Never confuse the presence of a thing with the possession of a thing.
Today you may have the presence of power in your dwelling place, but should you forget to pay the monthly expense to the proper authority, you will soon find out who truly has possession of the power.
In the book of 1 Samuel, chapter four, the leaders and elders of Israel have become so comfortable with the presence of God that they have progressively shifted into a possessive ownership of His presence. Somehow, the people of Israel’s distorted view of their relationship with God has caused them to bring the Ark of the Covenant (the symbol of God’s very presence) into a battle with the Philistines that their spiritual lives were not prepared to fight.
What happens next? God does not respond as they think He should, Israel loses the battle, 30,000 more soldiers perish, and Israel loses the symbol of God’s very presence.
The Israelites confused the presence of God with their possession of God.
Is there a witness who can say, “I’ve done that before!”?
Sometimes we devalue the experienced presence of God to the point where He is no longer on our top 10 list. And now, after years of a crotchety relationship with Him, living our own way, consistently neglecting His presence, we find ourselves in tight spots and difficult situations saying, “I’ll just call on Him.”
I’ll call on Him, not because I know Him intimately; I’ll call on Him, not because I trust Him abundantly; but I’ll call Him because of what He has meant in the past.
There is a danger in only relating to God based on what He has done in the past. There is no current passion, current zeal, current respect or current awe for being in the presence of God.
The people of Israel was afforded a grace, a protection, a blessing with the presence of God. It should have been their daily goal to deepen their relationship with God. To dwell, learn and grow in the presence of God. Instead, in their minds, they constricted God into the boundary of a symbolic box, now believing they could manipulate this for their well-being. Instead of being moved by His presence, they felt that they could move God for whatever they needed.
The creation tried to manipulate the Creator, and the glorious presence of God that was once customary is now exiled.
Yet and still, God is glorious!
He now appears in the house of the Philistine god Dagon, in the city of Ashdod, one of the five major cities of the Philistines. The Philistines knew of the power of God, and in their theology, they viewed Israel’s God as one of many gods — but a god to be reckoned with. The Philistines believed that now that they had possession of the presence of God — the Ark of the Covenant — that they had done what no other nation could do: defeat and control the God of Israel.
The Philistines confused the presence of God with their possession of God.
Their goal was to use God for their own nationalistic purposes. So, while the presence of God was in the alleged possession of the Philistines (just like Dagon, they thought), the true God decided to reveal the heaviness of His glory (1 Samuel 5:3-4).
After the first night … Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord
After the second night … Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold.
God threw His weight around in the house of Dagon. 1 Samuel 5:6-7 says, “Now the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdodites … When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, ‘The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.’”
God leaves no doubt that He is the undisputed and immanent God. He is God over all.
The lesson to be learned, whether you are intimate with God or not, is that God cannot be boxed in, confined or contained by your worldview, your customs or traditions. If you grew up knowing God, it doesn’t mean that you get to use God however you want. And if you grew up not knowing God and He reveals Himself to you, you don’t get the right to use Him for your purposes. God is Lord over all His creation.
The question is, “Is He the God whose presence wows you, or is He the God you try to control as a tool in your possession?
—Carl Ricketts Jr., MDiv, is director of Chaplain Services for Loma Linda University Medical Center.
