Who is Bigger than God

1st Samuel 5

We come with our story of the ark being captured and taken hostage by the Philistines in one of their main cities, Ashdod. They placed the ark in their temple which housed their idol god, Dagon. Dagon a fish god who had the bottom half of his body as a fish and the upper part of his body was human. Dagon was the father of Baal. To the Philistines, Dagon was the chief deity. When the Philistines awoke the next day they found their statue on its face in front of the ark. This would have been a surprise to wake up to because the statue was quite big and also this was God trying to get the Philistines attention. He was trying to show them that He is better and bigger than any false idol. The face down thing was showing the idol was face down to the true God.

The Philistines put the idol back up in position and went back to bed. The next morning they awoke again to the statue on its face but this time with its hands and head cut off. Again this was a surprise because that would have taken time if it was upon by human hands but this was done by the hand of God. This was a sign to show that the enemy has been defeated. God defeated the enemy Dagon, just like the plagues of Egypt God was showing victory over their false gods. You think the Philistines would have gotten the picture that the true God was showing them that their god was nothing and false.

They then decided to pass on the Ark because the people became terrified as well as were inflicted with tumors. The tumors were like what resulted when people had gotten the bubonic plague. God was showing this prideful group that He was God. They passed the Ark to another main city of the Philistines called Gath. The same thing happened to the people and they became afflicted with tumors too. They then passed the Ark to Ekron were word spread before and they said, “No.” They then decided to give the Ark back to the Israelites. They were tired of this hot potato of the Ark.

God is Awesome

In this chapter we can see that the Philistines were too blind in their own sin that who was the true God. God is bigger than any of the other gods out there. These gods that the surrounding nations were built by man but not the Everlasting God. He is the Alpha and Omega who is Alive and not some idol. He is Active in our lives everyday. 

We need to humble ourselves. The Philistines did not do this but let God pass by. He was getting their attention but they did not care. God tries to get our attention. He convicts us of sin. He wants us to humble ourselves and we can do that by admitting our sins and asking forgiveness for them. We do that by admitting that Jesus is the only way that we can know the Father. We do that by knowing that He is our King. God is bigger and better. We place idols all the time in front of him. We can put the T.V. in front our relationship with the Lord. We can put relationships in front our the most important one. We can fulfill our needs of the flesh and every thing under the sun before we realize that God is better and bigger than anything. Honestly, nothing is bigger or better than God.

Doing Things Wrong

1st Samuel 4

I don’t know if you guys were like this but I know sometimes my parents wanted me to clean my room or something up a certain way. It always seemed like their way was harder and would take longer than ever; so me being intuitive would take short cuts. I would get the job done but I would always seem to not do that good of a job because I skipped a step that my parents wanted me to do. I would get into trouble because I did not listen all the way. 

In this story of Samuel Israel does something that they think is right but it actually is completely wrong. 

The Way of the World

Samuel was established as a prophet among the land of Israel. He was faithful in doing everything God wanted him to do. It all was because he was faithful at a young age. During this time in Israel they were in constant war with the Philistines. They went up to battle them and they lost pretty bad. The elders and leaders of the Israel decided they did not win because they did not have the Ark of the Covenant out during batle. They took the Ark out of the Tabernacle, where it was supposed to be and they fought against the Philistines again. This time they lost even more men and Eli’s sons, Hopni and Phinehas died. Upon hearing the news of his sons death and the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines, Eli fell and died. Then the daughter in law was giving birth and heard the news and she was dying.

If we look at this chapter and think about what is going on and how death is happening left and right we must not forget Israel’s state. If you read, you notice that Israel never said, “Let’s go to the Lord before our decision.” For them, the Ark was more powerful than God. Also Eli was the high priest and he was the one that should not have let them take the Ark. He did not make a stand, we do not see him as the high priest seeking the Lord. Everything that Israel did was wrong. They did it all the wrong way. 

We can get stuck in the action of things that who receives the action. What I mean is, we can even put the action of worship or Bible reading or prayer above the one who is that action for, God. We can think we are doing the right things, but if our hearts are not right then we are doing them wrong and doing more harm than good. We need to seek the Lord. We need to make sure our decisions are filtered with not what we think is right but what God would want.

Incorrect and Correct

1st Samuel 2

We come to a new book that comes after Ruth. The author of Samuel points us to God’s plan for Israel. Our focus turns to a boy named Samuel. He was a special blessing from the Lord to his mother, Hannah. She was not able to have children and prayed for the Lord for her to have a son and if God gave her a son then she would give her son to her. Because of God answering her prayer she praised the Lord in verses 1-10. 

Samuel Grows and Eli’s sons Disobey

In verse 11 we see that Samuel was a boy who ministered to the Lord. This is the first mention of Samuel and the first thing he is doing is ministering to the Lord. He was doing what was right. He was doing what he was meant to do. In verse 18 we see Samuel as a young boy was ministering to the Lord and he actually was wearing a linen ephod the clothing of a priest. In verse 26 we see that Samuel was continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man. This was saying that he was becoming a man in the Lord and in the eyes of the people he was becoming a priest and God was molding him into a prophet.

The next verse that we see is that Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were not doing things of the Lord. They were actually worthless men. They took advantage of the people, they took for granted the sacrifices of the Lord and they took their job as priests not very seriously. Because the boys were acting in such diregard for God and his tabernacle and sin they would be judged.

We can learn so much from Samuel as a young boy and teen. He was doing the right things and he was in the right place. It is hard to get into trouble when you are doing what you should be doing. Samuel grew, Samuel was working, and Samuel was having the knowledge of the Lord. What are you doing? Are you doing what you should be doing? Are seeking after the Lord? We can look at Hophni and Phinehas who were in the tabernacle and doing things that they were supposed to do but they did not care and handled it so flippantly. Serve the Lord with all your heart and you will not be serving sin.