Tues.’s Devo - The Ark Returns

Read: 1 Samuel 5:1-7:17; John 6:1-21; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverb s 14:32-33 When the Philistines captured the Ark, they took it to Ashdod and set it in their temple of Dagon beside an idol of Dagon. Dagon was the fish-god which was half man- half fish. God and Dagon must have fought that night and Dagon lost. The image of Dagon was found lying face down in front of the Ark. They set it up again and the next morning found it face down again with its head and hands broken off, lying in the doorway. Dagon lost even worse that night. The people of Ashdod and surrounding area were all struck with a plague of emeralds. Emerods were burning and inflamed hemorrhoids which were fatal in their case. They linked it to having the Ark and sent the Ark to Gath. The plague hit them, so they panicked and sent the Ark to Ekron. When the people of Ekron saw the Ark coming to them they begged their leaders not to send it to them. *** After the Ark had been in the Philistine territory for seven months, they were ready to send it back remembering the stories of Egypt when the Pharaoh refused to repent. They called in their priests and diviners and asked them how they could send the Ark back and atone for their sin so that they might be healed. They told them to send it back with a gift. Since they had rats and tumors because of the Ark, and it hit five rulers, they should put five gold tumors and five gold rats on a new cart with the Ark and have mother cows who had just given birth to baby calves. They were to put the calves in a barn and attach the Ark to the mother cows and see where they went. If they went to Beth-shemesh, they would know that the Ark had caused all their trouble. *** One thing we need to realize is that to separate a mother cow from her calf is close to impossible. Naturally, the mother cow would tear down the barn to get to her calf. This was a miracle that the cows ignored the mooing of their new calves to carry this cart away from the barn. *** The cart arrived in the Israelite territory to the field of Joshua who was harvesting wheat at the time, making it the season of Passover. The cart stopped beside a large rock which stood for Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:4). The men took the wood from the cart and used it to make a fire and sacrificed the two cows on the altar to the Lord. The five Philistine rulers watched and went home satisfied. *** God smote 50,070 men of Bethshemesh because they looked into the Ark. They didn’t want to keep the Ark after that, so they sent word to the people at Kiriath-jearim to come and get the Ark. They came and ordained Eleazar to be in charge of it. It remained there for 20 years. The people mourned because they felt abandoned by the Lord. Samuel told them that if they were serious about returning to the Lord, they had to get rid of all their images of Baal and Ashroreth and worship only the Lord. He told them to come to Mizpah and he would pray for them. *** They met and poured water out to the Lord. They fasted and prayed and repented of their sins. The Philistines heard of their great assembly and came to attack them. Samuel offered a sacrifice to the Lord and prayed that he would rescue them from the Philistines. The Lord answered his prayer in a thunder so loud it threw the Philistines into a panic and the Israelites defeated them. *** Samuel rolled a large stone between Mizpah and Jeshana and named it Ebenezer which mens “the stone of help” because God helped them up till then. *** The Philistines stopped their attacks and the Israelites retook Ekron and Gath which were in the land God had given them. They had peace with the Amorites during that time. *** Samuel traveled to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah setting up court and judging their cases. He built an altar to the Lord at Ramah. *** In John, it was also the season of Passover. Jesus went to the far side of the Sea of Galilee and sat down to teach his disciples There were over 5,000 men who came to listen. Jesus wanted to feed all the people and asked Philip where he could buy bread for the people. Phillip thought that was impossible, but Andrew found a boy with five loaves and two fish. Jesus told them to tell the people to sit down. Then he took the loves and thanked the Lord and distributed them to the people. Then he did the same thing to the fish. They all ate and he took up 12 baskets of left-overs. *** Jesus saw the people wanted to make him their king so he slipped away into the hills by himself. The disciples left when they saw a storm was coming. They wanted to make it to Capernaum before it hit. They only made it to the middle of the sea when the storm came. They looked up and saw Jesus walking across the water. When he stepped into the boat, the storm stopped. That is exactly what happens when Jesus steps into the boat of our lives and in the midst of our storms. He brings instant peace. *** Lord, remind us in the midst of our storm s that you are our peace. There is nothing to fear but You. You go before us and have conquered all of our enemies.