1 Samuel 5
Broken Idol in its Temple (vv.1-5)
Your homecourt is to your advantage. Familiarity, authority, access, influence, and support - - all at your disposal. And if the visiting team falls into your overwhelming, intimidating scheme, you can expect a win. Dagon, the Philistines’ half-fishy-something idol, had that advantage - - if it has even an inch of breath and power for a face off. But twice did it fell facedown before the ark of the Lord, even crushed its head and hands the second time. “The God of Israel is heavy upon…Dagon our god” they said, and yet, their loyalty remained to their lame, lifeless god. How blinded! Those who heard the truth and do not put it into practice walks along the same line. They know God as all-powerful but they ask from Him not; they know Him as ever-present but kept Him at a distance; they knew Him by Name but calls Him not. Now let’s move closer to our own lives: who’s the first in our list when we ran into trouble, friend or God? When we have a important presentation next week, how many hours do we spend preparing? how about praying? We say He is God but we’re still occupying our life’s throne. We call Him Lord on Sundays, but decide for ourselves on weekdays. If He’s not Lord of all, He’s not our Lord at all. Would we rather be broken into pieces before we acknowledge that we are insufficient apart from Him? Let us not deceive ourselves and think a clay is better than a potter. We don’t even own this ‘temple’ to start with.
Application:
Hard heads. These are people who have resolved in themselves not to listen, or change, and don’t care. ‘This is what I believe. It’s what I know is best. Now respect it.” No amount of persistence or persuasion can walk through his door. Mind you, even the windows are closed the moment you knock again. When a friend is so close to trapping himself with his wrong decision, it’s heartbreaking. We feel very helpless and our friend, so pitiful. Turn the scenario around and admit we’ve been hard heads many times. As adults, why are we sometimes so defensive when our parents mind our decisions? We think their wisdom is old, weak, and irrelevant. How about our leaders? Why are our ears (don’t ask me to read that again, haha!) so sensitive to suggestions and classify it immediately as criticism? We say we wouldn’t want to be taken personally but labels all comments as personal attacks. We negate everything but ourselves. That’s pride. And we do find that in Scripture, alongside destruction! Pride has no place in God’s kingdom where meekness, humility and submission is honored instead. I have to confess I am one hard-headed daughter. I am never disobedient, but my heart is not always right. God has been faithful in rebuking me everytime and to date, we’ve won some battles (we lost a few because I gave in to my stubbornness!). I’m sure there’ll be more testing and refining until I come out as gold! That’s a long walk, but a good one :>
Tumor Outbreak in the Cities (vv.6-12)
To the Philistines, God has the reputation of sending plagues. News of what happened to Egypt reached them. Maybe they felt mightier than Pharaoh and his army now that they have captured the ark. When the people of Ashdod (and its vicinity) were afflicted with tumors, they knew immediately it was the hand of God. How unlikely today. When disaster comes, both natural and man-made, we usually point it to global warming, foresight failure, poor facility, community negligence, or plain accident. Those who see God in these events are usually identified as one with that bum holding a signage ‘The End is Near’, while those providing us with scientific explanations are elevated to the elite circle of the Credibles. We’d rather keep silent right? Truth never had its chance because those claiming to hold it held their tongues instead! But just like the ark, alone and seemingly defenseless in the enemy camp, God solely devastated the two cities and death had filled everyone with great panic. For even without us, His work continues to bring glory to His Name. If we don’t proclaim His Name to the nations, the heavens will declare it. If we don’t praise Him, He can make the stones cry out! Now, who needs who?
Application:
If Christianity looks so old school today, it’s because that’s how we reflect it to the world! How can they be attracted to a living God, when they see us dragging our feet to work and our words boring them to death? How can they trust Him with their lives when they see us always lingering on the crossroads, taking all possible u-turns, and with no sense of direction at all. And will they ever submit to His Lordship when as His servants we are first to complain, last to obey, and a mediocre in all we do? Instead of being set apart, we’re one with the crowd. Not even on Sundays are we different from non-believers: we all wake up late, we don’t bring our bibles, and we rush to the mall after lunch. WAKE UP CHURCH! The God of Israel is the God we serve. At His feet nations bow and with a word, miracles happen. We should be the most vibrant, passionate, and hopeful beings on the planet! Jesus once instructed a leper not to spread the news of how he had been healed because He did not want people to come and proclaim Him as the Messiah yet. But the man was so happy he told everyone he met the most amazing thing that happened in his life. Jesus could not go into the towns because of that. My point here is, Jesus did something big for us, how can go on with our daily lives not ever mentioning that truth? Or at least having that radiant look? I say, it’s high time for us to Go, Grow, and Glow! Let it shine guyz! :>
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