Sat.’s Devo - Our Miraculous God

Read: 1 Samuel 5:1-7:17; John 6:1-21; Psalm 106:13-31; Proverbs 14:32-33 The Philistines had captured the ark and brought it to Ashdod into the house of Dagon and set it beside Dagon. That night, there must have been a battle, because the next day, they found that the statute of Dagon was bowing before the ark of the Lord, face down. They set it back up. That next night, the battle continued and they woke to find that Dagon’s hands and head had been severed and were lying on the threshold. The big God in the little box had won. *** Then the Lord began to strike the people of Ashdod. They became infested with tumors. They called a meeting with the other leaders of Ashdod and its territory and decided that the ark could not remain in Ashdod because its God was against Dagon. The lords of the Philistines met and decided to send the ark to Gath. The people of Gath began to get tumors so they sent the ark to Ekron. When the people of Ekron saw it coming to their city, they told them to send it back to the people of Israel before it killed them all. The ark had been in the country of the Philistines 7 months. *** The Philistines called for their priests and diviners to ask how they could send the ark back to Israel. They told them they must send a guilt offering with it. They made five golden tumors and five golden mice, one for every city the tumors had affected: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. If sending the ark away brought them healing, they would know that it was the God of the ark that had afflicted them. *** They were instructed to place the ark on a new cart hooked up to two milk cows who had never been yoked to a cart. They were to take their newborn calves away from them. In the cart was the ark and the box of the gold figures for their guilt offering. If the cows obediently and peacefully carried the ark to Israel, they would know that it was the Lord who had done this to them. *** A milk cow would never let his calf be taken from him without a struggle, so the miracle was that these milk cows walked peacefully to Israel. As the five lords of the Philistines watched, the cows took the ark straight to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there beside a great stone. Joshua’s men split up the wood from the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering. *** Joshua stood for God who was there to offer the sacrifice for the sins of the Philistines and the Jews. The cows were Jesus who willingly gave up himself to be the sacrifice. The cart was the cross, the vehicle of salvation, and the stone was the Spirit of the Lord - the testimony. *** Seventy of Joshua’s men were struck down because they looked at the ark of the Lord. They sent a message to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jerim to come and get the ark. They took it to the house of Abinadab and he consecrated his son Eliezar to take charge of the ark. The people turned back to the Lord for the next 20 years. *** Samuel told them that if they were truly turning back to serve the Lord then they must put away their false gods and serve the Lord only. He would deliver then from the Philistines. So the people put away their Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the Lord only. *** Samuel had everyone come to Mizpah and repent as a nation. They fasted and prayed for deliverance. The Philistines heard they were gathered there and came up against them. Samuel offered a burnt offering to the Lord and prayed for help. The Lord thundered so loudly that the Philistines were thrown into confusion and were defeated. The Israelites chased them back to their land. *** Samuel took a stone and set it up and named it Ebenezer which means “stone of help.” During the time that Samuel was their judge, God fought for them against the Philistines. They recovered their land that the Philistines had taken from them. Samuel would make a circuit every year to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah, then return to Ramah. He built an altar to the Lord in Ramah. *** In John, it was the time of the Passover and the theme of this Passover was bread. Jesus was at the Sea of Galilee when he saw a great crowd of people coming to them. He asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed them all. He was testing Philip. Philip said they didn’t have enough money to buy bread for that crowd. Peter chimed in and said there was a boy with five barely loaves and two fish, but there was no way it would feed this crowd. *** Jesus told them to have the crowd of about 5,000 men sit down. He took the food he had and blessed it and gave thanks. Then he distributed it to the people. His disciples picked up 12 basket of left-overs and the people saw this miracle and knew Jesus had to be the Prophet that had been prophesied would come to the world. *** Jesus perceived that if he didn’t leave, they would force him to be their king. He withdrew by himself and sent his disciples across the sea to Capernaum. After they had rowed a few miles, they saw Jesus walking toward them on the sea. They were very frightened at the sight. Jesus told them not to be afraid and when he got into the boat, it was immediately on the other side. *** Jesus didn’t just do miracles, he was the miracle. Everything he did was supernatural. He lived in another dimension - in the spirit of God. *** Lord, help us to live supernatural lives and be more aware of the spirit than the natural. May we be witnesses to the world of who you are.