Tokens, Tools & Trophies

In 1 Samuel 6 the Ark of the Lord is returned to the Israelites by the Philistines.  The heathen nation was growing weary of the diseases plaguing their cities.  I find it fitting that even the world can tell the Hand of God when they see it.

 

What really stirred me though was the slaughter that occurred in Beth-shemesh. The men there violated the commandments of the Lord (Num 4:20) by looking into the Ark.

The slaughter was so great that they ended up praying the same prayer as the enemy - that the Ark of the Lord would be taken away. You see Israel had only wanted to use the Ark as a means to victory in battle.  It was a token, a tool, a trophy if you will.  God couldn’t allow his people to get to a place where they thought His power was only good for their desires.

 

Perhaps that is why many find it hard to live for God today.  Their desire for God ends at the need they wish for Him to fill.  God has never been interested in taking the place of a good luck charm.  He calls for “transformation” and a “living sacrifice” (Rom 12).  The world has a bit of a different view.  The following quote from Wilbur Reese comes to mind…

 

“I would like to buy three dollars’ worth of God, please. Not enough to explore my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough God to make me love my neighboor* or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy three dollars’ worth of God please.”

 

I want the Lord in my life.  Be His call sacrifice, service, joy, victory, defeat or sorrow – His will and His glory is my chief desire.  I want your presence at work in my life.  I want to be completely yours.  You see there is another tale of the Ark of the Lord.  This one found in II Chronicles 5.  The priests brought the Ark into his place... the proper place.  And when they did "the glorious presence of the Lord filled the temple."

When we place the Lord in His rightful place.  His glory and power are revealed.  Let Him be revealed in you.

*I believe the original quote reads a black man.  I wrote this for a group of brethren that I felt might be offended by the quote in it's original form.