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"...Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact." (1 Samuel 5:4b NLT)
It had been a hard two days, days of severe demonic oppression, with all our old enemies trampling all over both myself and my husband. Both of us were dragging the ground, about as depressed as it is possible to be. And if that wasn't bad enough, heavy weights of insecurity, unforgiveness and self-pity lay on top of the depression. God, You promise deliverance? Where have You been?
As I sat down to have my worship -- I'll admit it was more a habit than a heart-longing...That's the state I was in! -- I opened my Bible to 1 Samuel 5. I instantly recognized the story. The ark of the Lord had been captured by the pagan nation of the Philistines. Such an awful happening! Where were You, God? Why didn't You protect Your people? Why didn't You protect Your ark?
Yes, I could definitely relate to how Israel must have been feeling...
And as if capturing the ark wasn't enough, chapter 5 of 1 Samuel goes on to tell how the Philistines placed this holy item of the One True God, the place where He dwelt among His people, in the worst of all places: Not only in the temple of their false god, Dagon, but that holy, holy box was put right beside Dagon's vile statue (See Vs. 2)! What an outrage! God, why didn't You deliver Your people? If not for their sake, then for Your own! Where were You?
And this was exactly how I felt as well. Not only were we both overcome with depression, but also the vile demons of self-pity and insecurity and unforgiveness!
But that was not the complete story, was it? Vs. 3 tells us that the first night spent in Dagon's temple, the statue of the false god ended up on the floor, face down before the ark of God: "Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord!" (1 Samuel 5:4 NLT)! And the very next night the same thing happened, only this time Dagon's hands and head broke off and were thrown almost all the way out of the room: "This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway." (1 Samuel 5:4b NLT)! And the trouble wasn't only confined to "poor" Dagon. All of the people in the city of Ashdod got sick with some kind of tumours:"Then the Lord’s heavy hand struck the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors." (Vs. 6). And when the ark was moved to Gath, the same thing happened again: "But when the Ark arrived at Gath, the Lord’s heavy hand fell on its men, young and old; he struck them with a plague of tumors, and there was a great panic." (Vs. 9)!
God does know how to protect Himself, and no matter what, He is stronger than the enemy!
But why did He allow the ark to be taken in the first place? Why couldn't some of these protective miracles have happened when the ark was taken in the first place? Then maybe the ark wouldn't have been captured at all, and this entire story could have had a totally different ending! And God, while You are trying to explain that to me, can You also tell me why You didn't protect and deliver my husband and I from the oppression of depression, insecurity, unforgiveness and self-pity as well?
But wait. Just why was the ark captured?
When we go back to Chapter 4 of 1 Samuel, we see the following: "After the battle was over, the troops retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, 'Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?' Then they said, 'Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies.'" (1 Samuel 4:3 NLT). In essence, the people were using the ark of God as an idol, a good luck charm, so to speak. God never told them to take the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them. That ark wasn't ever supposed to have even been present in that battle! It may have seemed like such a "good" idea to the leaders of the people, but it certainly wasn't a "God-ordained" idea!
So why was the ark captured?
Because it wasn't supposed to have been there in the first place! It was, in essence, "given away"!
Wait. The pivoting thing that started off my bad days... was it even supposed to be there in the first place? Should I have gotten angry for such a little thing? Should I have refused to forgive?
Why was my happiness captured? Why was I enchained in depression and anger and unforgiveness?
Because I, in essence, "gave away" my happiness by refusing the forgive and forget this little thing!
Meanwhile, though it may have been in the hands of the enemy, the ark was indeed taking care of itself. God's power wasn't diminished. God was busy showing those pagans who He was and that He was stronger than their god. Where was God? The Israelites didn't see it, but God was right there!
And as I wallowed in my self-pity and depression, God was, indeed, right there as well, reminding those demons that the only hold they had on me was the one I was allowing them. Then He placed it on the heart of a good friend out west to begin to pray for me, and slowly but surely I let go. I forgave, I renounced the self-pity and anger, and then I renounced the depression. It was like I was coming out of a pit of miry clay! I felt so free! So good! So happy!
Where had my deliverance been all that time? It was right there all along. My God wasn't disabled by my poor decision. He wasn't angry at me. He wasn't punishing me. He was waiting for me to reach out to Him. And meanwhile, He was doing damage to the devil's forces by sending in prayer warriors! Just like God took care of Himself -- and Israel -- among the Philistines, He was taking care of me as well!
What is it that you struggle with? What have you asked God to deliver you from, but no matter how hard you try, you keep falling into the same traps? Remember: God hasn't forsaken you. He is right there, revealing Himself to others, working to break the hold of the devil, waiting patiently for you to take His hand of help and break free. Oh, and perhaps some serious soul searching is called for as well! God won't allow us to be tempted beyond that which we can bear (See 1 Cor. 13:10 ), but we have a responsibility to identify the roots to our spiritual battles and seek God's help to stay out of the devil's traps!
What about it, friends?
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two adult boys, Author -- "Aboard God's Train -- A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer", Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, The Illustrator, a four-times-a-week internet newsletter, and the Sermon Illustrator website, all with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
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