1 Samuel 5-6 -God in Captivity
This is a long reading today, but hopefully it will help us set the compass correctly for the week ahead. Don’t miss how shocking this whole situation is, the culmination of a shocking chain of events. The Ark of the Covenant, the golden box symbolising God’s presence with his people, was brought into battle by Israel. Israel were routed and the ark captured. The newly widowed and dying wife of Phinehas captured the significance of the moment in naming her newborn son Ichabod, meaning ‘the glory has departed’. It seems like God himself has been defeated and exiled. He’s been led away into enemy territory and set before the image of the ‘victorious’ god of the Philistines, Dagon. He is scorned, shamed, and surrounded by a culture that hates him. What is he going to do about it?
The one resounding truth through these two chapters is that God, even in ‘captivity’, still rules. He guards his own honour, vindicates his own name, maintains his own cause, demonstrates his own power, and defends his own authority. Where’s the glory? It’s where God is. He still rules.
Do you see the relevance of these chapters? In our secular, post-Christian world, where God is shamed and scorned, he seems to have been deposed and disposed of. The academics seem to have bound him up tight in philosophical and scientific chains. He has been exiled from public life by politicians. He is ignored by most people. God is in ‘captivity’. But God still rules.
Questions
- Over the last week, in the media or in your own life, have you seen any expressions of the ‘captivity of God’ in our culture?
Prayer Points
- Pray that God would encourage us this week as we see how God works in a culture hostile to him.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.