Where do you run to?

Still working my way through the bible from cover to cover. Loving it! Truly. I am. I would encourage everyone to do it...at whatever pace you want. I made it to 1 Sam as of today. Once again, HUGE stuff. Let me share what God has been whispering to my heart now.

In 1 Sam 5, the Ark of the Covenant has been captured by the Philistines. The Israelites are freaking out. The Ark is where God was. (yes, that means, God was inside a box. Does that make sense to me? No. But it is scripture so I'm goin' with it. When I get to Heaven I WILL be asking, what was up with the box?)

Ok...so the Phil's have God, rather the box that contains God. They know that it is the "god" of the Israelites. The Phil's have their own god...a dude named Dagon. They decide to put God in the room where they store their god. Basically, a big fancy room with a statue of Dagon in it. They place the Ark next to it. ....

In the morning, they go check on the fancy room. Well, Dagon has fallen over, face first, at the base of the Ark. Heheheheh! How great is that! The Phil's just pick it back up, maybe saying "huh". The next day, the statue is once again face down but this time the head and arms had broken off. This made they MORE fearful. They wanted to get rid of the "god of the Israelites" because the power was too big. They moved it from city to city but no one wanted it with them because it was too powerful. They finally put it on some cows' backs and sent it back to the Jews. The cheers of joy from the Jews were heard by the Phil's which caused them to become even more fearful. They saw the Israelites as unstoppable because it was well known by all other people that the God of the Israelites was very powerful and had saved them time and time again. (something to keep in mind too....in 1 Sam 7 it talks about how the Israelites started to worship other gods while the Ark was held captive by the Phil's)

The first thing that comes to mind with all this is...

"If the Philistines had witnessed the power of God and they clearly believed it was real, why didn't they just acknowledge Him and start living in the light?" They would have been considered an "outsider" among the Jewish community but scripture mentions non-Jews living among the Hebrews several times. Now, it goes without saying that the Jews had lost their minds when they started worshipping other gods.

Then God whispered this to my heart...

"How often do you disregard My power and run to whatever god is the god of your life at the time?" Ouch. How often do we turn to shopping, money, food, my husband, parents, work, alcohol or drugs, even a Godly friend when we should simply stop running ANYWHERE and drop to our knees. It takes deep personal reflection and honesty to acknowledge that we, as believers, turn from the one true God when we have seen and experienced His power, and continue to run elsewhere for comfort.

Just something to think about. Sending blessings and hugs.