Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.
1 Samuel 5:1-5
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Chapter 4 of 1st Samuel documented two confrontations between the Israelites and Philistines. You’ll recall that the Philistines soundly defeated Israel in their first battle and so the Israelites sent the ark of God ahead of their forces in the second battle thinking the ark alone would bring them victory. You’ll remember that disaster followed as 30,000 foot soldiers were killed along with Eli’s two sons. Further, the Philistines captured the ark of God and took it to their camp. It’s at that point that we begin in Chapter 5.
The Philistines were obviously feeling very confident after their consecutive wins over Israel and it’s also obvious that they felt their gods had delivered them to victory. Specifically, we see in our scripture where the ark was carried into the temple of the Philistine God Dagon and set beside the idol. The Philistines who had once feared the God of Israel now placed the ark of God before their false god as if their god had triumphed. They were wrong.
For we read that “when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day”, they found their idol Dagon “fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord!” Not realizing what had happened…that their god was put in its proper place, bowing before the one true God, the God of Israel…the people of Ashdod “took Dagon and put him back in his place”. But the next morning “when they rose”, they found the idol Dagon fallen again on its face “before the ark of the Lord” only this time “his head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold” with only his body remaining”. God had told Israel that there would be no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3) and He made good on His word placing the idol Dagon where it belonged, bowing before Him. As we will soon see, the Philistine people would be next.
The Philistines had erred by placing God second to their own god. God asserted Himself to His rightful place, above all things.
Too often, we make the same mistake, placing God second in our lives as well. We seem to be easily distracted by the events of life that seem to always want to steal away our time and talent. So we are forced into constantly having to prioritize things and when we do, we take the wrong approach to prioritizing God in our lives.
This is because we tend to try and fit God in after we have set the rest of our schedule for any one day. After we have run to and fro all day, we too often try to get to God after things have settled down…and too often at that point, we are too tired to properly give God our best. Too often still, we just put God off until the next day and, in doing so, we squeeze God out of our life, allowing everything else to out rank Him. Maybe you can relate to this.
Now wonder how God must feel about that kind of attitude. The God who has given us everything and only wants the best for us…the God who gave His Son as a living sacrifice for you and I so we might not perish from our sins but instead have the opportunity for eternal life…that God who gave us His best first deserves far better than us making Him second to anything in our lives.
Friends, we need to get our priorities in order of God will put them there for us. If we don’t come before Him first with our face on the ground in homage to His almighty power and holiness, He will most certainly bring us there, just as He did Dagon. And if we resist this and insist that other things will remain above Him, then God might just break apart things that we place over Him, just as He did the idol Dagon the second time He placed the idol prostrate before the ark.
Yes, there is nothing and no one greater than our God, the Maker of heaven and earth, our Creator. It’s time we place Him where He belongs in the order of our lives. Always first and receiving our best…our first fruits…now and forever more. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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