night sharing a space with the Ark was enough to prove how little worth this god really had.
The next morning, the Dagon idol was found lying on its face on the ground – an unmistakable position of worship. The people had to stand the statue back up because it could not do anything for itself. On the following morning, the statue was once again lying on the ground, but this time, its head and hands – symbols of authority and power – were sheared off it.
This was a demonstration of the Lord’s power and sovereignty. The Philistines recognised it as such, knowing that the Lord was more powerful than Dagon. Yet, they did not turn to the Lord. Their response instead was to cling to their old ways, and send the Ark – and the Lord – away.
All the troubles that follow for the Philistines, all the tumours and the pain and the fear, are all avoidable. The Philistines have seen the power of God. They have seen that the Lord is more powerful than the god that they worship. If they had turned to the Lord, and worshipped him instead, and returned to Ark to its rightful place, surely things would have been very different for them as a people.
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” (Jonah 2:8) Our idols may not be statues or images of gods; they might not be as easy to recognise as Dagon of the Philistines, but in just the same way, if we cling to lesser gods, we turn away the grace, the favour, and the blessing of God. May God reveal to us those things that are taking his place in our hearts and lives.