Daily Devotion

Oops, I Guess that was a Bad Idea

1 Samuel 6:19-20 But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them, and the men of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? God is Holy Some pretty interesting things happened between yesterday’s reading and today’s. First off, The Philistines discovered that the Ark brought them terrible luck. They kept moving it around from town to town because everywhere they put it the people got sick. It was a real disaster. So, they decided to just send it back to Israel. They put it on a cart drawn by some cows whose calves were kept in the barn. Their thinking was that if the cows headed for Israel instead of back to their calves, it had to be a good omen. It worked. Those cows headed straight toward the border of Israel.

When the Ark entered Israeli territory, the Jewish religious leaders, took it off the cart and set it in a field. All was going well until some Jewish men decided to take a look inside. It was the last thing they ever did! God struck them down dead. You might wonder why just looking into this golden box was such a big deal that the men had to die. The people of Beth Shemesh knew exactly why their fellow-citizens had died. It was because they didn’t take God’s holiness and honor seriously. They treated the Ark as a curiosity. They didn’t realize how important the Ark was as a symbol of God’s presence. The men of Beth Shemesh died because they didn’t honor God as they should have. They treated the Ark of his Covenant, the place where he had promised to dwell, like a display in a museum. Sometimes we treat God that way, too. We say, “Oh God,” to express mild surprise. We may watch movies that make God out to be some sort of bumbling goof-off. Even more importantly, we often ignore him completely for days at a time.

If we could define God with one word it would be “holy.” All of his other characteristics are controlled by his holiness. God could have chosen to be bad instead of good. He could have been demanding and mean like some of the Greek gods and goddesses portrayed in movies and myths. He could have been selfish and arrogant. But, God decided to be perfect in every way. Imagine how awful it would be if God wasn’t good all the time. What would happen to us if one day he decided “to have an attitude?” We’d never know what he was going to do. Because of his holiness, we can totally trust him with every part of our lives, knowing that he will always do what is best for us. God is important. He loves us more than we can ever imagine. He is powerful and jealous for first place in our hearts. He is also holy. Perhaps we can learn a lesson from the men of Beth Shemesh so we treat God the way he deserves to be treated, with honor and respect. Today’s Prayer: Holy Father, I confess that I often don’t treat you the way you deserve to be treated. I listen to jokes that don’t honor you. I use your name in wrong ways. Please forgive me. Also, please teach me how to respect and worship you as you deserve. Amen.