My God is Bigger Than Your God

‘My dog is bigger than your dog.’ ‘My God is bigger the your God.’ The Philistines begin chapter 5 of 1 Samuel thinking ‘my gods are bigger than your gods’ because they won a battle and captured the ark of the covenant, a Symbol of the Lord’s presence. We are reminded in 1 Samuel chapters 5 and 6, nations in the Ancient World were both deeply religious and deeply superstitious, most nations had their own fickle set of gods, that echoed aspects of the created order. We see the clash of world views between the Philistines and the Israelite ‘gods.’ The Philistines were a seafaring people who settled in the South East coastal region, we call the Gaza strip. They had their own fickle gods, Dagon the fish God being the most prominent, they opposed the Lord the One God of Israel. In 1 Samuel 5 &6 the Lord establishes his authority over the false gods of the Philistines. We see the decision to oppose the Lord has consequences. We live in days where the nations worship different gods or no god at all. Our community treats the Lord with contempt and opposes him in different ways. What lures your heart away to make gods of things that aren’t gods? The unfolding story of the Bible invites us to turn to Jesus and find atonement in him, the true sacrifice. Turn to Jesus and live.