Dagon Down!

Everyone on the blog, this is Dagon. Dagon, this is everyone on the blog.

Dagon is the greek god of vegetation. He is the god that the Philistines worshipped. I read yesterday a little bit about him and thought I would share.

1 Samuel, chapter 5, tells us a really funny story, if you ask me. You see, the Philistines came and stole the Ark of the Covenant. In my translation(NLT) it calls the ark the Ark of God. The Ark of God was the place that the presence of God dwelled with the Israelites. Inside were several articles that were special to the Israelites, but above the Ark is where to find the presence of God. No one was to touch the Ark. Only the highest priests were even able to look behind the curtain at it, and only if they'd gone through the ceremonial cleansing first. And the people of God new His presence. They didn't mess around. One time a well-intentioned guy was helping carry the Ark as it began to fall. He lunged towards the bottom corner so that it would not hit the ground and he died instantly. Moral of this story: don't play around with the Glory of God! Right?!

Well, let's get back to Dagon... The Philistines steal the Ark. They're proudly marching back from battle with the Ark in view and parade it into the Temple of Dagon(sounds like Indiana Jones). They set the Ark down right beside and idol of Dagon(see picture above). Then, they left to celebrate their victory. "When the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So the took Dagon and put him in his place again. But the next morning, the same thing happened--Dagon had fallen face-down before the Ark of the Lord again!" That time his hands and head broke off! Chapter 6, verse 20 sums it up, "Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this Holy God?" The next verse basically said that the Philistines couldn't get rid of the Ark quick enough. How funny...

Samuel had to tell all the Philistines to get rid of all of their idols, and obey only the Lord(7:3). We ought to too. This week I'm in Illinois for work and I had thought that this would be a good spiritual week for me to set apart my mind from the normal distractions I have in Milwaukee. It really has served as an opportunity for God to let me know of the other gods in my life. It's just as hard, maybe even harder to prioritize my time with God, even though I have more time. I idol position at work, time with friends, leadership books, and phone calls to my wife. All those things are good, but stood up against the presence of God, they will fall face-down. My life(and yours) ought to be based in the presence of God--we always say to have God as the foundation. Instead of making God a part of my life, I ought to make Him my life, and have all these other things be extras.

Learn from Dagon. If you don't get rid of your idols, they'll eventually fall face-down.