If you flip back into the days of a prophet named Sam, you'll find a story of refreshing honesty. It was at a time when the Israelites were not very good listeners to God and so had lost the Ark, the one physical presence of God they had. A group of nose-picking, massively hairy men and women known as the Philistines had taken the Ark to their home.
Without any help from His people, God starts raining down terror in the form of tumors and rats on the Philistines. What happened next was incredible. The Philistines credit the One True God of Israel as the source of their problems. They admit God is stronger than their national god, some joe called Dagon. So they call together a meeting of the minds. But, as is the case with many meetings, they ask the wrong question.
They should be asking themselves, 'Why aren't we serving this God of Israel?' What they asked was how they could get rid of Him. (1 Samuel 5:7-8)
They were stupid. But at least they were honest. The fact is that we are often faced with this very question of who we place our trust in. The difference is that we often lie to ourselves. If discipline comes into our lives we brush it aside or convince ourselves that we still believe what we say we believe. We would never be so honest to admit that perhaps our faith is weak or that we may not believe it at all.
The Philistines' question was wickedly similar to the plot of the Sanhedrin many years later, when they sought to have Jesus killed. 'We can't explain it. We don't like it. It's not our god.' It would seem that our preferences are more important than truth itself. The Philistines did not wish to consider serving the God of an enemy, even if He was stronger. The religious leaders of Jesus' day did not choose to see that Jesus was their God.
Who or what are we serving? Is it God? Or does the Way, the Truth, and the Life get edged out because of what we really believe? Let's be honest.
Without any help from His people, God starts raining down terror in the form of tumors and rats on the Philistines. What happened next was incredible. The Philistines credit the One True God of Israel as the source of their problems. They admit God is stronger than their national god, some joe called Dagon. So they call together a meeting of the minds. But, as is the case with many meetings, they ask the wrong question.
They should be asking themselves, 'Why aren't we serving this God of Israel?' What they asked was how they could get rid of Him. (1 Samuel 5:7-8)
They were stupid. But at least they were honest. The fact is that we are often faced with this very question of who we place our trust in. The difference is that we often lie to ourselves. If discipline comes into our lives we brush it aside or convince ourselves that we still believe what we say we believe. We would never be so honest to admit that perhaps our faith is weak or that we may not believe it at all.
The Philistines' question was wickedly similar to the plot of the Sanhedrin many years later, when they sought to have Jesus killed. 'We can't explain it. We don't like it. It's not our god.' It would seem that our preferences are more important than truth itself. The Philistines did not wish to consider serving the God of an enemy, even if He was stronger. The religious leaders of Jesus' day did not choose to see that Jesus was their God.
Who or what are we serving? Is it God? Or does the Way, the Truth, and the Life get edged out because of what we really believe? Let's be honest.
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