Read 1 Samuel 5
God’s Heavy Hand
7 When the men of
Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must
not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our
god.” 8 So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked
them, “What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?” They answered, “Have
the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.”
ISRAEL had treated the sovereign Lord with light-hearted contempt.
They abused the sacrificial laws God designed for their repentance. They
neglected to observe festivals and feasts God had designed for them to remember
their miraculous deliverance from Egypt. They intermarried with foreigners
against God’s commands. Israel seemed to live with a light-handed attitude that
God would be their God regardless of their sin.
Then God acted to
revive Israel’s casual, even dead faith, into a living worship for Him. God
begins, as he did in Egypt, with a heavy-hand. He brought destruction on
Israel. Then he sent a deadly plague into the Philistine villages that housed
the stolen ark of God. God’s heavy hand indicated to both Philistia and Israel sin
is deadly, and the holy God will act.
We preach and
write often of the reality that God is love, and, indeed, he is. And what it is
also necessary to remember is that he loves mankind so much he will not allow
us to forever take him lightly. When we do, we casually see his commands as
suggestions. We see his love as something we deserve. We see the cross as a
moment in history, not a moment for eternity.
If sin is heavy on
your soul, repent to the God whose hand has been heavy to save you.
A Moment’s Thought: Every sin is heavy.
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