Day 23- Biblical Soap Opera
So I starting reading 1 Samuel chapter
4 today and things got a little crazy so I kept reading,
and then they got crazier. I was so caught up in the
story I read through chapter 7 just to see where it
was going!
In chapter 4 the Israelites were defeated
by the Philistines. In their victory, the Philistines
took for a trophy Israel’s most prized possession-
the ark of the covenant of God. During this whole
time, Samuel’s first prophecy unfolds, killing
both of the priest Eli’s sons, then Eli, then
Eli’s daughter-in-law as she gave birth to a
son. At this point, I thought I was reading a script
from Days of Our Lives! Talk about drama…
In chapter 5 the Philistines take the
ark to a city called Ashdod and leave it next to a
statue of a god they worshipped that was thought to
control weather and fertility of the land. The next
morning they find the statue of their god fallen on
its face before the ark of the Lord- like it was worshipping
God. They set the statue up right and the next morning
the statue has fallen again, but this time the head
and hands of the statue had broken off. Then everyone
started getting tumors and swellings. At this point,
the Philistines were freaked out and decided to move
the ark to a different city- Gath. Then all the people
of Gath broke out with these tumors. So again, they
moved the ark, this time to Ekron.
By this time the people of Ekron knew
what had been happening, and as the ark came into
the city, all the people started panicking and screaming
that the ark of God was brought there to kill everyone.
In this city many men died, and those who didn’t
were also stricken with tumors. With no other options,
the leaders of the Philistines decide it’s time
to take the ark of God back to Israel so it doesn’t
continue to kill all of their people.
But wait… there’s more!
Like any good soap opera, there must be an unexpected
twist!
In chapter 6, the Philistines, remembering
the plagues that God caused on Pharaoh and the Egyptians
and the amazing salvation of the Israelites, send
gifts back with the ark hoping that God will see that
the people recognize Him as the source of the plagues
to their people and it might be some kind of compensation
for capturing the ark. Then to make sure that their
guess is right and everything had been a judgment
from God, they fashion the ark to a new cart and some
cows. These cows had never been yoked, so that was
to show special reverence and also a test. They hid
the cows’ calves away and the natural inclination
of the cow would be to go back to the calves. But
when they let the cows go, they went right down the
road to Beth Shemesh.
When the ark first arrives there, I’m
thinking, alright, it’s finally back where it
should be. I mean, the people rejoiced when they saw
it, they were Levites (one of the 12 tribes of Israel,
the tribe where the priests come from, and the people
who are allowed to handle the ark), and they started
making sacrifices to the Lord the same day. Jackpot
right? Here it comes… some of the men dared
to look into the ark which directly violated Mosaic
Law and showed a lack of reverence for God. So, God
took them out.
At this point I was just blown away.
I thought this is where the ark is supposed to be,
what is God doing?! I think the people left in Beth
Shemesh were thinking the same thing because out of
fear and frustration, they were asking who would be
able to take it from them now?
I had to know where this was going,
so I kept reading into chapter 7. The men of Kirjath
Jearim came and took the ark and set apart Eleazar
only to take care of the ark. 20 years later, Samuel
spoke to the people giving me an answer to this crazy
drama. This is what he says,
“If you return to the
Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign
gods from among you, and prepare your hearts for the
Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you
from the hand of the Philistines.”
The people of Israel listened and obeyed.
God restored them and there was peace. Wow. All of
that drama because they were worshipping idols. God
says that we should love Him with all our heart, mind
and soul and put nothing before Him. When we do that
everything else falls into place. But apparently it’s
really easy to fall into idol worship, and things
can fall apart quickly when we do.
So what’s an idol and how do I
avoid worshipping it? An idol is sometimes defined
as a false god represented by a symbol of an object.
But that’s just part of the definition. The
core meaning of the word “idol” is an
object of extreme devotion. Yes from
there sometimes people make statues or pictures of
those objects or people, but it doesn’t even
have to be a person. An object of extreme
devotion. The first thing that pops into
my head is diving. I can’t tell you how many
times that has taken front and center of my life sucking
out all of my devotion, time, thoughts and effort.
It’s not that diving is bad or I shouldn’t
be doing it, it’s the fact that I placed it
before God in my life. For some people it might be
school or a job. Maybe it’s a movie star or
famous singer that you desperately want to be like.
Anything that becomes the center of your life, anything
that you place without question in position number
one ahead of God is an idol.
The point here is not to stop striving
to be better at things or admiring something good
about someone. The point is to make sure that God
is first and foremost. Spending quality time talking,
reading and listening to Him daily will definitely
keep Him in that number one spot.
Lord,
Thank You for showing me that I need You to be number
One in my life! Please strengthen me and help me persevere
to know You more and every day make the decision to
put You first.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
