Wobbly Idols, Steady God

Number one sin?

• IDOLATRY!

<1 Samuel 5 > 1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

6 The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors. 7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.”

<1 Samuel 6> 1 When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, 2 the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”

3 They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift; by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you.”

4 The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”

They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.

5 Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and give glory to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. 6 Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?

7 “Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. 8 Take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, 9 but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh, then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.”

12 Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

Sometimes, it seems that God has lost, when He didn’t!

• Philistines thought they had won but God outwitted them.
• Sometimes, we may also feel as if God has lost to:
  • World
  • Sin
  • Sufferings
  • Non-God-fearing people
• But do not be misled by situations, feelings or our limitations.

The battle between God and idols.

• Dagon and ark of God in same temple >>> Holy Spirit and Sinful Nature/Idols in same body
• The 2 cannot live in harmony. No man can serve 2 masters. One will topple the other.
• John Calvin: “The human heart is an idol factory. Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.”
• Idolatry: Worshipping and serving created things rather than the Creator, exchanging God for a lie <Ro 1:25>.
• Check what are our idols: What do you turn to besides God when you are afraid, lonely, sad or happy?
• Author of “Gods at War”: “gods of pleasure” is the top idol.
• It is not that God is so bad that He doesn’t want us to have money and other nice things; but God doesn’t want money and things to have us.
• Our folly: Keep reinstating idols when they fell.
• If God temporarily allows evil to prevail, will win back more later.
• Though God wins, the ‘stump’ of Dagon still remains, so must still be watchful against residual sin and idolatry.

In God, nothing is random or coincidental.

Is God’s presence a blessing or trouble for us?

• Revere God? Treat Him with contempt?
• Hardened heart? Contrite spirit?