S) "2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 3 When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again."
1 Samuel 5:2-3 (NASB)
O) The ramifications upon the Philistines came very quickly, for taking the ark of God. I sometimes wonder how things might have gone for them, had they not immediately defiled the LORD, but taking the ark into the house of Dagon, but they did. So, there is now the mental image of their immense idol, in the middle of their ornate temple, with all of the pomp that they could muster for their false deity, and when they brought in the ark of God. The ark was not an idol, although the Israelites had mistakenly idolized it. The ark was, however, very quickly revealed to be holy, as the LORD took action to show His power because of the presence of this holy of holy artifacts in the presence of such an unholy and false god. The LORD moved to make the idol, Dagon, fall on his face before the LORD, so that the image changed from one of the presence of this statue towering over this little box, to one of submission as this statue was bowed in worship toward the presence of the LORD, with the ark of God. In the next several verses, we see how God took a step further to show the impotence of their false god, and then the LORD began to fight against the Philistines themselves, killing them, causing illnesses, and confusion among them. They immediately recognized the evident power of the LORD, as they tried multiple times to move the ark from one location to another, to avoid the wrath of the living God.
A) This chapter delivers a very clear message: the LORD God does not need people to defend Him. I can actually see an echo of this when Jesus is being arrested, and Peter cut the ear of one of the guards. Then, throughout the imprisonment of Jesus, never once were the disciples reprimanded for not rescuing Him (which would have caused problems anyway, since He was fulfilling redemptive prophecies). But, back to our verses above, we see that God will triumph over every false-god and counterfeit religion. While I am called to share the gospel (as I believe every Christian should), I do not need to defend God. This is actually an area where Christians can (and should) differentiate ourselves from so many other religious people. Countless followers of other religions have some kind of obligation to defend their gods, prophets, or teachings. Perhaps most notoriously, countless people have been killed for depicting Mohammed, the highest prophet of Islam. Our beliefs very clearly show us that we are never required to defend God against physical threats, with physical defenses. Furthermore, we are admonished to remember that we do not fight against flesh and blood, anyway, because the real foe is satan. The real fight is spiritual. Whether physical or spiritual, God does not need us to defend Him.
P) Father, You are supremely powerful. You are able, whenever it pleases You, to reveal Yourself in victorious power over all of Your enemies. Throughout time, You have fought physically, on behalf of Yourself or Your people. You are fully capable of avenging any wrongdoing, and every blasphemy. You are holy, sovereign, all-knowing, and all-powerful. Be glorified, and direct me to obedience in what You do require from me. Help me remain humble, to allow You to handle everything else. Let Your will be done. In Jesus's name I pray. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment