(Saturday)
Well, I’ve been known to lose things on occasion, but seriously…. You lost the “Ark of the Covenant”? What in the world were you doing with it outside the Holy of Holies? The Ark is not a good luck charm or an idol to be worshipped.
The Israelites have got it all wrong. Eli’s sons are out of control. They are doing such despicable and evil things and Eli’s sin is that he is not doing anything to control them or hold them accountable. The Philistines are going to capture the Ark because they recognize the power of God, only it turns out bad for them too, cause ya just can’t capture God like that.
First of all, the power is not in the Ark, the power is in God Himself – it is never in an object, even if it is an object God had people create. These are only symbols and symbols are here to point us to or remind us of the One True God.
So the Philistines don’t keep the Ark very long and find a way to get it out of their cities.
Did you notice that the Israelites had a hard time not looking into the Ark? The temptation seemed to be too much. And so, for about 70 of them, God strikes them dead. Oh how soon we forget the warnings and the simple commands to leave certain things alone. It seems to me like an extremely harsh judgment on the people, but God is serious about doing what He says He will do. Whether it is a promise to reward or a promise to punish. The people cry out “Who is able to stand before God?” The answer is very obvious. No one – no one can stand before God on their own. We are as Isaiah tells us, “filthy rags”. God cannot look upon us because of our sin… but praise God, He has created a way for us to come before Him and that is with our Mediator, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We are too quick to fall back into bad habits, lured by temptation to do that which we know is wrong (like looking into the Ark of the Covenant) but when we repent, and ask for forgiveness, “God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.” Just like when Samuel told the people to get rid of the evil in their lives. Get rid of your foreign gods and your Ashtaroth idols. And for a time they listened and obeyed.
We don’t have these specific items, but I bet if we looked around in our lives we could easily find “idols” that we worship, things and people that we put before God. Today is a good day to ask God to reveal to you the things that you are putting first before Him and then ask Him to remove them from your life.
Blessings on the day!
Pastor Kathy