Introduction
In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis captures a conversation between Mr. Beaver and the kids. The topic of the conversation is Aslan, the Christ-like figure in the Chronicles of Narnia series.
"'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver; 'don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you…. He'll be coming and going' he had said. 'One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.'"
The Philistines are about to find out that Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of heaven's armies, is not a tame God. Picture in your mind the celebration in Ashdod as the Philistine army brings in the booty from their most recent victory over Israel. Now they have finally subdued Israel because they conquered her God. The proof is in the Ark! Perhaps they paraded the Ark through town toward the temple of Dagon where it was going to be deposited as a tribute to Dagon's conquering power. Imagine now at the end of the chapter how the Philistines must have changed their minds. They are no longer parading the Ark through town. Now they just want to get rid of it as fast as possible.
We often treat God as if he is a tame God. We treat him as if he could be bottled or boxed. We think of him as one who can be welcomed to the temple of our hearts, not as the ultimate sovereign of all things, but as a conquered god who will do our bidding. As we work out way through these two chapters, I hope that any notion you may have of God as one who exists to serve you will disappear and that you will be able to see and love the incredibly sovereign God of the Bible.
I. A Bit more about the Philistines
A. We saw that they are descendants of seafaring people from the Greek islands who came to Palestine by way of Egypt.
B. We also saw that they dominated Palestine during this period to the point that the region is named today after them.
C. One new piece of information is that they were not republic, empire, or centralized democracy.
D. Ashdod was their largest and most important city just three miles east of the Mediterranean.
E. Dagon was their main deity.
II. Who Conquered Whom? 5:1-5
A. It was customary to bring the conquered people's god to the temple of the conquering people's god as a demonstration of power – the conquered god now worships the conquering god.
B. The conquered god now becomes part of the conquering people's pantheon as a vassal god.
C. The reality is that no one can conquer Yahweh, 3-5.
III. The Heaviness of God upon Glory-Robbers, 5:6-12.
A. Have you noticed how much the Holy Spirit has spoken of heaviness thus far in the book?
B. This is significant because the word for heavy is related for the word for glory.
C. God does not allow people to continue forever as glory.
D. God does not deal lightly with those who try to rob his glory.
IV. The Ark Returns to Israel, chpt. 6
A. The five heads of state decided that the best thing is just to give the Ark back to Israel, but they are not sure how to do that, 1-2.
B. The priests are not quite sure yet if this is really Yahweh's doing, so they devise a plan that will help them figure out if all this is just a major coincidence or if they are being judged for their actions and beliefs, 3-9.
C. They do exactly what the priests suggest and follow the cart till there is no doubt that the Ark is in Israelite territory, 10-12, 16-18.
D. There is great rejoicing in Israel over the return of the Ark, but their disobedience makes their rejoicing short-lived, 13-15, 19-7:1.
1. next city, 20-7:1.
D. The Ark stayed in Kirjath Jearim for the next 50+ years.
V. The Gospel Destroys Idols of the Heart.
A. Our natural tendency is welcome Yahweh, the true God of the Scriptures, as another god in the pantheon of the idols of our hearts.
B. Jesus is not interested in being one more thing in our lives – he desires to be our life.
C. We are often so afraid of giving up the idols our hearts that when the Holy Spirit starts to do a supernatural work in us and starts to cleanse the temple of our hearts, we ask him to stop.
D. We often prefer the bondage of idolatry that we have grown accustomed and comfortable with, than the risky freedom of Jesus Christ.
E. We want a god that we can control – maybe like a genie; that is not the God of the Bible – he is not a tame God.
F. Even in the midst of our natural struggle with idolatry, we have great reason to rejoice: Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, destroys the idols of our hearts
Conclusion
The God of the Bible, our God, the God of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a tame God. He roars and works in us till we are freed from all heart idols. He will do it to the end.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2015/02/he-is-not-tame-god-1-sam-5-6.html
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