August 3, 2023

No god can stand before God, nor can people against His will.

1 Samuel 5

Noah Roby
Thursday's Devo

August 3, 2023

Thursday's Devo

August 3, 2023

Thursday's Devo

August 3, 2023

Thursday's Devo

August 3, 2023

Big Idea

Outward appearances can be deceiving. God looks at the heart.

Key Verse | 1 Samuel 5:11

They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people." For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there.

1 Samuel 5

The Philistines and the Ark

1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

6 The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had brought it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” 11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

S2:149 1 Samuel 5

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Dive Deeper | 1 Samuel 5

The Philistines treated the God of the universe as inferior to a god they made with their own hands (Dagon). God's response made it clear who He is: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." (Revelation 22:13). 

God spoke the Ten Commandments to Moses, and the first two are: "You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image . . . ." (Exodus 20:3-4) The most important things God desires for His people to obey, the Philistines disobeyed. Because they broke those commandments, God's hand was "very heavy" upon them, and He broke their god before Him and sent a plague on their people out of His righteous anger.

This same wrath that God directed against the Philistines is against everyone who has broken His commands. God is holy, awesome, and just. There is no god or person who can stand before Him, because He is perfect and all-powerful. God comes out on top in every situation, every circumstance, every time.

At the same time, God is love. His wrath was against the Philistines not just because they had sinned against him, but also because He loved the Israelites, His people. He was pursuing them. God is faithful even when we are faithless. When we stumble and fall, God chases us down and picks us up because He loves us, just as a father loves his son. This is also why He sent His Son Jesus to earth for us, so that God's wrath would abide on Him instead of us through the cross, even though Jesus never sinned. Therefore, Jesus took the punishment He didn't deserve so that, if we put our trust in Him, we won't get the punishment we do deserve. We will be saved from hell and spend eternity with God in heaven. And we will be justified before Him.

God has called you to share this gospel (Mark 16:15). Don't let awkwardness or fear keep you from sharing the good news that will save the life of an unbeliever. God is with you, always.

This month's memory verse

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

– Mark 10:45

Discussion Questions

1. What is your Dagon? What is your idol that you put above God over all creation? Is it your phone, money, a relationship, or possibly yourself?

2. Have you put your trust in Jesus and repented of your sins? God knows that we are not good enough to make it to heaven because we have sinned against Him. So out of His abundant love for us, He sent His Son Jesus into this world. Jesus lived a perfect life and became a sacrifice for us by dying on the cross in our place. In this way, if we put our trust in Jesus, then we will be saved from hell and have life everlasting with God in heaven.

3. What's holding you back from sharing the gospel? Is it fear of rejection? Or are you scared of awkwardness? Make a goal right now to share the gospel this week with someone who doesn't know Christ.

As we gear up to release even more features for Join The Journey in 2025, our staff team, unfortunately, no longer has the margin to continue to support the comment functionality. We have big things in store for Join The Journey 2025. Stay tuned!

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Hugh Stephenson

Good morning, Noah. Thanks for your devo. Love this, “When we stumble and fall, God chases us down and picks us up because He loves us, just as a father loves his son.” Q1. My Dagon? What is the thing that is the hardest to give up? I spend a huge amount of time thinking about that. I have come to understands that I think my Dagon, my idol, the piece of me that I most value and cherish is… TIME. Linked to that is BEING PRODUCTIVE, i.e., my task list and my in-box. I love the feeling I have when I have crossed off most/all of my list. Then I just add a bunch of new stuff. Q2. Repent and trust. Yes, I have. In a recent talk I heared the pastor talk about the difference between eternal life and abundant life. My trust in Jesus gives me eternal life. Yet, I keep missing a lot of the abundant life as I chase knowledge, tasks, meetings, experiences, trips, movies. Etc. None of these are bad. Yet, I am putting them ahead of what I heard as God’s call for a “quiet life of covenantal faithfulness”. To me, this is a workable definition of “abiding”. Q3. Amy and I do share the gospel a lot. But not 100% of the opportunities. Distraction, fatigue, language barriers with Uber drivers…and the in-box all pull me away.
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Hugh Stephenson

SIDEBAR- Today I want to spend just a minute asking everyone who reads this to pray for the family of my friend Brad. We have been friends since we were college fraternity brothers 46 years ago. He died at 64 suddenly last Wednesday, 7/26. He was one of the few people I never saw get mad and was always smiling or laughing. He was deeply loved by his family and friends. Please pray for Betsy, Zachary, and Addison. And for the extended family on each side. Thank you. ———————————--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For some reason this passage took my mind back to Pirates of the Caribbean. Remember Jack Sparrow’s compass? The needle was always moving one way or another. The punch line came when he told someone who asked what it pointed to; your heart’s desire. Weird. I am sure there is a good reason that has stuck with me. But I am pretty sure I don’t want that compass because I am pretty sure I don’t want to know what it pointing to. I heard a talk recently where the speaker reminded me of a book I read for a college course; the Confessions of St Augustine. In it he has a short piece titled "Our Hearts are Restless Until They Rest in You” Here’s the key line- “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” https://piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/teaching_saints/hearts_restless_st_augustine.htm
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Hugh Stephenson

It seems God wants to remind me that the Philistines are linked back to the Egyptians; like them, they want to manipulate their god into giving them what they think they want. Do they think the Ark of God is a lucky rabbit’s foot? These are tragic mistakes just like the Germans in Raiders of the lost Ark. The notes reflect that the tumors/sores were horrifically painful lesions in the groin area. They were accompanied by dysentery and vomiting. Imagine months of this. Yet, even then they did not relent in setting their hearts on “no-head, no-hands” Dagon. "Carnal hearts, when they smart under the judgments of God, would rather, if it were possible, put him far from them than enter into covenant and communion with him, and make him their friend." https://www.gotquestions.org/Philistines.html
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Michael Sisson

PERSONAL NOTE: I’m sorry to read of your loss, Hugh. May our hope in the Resurrection comfort you and Brad’s family during this temporary parting. COMMENTARY: Re: 1Sam 5:6 1Sam 5:6 (NASB) Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the Ashdodites, and He ravaged them and smote them with >>>tumors,<<< both Ashdod and its territories. How best to translate the Hebrew word “עׂפֶל ‘opalim,” rendered in the NASB as “tumors,” has long been debated. Other possible translations that have been suggested are: “swelling” or “boils” (symptomatic of bubonic plague) or “hemorrhoids.” In the following article, A.M. Maeir suggests the somewhat vulgar Hebrew word may best be translated “phalluses,” and that G-d may have smote the Philistines with erectile dysfunction, priapism, or some other kind of penile affliction involving painful swelling. Maeir’s theory certainly fits with the sudden, palpable alarm and urgency in the Philistine response. One squirms at the very thought he might be correct. Moreover, if Maeir is correct, it would make the five golden mice and five golden “עׂפֶל ‘opalim” in 1Sam 6:4-5 far more identifiable to the untrained eye. https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Maier-did_captured_ark_afflict_philistines_with_e.d._-_2016-01-04.pdf See also “tumors” in 1Sam 5:9,12.
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Sue Bohlin

Thank you, Noah. And Hugh, praying for Brad's family. Bless you for your compassion, brother. I can't think of any other incident of visual humor in the Bible besides the story of the empty idol Dagon on its face before the ark of the covenant, and I love this account! Love, too, the specificity of Dagon's head and HANDS being separated from its body, in contrast to the repeated appearance of Yahweh's HAND in the rest of the chapter. I'm still chuckling, wondering if the Lord Himself slapped down Dagon just for the kicks, or if He let a couple of angels do it. I mean, how much fun was that, right??!!
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morgan houghton

Such a powerful passage and devotional, thank you! 1. I think my Dagon is control. God has shown me in multiple different instances just how much and how I want to control my relationships and the people around me. This never really occurred to me and was so hard whenever God revealed this to me, because I thought no this can’t be, people can’t see me this way. Just another instance of wanting to control other people and even their perception of me and what they think i’m like. He is really working on me about this and I am thankful, but it is hard! 2. TYJ, yes I have and I grow more grateful of that fact daily. 3. Worried of what others might think and just fear I think, I got to lead a little girl to Jesus at vbs last week and that was a super sweet and special experience and I know that I need to be more submissive and obedient to God in that area when He gives me the opportunities!
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Michael Scaman

An irony and picture of grace will be painted. The ark will leave 'unbelieving Gath' and go eventually to 'believing Gath' The ark will eventually go to the home of Obed Edom the Gittite. Being a Gittite (a person of Gath) may be a play on words or he may be a former person of Gath for vinyard and a deliberate play on words who became a believer. He sounds very much like a gentile Obed - servant of Edom the Gittite (a variation on a person from Gath) Philistine godz humiliated, people of Gath humbled. The LORD glorified. Even the cows providentially help which would be stunning for the Philistines. David will observe the home of Obed Edom the Gittite is super blessed and goes ahead moving he ark to Mt Zion.
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Amy Lowther

1. My Dagon is money. It helps to work with God to handle money wisely. Things are better than before, but I will continue to work with God to handle money wisely. 2. Yes because it helps you feel good. It also helps you to be healthier and less stressed. 3. Nothing holds me back from sharing the gospel. Sharing the gospel helps motivate people to share stories of life with each other.