Fri.’s Devo - From Victory to Victory

Read: 1 Samuel 5:1-7:17; John 6:1-21; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverbs 14:32-33 The Philistines took the Ark of God from the battleground where they captured it to the town of Ashdod. Ashdod means “powerful” but it was no match for the Almighty! They placed the Ark in their temple of Dagon beside Dagon’s statue. Dagon was their god of fertility and was represented with the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish. *** The next morning Dagon’s representative was face down in front of the Ark. They must have had a battle that night and Dagon lost. The Philistines set him back up for another bout and the next morning they found that Dagon had lost his head and hands and was lying face down in front of the doorway. (He was probably trying to escape the power of God.) *** Then the Lord’s hand fell upon the people and they got tumors. They knew it was because of the Ark, so they sent the Ark to Gath. They got tumors too, so they tried to pass the Ark on to Ekron, but the people saw it coming. They begged the Philistine rulers to send the Ark back to the Israelites before it killed them all. *** The Ark stayed with the Philistines for 7 months and they learned to fear the Lord. They sought a way to send the Ark back as to not offend God any further. They knew they needed to send an offering with it so they make five gold tumors and five gold rats like those who had spread the plague among them. They sent five to represent the five main cities of the Philistines to cover all their bases. They put the Ark on a new cart and let two cows drive the cart. They chose cows who had just given birth and that had never had a yoke on them before. They put their new calves in a pen and hitched the mothers to the cart. Naturally, this would have been a complete disaster, but because God was in control, the cows steadily walked the cart down the road straight to the border of the Israelites. *** Bethshemesh was the nearest town to the border and the cows went to a field owned by Joshua. The people saw it coming and were elated. The Levites took the Ark down and the chest of gold and set them on a rock. They took the cart and broke it apart to make a fire and offered the two cows on the altar as a sacrifice to the Lord. *** The Lord killed 70 of the men from Bethshemesh because they looked into the Ark. This brought the fear of the Lord upon the people of Bethshemesh. They called for the men to Kiriath-jearim to come and get the Ark. It stayed in Kiriath-jearim at the home of Abinadab for twenty years. *** The people felt that God had abandoned them. Samuel told them that if they really wanted to return to the Lord they had to get rid of all their false gods and images of Ashtoreth and turn their hearts to the Lord and make him their only God. *** Samuel had everyone meet in Mizpah and renew their covenant with the Lord. As they were celebrating and sacrificing to the Lord, the Philistines attacked. God fought for Israel and used thunder to confuse the Philistines. Israel defeated them. They restored the Israel the towns of Ekron and Gath and other land that the Philistines had stolen from them years before. *** This is such an important observation. When we recommit ourselves to the Lord, the devil will attack us immediately to regain the ground he is losing. For us, it is a great opportunity to not only win but to get back all he has stolen from us. Attacks are God’s way of getting us to fight for what we have lost and reclaim it. *** Samuel moved a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah and called the rock Ebenezer which means “the stone of help”. Samuel judged Israel for the rest of his life. *** In John, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem for the Passover and stopped to preach to a group on the far side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed all these people. Philip said they would have to work for months to be able to feed them. Peter spoke up and said that there was a boy there with a lunch of five loaves and two fish, but what was that to this huge crowd. *** Once they realized the impossibility of the situation, Jesus told everyone to sit. He thanked God for what they had and began breaking it and giving it out. Five thousand ate that day and they picked up 12 baskets of leftovers. With man, things are impossible, but with God - NOTHING is impossible. *** The people saw this sign and wanted to make him their king but he slipped away. *** Once again, God does some great thing and the devil comes to steal their victory. It came in the form of a storm. The disciples quickly forgot the miracle of the bread and fish and were fighting for their lives, but Jesus showed up walking on the water and as soon as he stepped into the boat, the storm stopped. Not only that but they were immediately at their destination. They not only overcame the storm but gained distance and didn’t have to strive anymore. *** Lord, help us to remember that worrying is exhausting and steals our strength and our faith. May we stand on your promises and not back down. The victory is yours!