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Monday, July 5, 2010

Glory to God (1 Sam 4-7)

When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod, it brought tumors upon the people at the city and their god Dagon fell downward before the ark. So they brought the ark around, to other cities, but tumors came upon all of them, so they cried. So they knew that they had to do something about dishonoring God!

'And they said, "What is the guilt offering that we shall return to Him?"... So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps He will lighten His hand from off you and your gods and your land.'

So they took the ark of the Lord and box of the guilt offerings (five golden tumors and give golden mice) upon the cart and sent it off with two milk cows pulling it to wherever they go. They thought that the cows mightn't carry the cart toward its own land, but they were wrong! The milk cows carried it toward its own land, to Beth-shemesh. Even God handled those two milk cows and herd them toward the ark's home. So the Philistines returned home knowing that all glory must be given to God although they don't worship the same God!

Even the enemies of God realized that they have to give the glory to God. So they gave the guilt offerings toward a 'foreign' God. Since they do not know God, our God is like a foreign God to them. But those of us who already know our God, who dwells in us through Jesus Christ, wouldn't have a hard time to give the glory to God, don't we? Maybe it is easy for us to give glory to ourselves because He dwells in us through Jesus Christ so we started exalt ourselves and realized that we are making ourselves like those gods. So like those Philistines, we got to recognize that it is God who carried us and changed us, not us.

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