The next morning the same thing
happened--Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the LORD.
I Sam. 5:4
God’s enemies were
cheering. They did it! They captured that magical Ark of the Lord. Now success
was guaranteed. They could have Yahweh’s power on command. They set God’s Ark
beside their idol, Dagon, and everyone went to bed happy. The next morning, old
Dagon had toppled over and lay face down before God’s Ark. They stood him up,
but the next morning there he was again. This time his head and his hands broke
off. Terror struck the city. Who was this God that no other god could stand up
against? They couldn’t get rid of the Ark fast enough. Even God’s enemies had
learned: Yahweh topples idols.
He topples our
idols too. He greatly prefers that His people acknowledge and get rid of idols
on our own. But when we refuse, He has to do it for us: The affair gets exposed. The kids turn out horrible. The casino
takes all your money and gives nothing back. The spouse you thought would
complete you, betrays you. You’re left with a broken Dagon and no way to fix
it. When Self has been the idol, the toppling can be particularly painful. Age steals beauty. Popularity dries
up. Success succumbs to the plunging Dow, and your overpriced, designer hiding
places go out of style. We can rename, replace, and refuse to admit them, but
the Lord knows about those other gods and He won’t tolerate them. He loves us
enough to topple our idols.
God will not share His
glory with idols (Is. 48:11).
He will
topple them, but it’s much better if we do it first.
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