Bring God into the house of your idols?

 1 Samuel 5:1-12

Have you given thought to what happens when you try to bring God into the house of your idols?  The apostle Paul gives this insight in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”  Maybe you are like me, always needing more clarity on the subject being discussed; then go to 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

An Idol defined from the dictionary, Idol: an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship.  A person or thing that is greatly admired loved or revered.  That is close; but is it not anything, church, denomination, parents, children, money, stuff, sports, travel, politics, anything that takes the place of God?  So if any of those and so many more can be added, like grandchildren, and government, anything you run to or long for more than a relationship with Jesus Christ and the Father, you have brought the Spirit of the living God into your house of Idols.

Shall we explore how that worked for the Philistines?  First, after capturing the ark of God they brought it to Ashdod, and put it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.  Now Ashdod was one of five major cities of the Philistines, and Dagon is the head god of the Philistine nation.  We do not know why they put the ark of God next to this statue of Dagon, maybe to show it was more significant than God.

In verse three we find that early the next morning as the people arrived, they found Dagon fallen face down before the ark of God.  So they did like many of us, they restored their god to a proper upright position and left believing they were safe.  The next day their god was on its face once more, but this time its head was off and so were its hands.  But they, like many in the church who keep honoring people and stuff above God, did not turn away from a God who could not hear, nor seek, much less meet any real needs.  Nor did they turn to the only God; no they kept seeking their idol.  God brought judgment on the people of Ashdod by bringing plagues on them as He had done to the Egyptians.  The Scriptures tell us they got tumors, not sure what that was, not something that brought comfort, but pain.  Now the men of Ashdod were smarter than many in the church, who have seen what the world's gods have done to their families, and yet have taken no action to remove them. 

Verses 7-12, “And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon, our god.” So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old so that tumors broke out on them. So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.”

Why do pagans get it and many who go by the name of Christ, keep allowing the “Tumors” into their homes and families?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice