Read: 1 Samuel 5:1-7:17; John 6:1-21; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverbs 14:32-33
The Philistines had taken the ark and placed it in their temple, in Ashdod right next to Dagon, the fish god. Every night God and the spirit of Dagon would have a war and Dagon always lost. The last night God made his point and beat Dagon up so badly he decapitated him and took off his hands and once again he was found on the ground. The people finally realized that the ark was no match for Dagon. Also, all the people were being plagued with tumors in their groin and rats. They connected the dots and decided it was time to get rid of the ark.
They sent it to Gath and the same thing happened so they sent the ark to Ekron. Everywhere the ark went brought panic and tumors. The people of Ekron devised a plan to send the ark back to the Israelites. They offered guilt offerings of 5 golden tumors and 5 golden rats. - one for each city the ark had visited. They took two mother cows who had just had calves and separated them. The ark was put on a cart and tied to the mother cows. If the cows took the road to Israel, they would know that the plagues were because of the ark. This would take a miracle because mother cows would naturally go crazy getting back to their calves. Also, how would a cow know the way to Israel except he was lead by the Holy Spirit?
That is exactly what happened. They went straight to Israel and entered the field in Beth Shemesh while they were harvesting their wheat. That tells me it was the time of Pentecost. How appropriate that the Spirit of God in the box would come back on that season. The people foolishly opened the ark and took the things out to worship them. Over 50,000 of them were struck down by God because they handled the holy things of God so thoughtlessly.
The ark was taken to Kiriath Jearim to be taken care of by Abimadab. It stayed there for 20 years while Israel repented and turned back to the Lord. They met at Mizpah to have Samuel sacrifice and pray for their sins. The Philistines heard they were all at Mizpah and came to attack them. The people of Israel told Samuel to keep sacrificing because God was their only hope. Because they put God above their own safety, God took care of them. He roared from heaven and put the Philistines in such a panic that they ran. The people of Israel were able to chase them and defeat them.
Samuel erected a stone to memorialize the fact that God was now their help. Samuel was Israel’s prophet and judge. He traveled the land but his home was in Ramah.
In John, Jesus did two huge miracles. He fed 5,000 Israelites with five small barley loaves and two small fish. When everyone was finished there were 12 baskets left over. Then he sent his disciples across the lake to the Gentile side. Halfway across they encountered a huge storm. Jesus came walking on the water and when he stepped into their boat, the storm stopped and they were immediately on the other side.
Jesus wanted his disciples to know that there is no obstacle that he can’t overcome. If he has to create more food, he can do that. If he needs to calm our storms, he can do that. None of these were a process but an instant in time. God is going to do these kind of miracles through us. We just need to believe.
Lord, help us to reach out and believe the impossible. You are so ready to act on our behalf to show your glory to the world.
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