WOFOYO SHORT: Power Or Presence?

Power looks impressive from a distance, but Presence changes everything up close. We revisit the whirlwind journey of the Ark—from Hophni and Phinehas to Philistine temples to the house of Obed-Edom—and uncover why every attempt to use God as a tool backfires. Saul tried to manage optics and outcomes; David risked reputation to draw near. That single shift—from control to communion—reshaped a kingdom and still confronts our motives today.

We map these ancient choices onto the world Jesus stepped into: Sadducees trading holiness for influence and wealth, Pharisees curating public piety while hollow inside, Essenes retreating to preserve purity. Then John the Baptist and Jesus arrive with the same piercing call: repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Not a kingdom of image management or political leverage, but a Kingdom formed by intimacy with the Father, truth that frees, and mercy that restores. The contrast is stunning—and uncomfortably relevant for how we handle faith, status, and ideology now.

Across the episode we explore why chasing spiritual power leads to a brittle imitation, while pursuing God himself produces a durable authority marked by humility, courage, and wisdom. We challenge the habit of drafting Jesus to fit our politics and invite a better way: let the Gospel shape our conscience, support what aligns with Christ, resist what does not, and engage leaders with clarity and grace. Most of all, we offer practical steps to re-center—searching scripture, praying in the Spirit, building accountable friendships, and keeping relationship first so methods and outcomes don’t replace the main thing.

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Transcript

Ark Stories Recapped

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hey everybody, welcome to another Woe Fo Yo short. This is C Dub. You know, in our last full episode, Bones and I were talking about different stories that happened with the Ark of the Covenant, it being lost, when Samuel was just a boy, Hopney and Phineas, Eli's boys were corrupt, and there's this battle that they had been doing wrong. Samuel has a word that God's going to judge the actions of Eli's sons. They take the ark into a battle. Willy-nilly, it gets captured. And then the Philistines try and set it up in their temple. That goes all awry. They bring it back to a place and let the ark go on a cart by itself, offering up these items of gold as a tribute. The Levites of the place where it lands, they open up the bag, find the gold items that the Philistines have put in. And in our full episode, we talked about a verse that I had never seen before because we know that David sends for this later on from the house of Abinadab, put it on a cart, just like the Philistines did, except that's not the way to carry the ark. Uzzah touches it, blows a hole in him. If you read Perez Uzzah means a breach, so it blew a hole in him when he touched it. And they bring it to the house of Obed-Edom, and Obed-Edom prospers while the ark is in his house. David finally brings it up to the city of David and there puts it in a small tent, offers up sacrifice. There is a priest there, but this is called the Tabernacle of David, and it's a tent, a priest, and the ark. And you uh it's simplicity at its best, very dangerous. But David was willing to take the risk. So in reading all these stories, and the thing that really stood out for that episode was during a battle that Jonathan instigates, Saul actually calls for the ark, and then when the battle's going really well, he said, Well, hold on, hold on, hold on, don't go get. And as I looked at that, you know, it first struck me that you know, this is the way we treat the Lord sometimes. We could have this closeness, we could have this intimacy, but we leave we we leave it at a distance. We won't go get it. Saul had a mind to go get it, could have gone and got it any time, but it remained in the house of Abinadab 20 doggone years. So in listening to that, something else stood out at me. I looked at the attitude of Hopni and Phineas, I looked at the attitude of the Israelites, I even looked at the attitude of even Samuel and Saul compared to that of David. Because Hophne and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, the ones that lose it, they view the Ark as a thing of power. Saul views the Ark as a thing of power. Between him, the Philistines view it as a thing of power. Interestingly enough, Samuel seems a little bit unconcerned about it because his focus is not the ark, his focus is being obedient, uh, judging Israel, giving the proper words that give the Bible says God didn't let one of his words fall to the ground. But also anointing kings, he anoints David and gives guidance.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

But David views the ark differently. And the interesting thing about this is they they all saw the ark as a thing of power, and it never ended well for him.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

It didn't end well for Saul, it definitely didn't end well for Hoffney and Phineas, it didn't end well for the Philistines, but they pursue God or they have this idea of God as some kind of power to be wielded, some kind of leverage you can gain, something what's in it for me. You know, we have a lot of this what's in it for me mentality, but David his motive for getting the ark is not so he could wield power. His intent is to have intimacy with his God, and in having intimacy with the Lord, he not only amassed power, he not only was powerful, he not only reflected that power of God because he had the intimacy, he also attracted mighty men that might have been unconventional, but nevertheless walked in that same kind of anointing, that same kind of power. Even one of his brothers slew the brother of Goliath, it records.

From Second Temple Politics To Jesus

SPEAKER_00 6:23

So it just challenged me to look at my motives.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

And this is something you know we should be doing daily, multiple times throughout the day, because there's circumstances that will come our way, and if we're not prayed up, if we're not careful, if we're not spiritually and mentally aware of what's going on, the next thing you know, we we could start acting in a carnal way, or we could be blindsided or even deceived by thinking we're being spiritual when we're not. So it's really vital that we stay in tune with the Holy Spirit. But you know, all things really culminate into Christ.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

And if we look at the environment that is set when Jesus shows up on the scene here, we have people using the priesthood and using the temple, using this system where there's the Pharisees, where there's the Sadducees, but especially the Sadducees. The Sadducees liked political power and they liked money.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

If you read, they said some of the most ornate buildings that they have recovered have belonged to the Sadducees and some of the archaeological digs over in Israel. They were wealthy. The Pharisees had these outward looks of piety and holiness. Jesus said they were outwardly beautiful, but inside they were like whitewashed tombs that were full of dead men's bones. The thing is, the Pharisees were wanting to exert a different kind of power. They were wanting to exert some kind of control over the people, over their actions, and chalk it up to their own holiness in doing so.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Then you have the Essenes have kind of, I don't want no part of it.

Aligning Convictions With The Gospel

Priorities: Saul’s Power, David’s Relationship

Keeping Intimacy First

SPEAKER_01 8:42

We're going to go out there and pursue the Lord. And there's a lot of people that believe John the Baptist came from out of that, but he wasn't as secluded as they were. But John the Baptist goes out preaching, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then you see Jesus show up saying, Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Well, what's the difference with these two versus what's going on with all the religious system of the day where you have people are wanting to use it for either a personal kind of control, some kind of spiritual hierarchy, or they're wanting to use it for monetary gain or political control, and people are wanting to exert this power. And you have the same thing today, whether it's the virtue signaling, we're good people because we do this, or you have people wanting to try and get Christ to conform to their politics rather than have their politics conform to Christ. And that goes on on both sides. Jesus said what Jesus said, and no, no matter how popular somebody might be, or group might be, or no matter how much your traditional denomination or non-denomination likes to back this person or that person, the bottom line is they will all have to answer to Jesus Christ. You know, where people are right and it lines up with the gospel, support it. And when they're not, don't speak up. And if you have to choose between two, get in the ear of the one that you're that lines up the most with the gospel, and get in their ear to line up more. You'd be surprised how uh easy it is to email a congressman or a senator or get a hold of somebody locally. It's easier than you think. But the bottom line is none of this yields anything if we don't have intimacy with Jesus Christ. If we don't have communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, if we're not honoring our Heavenly Father, if we're not honoring our Heavenly Father and how we think and what we say and what we do, then none of that matters. If we are not pursuing intimacy and we are pursuing these other things, it will not end well. But if we keep relationship first, Jesus said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you, but you cannot make those things a priority. And therein lies the trick. Saul wasn't all bad. There are times when Saul did great exploits, and David even honored Saul for that. But Saul was flawed. But the problem the main problem was Saul's priorities were jacked up. Saul's priorities were staying in power. David's was relationship, and he was secure enough in what he was called to do that he wouldn't let people try and help him out and make things happen ahead of their time or in a way that did not honor God. So I just want to encourage you, as I'm encouraging myself as I say this, make sure that you're focusing on relationship with Jesus Christ. Get in the word for yourself, pray, pray in the spirit, see what the word is saying to you, see what God is saying to you through the word, pray about it. Find believers that you know are hearing from the Lord and that have a like-minded desire for intimacy with Christ and keep each other accountable. Because we all know in part and we prophesy in part. But I promise you, if you keep relationship the main thing, it will amaze you at how all this other stuff that that you almost kind of shun to an extent because it just pales in comparison to relationship, it's amazing how much power you will walk in if you pursue the relationship. And when you pursue God as some kind of form of power, though, you usually end up with a bad imitation of power and no relationship. So keep the main thing the main thing. Love your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, fellowship with his spirit, and get in the word for yourself. Woe FOYO. Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at wofoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. For both of myself, this is C D up reminding you that if you're going to grow, you got a Woefo Yo. Get in the Word for yourself.