Good morning, everyone! Today's chapter is 1 Samuel 5--in which Israel's Ark of the Covenant makes its' grand tour of Philistine cities. Clue: God makes so many bad things happen to the Philistines, by the end of the chapter they have decided to send the Ark back to Israel! It's really an interesting story, you should read it for yourself.
Scripture:
"So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, "What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?"" ~1 Samuel 5:8
Observation:
I've heard this story before, but still, reading it again I think it is rather crazy and bizarre! For example, the Philistines triumphantly bring the Ark to Ashdod, where the temple of their god Dagon is. They place the Ark in front of Dagon, but the next morning they find him on the floor, "worshiping" the Ark! Carefully, they set Dagon up again, but the next day Dagon gives a repeat performance; this time, however, he is smashed into smithereens!
God wasn't just messing with Dagon, however. He devastated the entire Ashdod region, and gave the people tumors. Ashdod's citizens called a halt, and decided to transport this war trophy to the Philistine city of Gath. God once again brought devastation, this time to the citizens of Gath. Gath got the message, and finally decided to move this pesky prize to Ekron, and let them deal with it. But the people of Ekron had heard about what had happened at Ashdod and Gath; they wanted no part in it! So they quickly decided to not let the Ark reside in their city, but to let their rulers send it back to Israel.
Application:
The main lesson that I got from today's reading was that what God said to respect, we need to respect. We need to do what he says.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for letting me read this chapter today. Help me to respect more. Help me to respect those in authority, help me to respect You, and help me to respect others. Truly, I only want to do what you would want me to do. In Jesus' name, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment