February 23...

I Samuel 5-7

I love this story because it gives us a glimpse of how God works! Yesterday we asked, “Why did God allow the Philistines to take the Ark of the Covenant?” And in today’s reading we see God working to convince a pagan people that He is the one true God!

Okay … some of the Philistines in Ashdod got the message quickly after seeing their god “bowing down” face down in front of the ark the first day and “bowing down” without a head or hands in front of the ark the second day. However, it took a bit more for others to get the point -- devastation including rats, tumors, and death had to come. But the rulers weren’t yet convinced that it was all related to the ark – so they sent it to another Philistine town, Gath.

Again the same thing happened – what a coincidence! So they decided to move it to another town, Ekron, but the people cried out and were afraid! Go figure! Sure enough devastation, tumors, and death – again. It only took 7 months to figure this pattern out! So they finally decided to return the ark to Israel.

Interestingly enough – the Philistine priests and diviners recognized that the Philistines should make a guilt offering to this God of Israel in order to be healed and forgiven. BUT the strange thing is they set up a test to see if all of this was because of God or because of chance. They still didn’t really know – and the test they set up was rigged to go in their favor and say it was all due to chance.

The cows pulling the cart were not trained to pull a cart (they had never been yoked) and they were momma cows with calves. What momma cow is going to voluntarily leave her young behind? The test was set up to show that God was nothing and it all happened by chance.

God is so much bigger than that! Those cows went exactly where He guided them proving to the Philistines that the LORD was the one in charge, AND it seems that a pretty strong message was sent to the Israelites, too. Can you imagine being in the field and seeing an unmanned cart returning the ark that had been gone for seven months?

It seemed natural to want to look inside of the ark to make sure that all of the holy things were still in there – but there was one problem – in Numbers 4:20 God specifically said “do not look at the holy things, even for a moment, or you will die”. And that is exactly what happened.

The pattern of the judges returned – the people cried out – and Samuel, their judge, spoke to them. His message? Purge that which is ungodly from your life. Confess that you have sinned against Him. Recommit to serve Him only, and return to Him with all your heart. And He will deliver you.


Think about it:
Do you recognize that coincidences can actually be God working to teach something to you or someone else? Do you have any examples in your life of this happening?
Do you set up “tests” for God that are rigged to get the answer that you are wanting?
Do you make decisions based on what seems natural or based on what God has said to do?
Are you struggling today in your walk with God? If so, listen to the message from Samuel. Purge that which is ungodly from your life. Confess that you have sinned against Him. Recommit to serve Him only, and return to Him with all your heart. And He will deliver you.