Bring in the Ark!

Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
I Samuel 5.1

The Israelites had taken the ark into battle as a good luck charm, and they lost not only the battle, but the ark as well.

This emblem of God’s power, where God dwelt between the Cherubim; the ark that had led them across the Jordan, that they had followed as they proceeded on their victory march through the promise land; it was now in the hands of the enemy.

Where are the men who would stand up on His behalf and fight for His honor? Where are the mighty men who would risk it all for God? There were none to be found in Israel. We will see later in the story that the Lord is well able to take care of Himself. But it still a question that confronts the saints today, “who will stand for the cause of Christ and His cross?”

They bring the ark into their temple where their gods are all assembled and leave it there.

When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again. (vs 3)

This might be a hint… if your god needs a hand, maybe one ought to look for another god… ha! And, if your god is on his face before another God, maybe you ought to pick the one standing… ya think!

Then vs four:

But when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.

And the Ashdodites said, (yeah, you are ahead of me) “Dagon-it”. Talk about needing a hand… a he needed two, and a head. Their god had become a stump.

Please read the following with care. It is so critical to the issues of life that we deal with.

They had an idol in their temple, a god that was ½ fish and ½ man, it was unnatural, an aberration, an amalgamation of a warped mind.

And there it stood until the God of Gods was brought into its presence. When the Glory of God entered that temple Dagon bit the dust.

Now apply this to our own lives.
We are the temple of the living God. And on occasion we deal with idols of one kind or another, we have issues that need to be dealt with. Sometimes lots of them. The Psychologist and the analyst will tell you that you need get a handle on your issues and to face your feelings. Begin to work on ways to remove those things from your life.

This story gives us a much more direct approach. You want to see the Dagon’s in your life deal with; bring in the presence fo the Lord. What you will see, what I will find is that the Dagon’s will fall in light of His presence, his glory, His power.

I can exhaust myself trying to “deal” with my issues or I can simply bring in the ark.

Dagon-it that’s simple! And it’s true!