God our Helper

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Liz Nixon:

What did I like about today’s passage?

Israel’s enemy the Philistines have continued to strengthen, becoming an increasing threat to the nation. Samuel has grown up and is now leading the people of Israel. The Israelites are superstitious and think by bringing the ark into battle, they will win, instead of turning to God and relying on Him. They lose the battle and the ark, the sign of God’s presence with them now lies with their enemies.

I like God’s sense of humour! The ark is placed within the temple of Dagon and the next day, as the people of Ashdod went in, the statue of Dagon is lying on the floor, face down. The next day, the statue has fallen again, with both his head and hands broken off! Whilst there is a serious point that Yahweh is the only God to be worshipped, God does it in a humorous way!

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

These passages show me that God is longing for us to return to Him – He really is a Father who longs for the hearts of children, even if they turn their back on Him.

We see the people lose the ark of the covenant because they superstitiously took it into battle, rather than taking God with them. The ark is gone from Israel for more than 20 years. This made the people mourn and they sought God in response. Samuel tells them that if they return to Him, getting rid of their idols and serving only Him, that He will deliver them from the Philistines. Despite serving and worshipping other gods, God is ready and willing to act on their behalf and save them from their enemy. And when they return to Him, He intervenes, and the Philistines are defeated. God does as He says!

It reminds me that God wants to help me, He is eager to save me from the battles of this life and I just need to turn to Him. It is that simple! What a great Father we have!

What am I going to do differently as a result?

Samuel took a stone and named it Ebenezer, meaning “Thus far has the Lord helped us.” I want to spend some time thinking about the ways God has intervened in my life and helped me.

I also want to turn to God with my problems and chat them through with Him first, trusting His heart is always to help me and save me.

Who am I going to share this with?

God! I want to commit to Him that my intentions are to seek His advice first. I also want to thank Him for the many times He has helped me!