The Chest of God

Following on from my post yesterday about people watching us, I read 1 Samuel 5 today. It tells us about a time when Israel's enemies the Philistines captured the Ark of God and took it home. To Israel the Ark was the symbol of God's presence with them and too loose the ark was devastating.

But it also signaled bad news for the Philistines, their idol God was broken and the people became ill. The Ark was then passed from city to city with consequences for the people. It got to the point where no one wanted their trophy of victory - The Ark of God.

1 Samuel 5 v 11 For everyone was scared to death when the Chest of God showed up.

Not a very nice story! God no longer lives in a box as if he ever did. The Ark is no longer the expression of His presence to people that need Him. The Bible says we (Christians) are the temple of the living God. (2 Cor 6 v 16) We now carry the presence of God with us everywhere we go.

That is an awesome challenge to us everyday as we live our life out with God 24/7 and it can be an incredible blessing to those we meet because we bring the presence of God with us.