Jeff Dowdy's Blog

I Samuel 4-8

In this day's reading we see the power of God that is still with the Ark of the Covenant. We see that God demands obedience still from his people and that if you are an enemy of God you will pay a heavy price. It is interesting that the people of Israel felt that simply having the presence of the Ark, an inanimate object, would somehow insure their victory. They did not realize that it was not the object of the Ark that gave the Israelites who came into the land victory but rather the God the object represented. In today's American church we often do this same thing with traditions that have garnered success in the past but today have little to no effect. The saying might go "we have always done it this way" or "it worked before it should work now." These statements only reflect the value we place on the tradition and not necessarily on the God that tradition represents. Obedience today is what God requires, not left overs from a day gone by.

Tomorrow's reading: I Samuel 9-12