Life Around "The Fire"
This podcast is dedicated to those wanting to experience a living and real relationship with God as well as growing together in love for one another. We consider that to be a true sign of spiritual growth as we journey along The Way. If this is you then come along with us as we co-operate with God in what He is doing around the corner and around the world!
Life Around "The Fire"
The Sun That Melts Butter Hardens Clay
Are you holding onto something inferior simply because it's familiar? The story of the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant reveals our human tendency to seek workarounds rather than embrace transformation.
When the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, they placed it as a trophy in their god Dagon's temple. But God wouldn't share His glory with demons. The statue of Dagon mysteriously toppled, and plagues of tumors and rats struck the Philistines' land. After seven months, desperate for relief, they crafted golden tumors and rats as offerings rather than changing their ways. This ancient account mirrors our modern resistance to surrendering control to God.
The Philistines' fertility cult culture prioritized sexual prowess and agricultural abundance—precisely what God's judgment targeted. This reveals a profound truth: "The same sun that melts butter hardens clay." God's presence brings liberty to those who receive it but has a hardening effect on those who reject it. We often cling to harmful patterns out of pride or familiarity, trying to appease God through religious acts rather than relationship.
Jesus stands at the center of God's invitation to transformation. He offers not religion but relationship—not appeasement but freedom. He took our guilt, fear, and shame upon Himself at the cross so we could experience the newness of life. What God offers is infinitely greater than what we possess, though it costs us the illusion of self-determination.
Ready to exchange inferior ways for God's best? Stop making "golden tumors" and embrace the life-changing relationship Jesus offers. Connect with us at lifearoundthefire@gmail.com to continue the conversation.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
If you're just joining us, we've been looking into the book of 1 Samuel and right now we're in chapter 6. But leading up to this particular chapter, we saw how the God of Israel, the Lord, god Almighty, really just toppled over the demon god system in the Philistine territory. I mean, they were part of what's known as the fertility cults all throughout Canaan, and that was prior to Israel conquering Canaan, the promised land that God had given to Abraham, the promised land that God had given to Abraham. And the people that occupied that territory were just vile and their worship system, which was part of their culture, involved them practicing what has been termed sympathetic magic, where they would take and offer their seed, their sperm, to the gods by virtue of having sex with prostitutes, men or even beasts. It was their way of securing the favor of their gods that they worshipped their idols and, in part of Israel's demise, during their time of compromise, the Ark of the Covenant, which represented God's presence to Israel, got captured by the Philistines and they took that Ark into their land and put it in the temple of their god, dagon, as a sign of their supremacy, kind of a trophy room that they had, war trophies, and the Ark was one of them. Well, the ark wasn't just any other piece of furniture. It was holy, it was consecrated, dedicated, as the very symbol of god's. It was a copy of what was in heaven, and so it carried with it the very backing of God himself, and he was not going to share his glory with any demon. God, because he said he would not share his glory with another, just wouldn't do it. There's no one greater than God. And he proved it by toppling the idol, this huge statue of Dagon that was in the temple toppled over, with no one in that temple except the Ark of God and the presence of God, which toppled over that evil statue, that evil statue.
Speaker 1:Well, also, as a result of the Philistines capturing the ark, they had plagues that started to come into their land, much like what took place in Egypt when it was time for Israel to be delivered. God sent plagues to cause Pharaoh to repent and let the people go, but he wouldn't. He hardened his heart, because the same sun that melts butter hardens clay. The same presence of God that brings liberty when it's not received, has a hardening effect. Well, the Philistines didn't want anything to do with the ark or the presence of God, much like our cultures in the world today, try to remove God from within the culture and get God out of the picture, because there's a desire to do things that would be more in compliance with the carnal nature. The Philistines were no different, and so we're picking this story up in chapter six, with the philistines wanting to get rid of the ark and the presence of god from their culture because they were a fertility cult culture. They pride themselves on their sexual activities and, with rats eating up their crops and with tumors making their whole appearance ugly, the two things that they really were prideful of were being literally exposed and experiencing the contraire, right the opposite.
Speaker 1:So in chapter six we read when the ark of the Lord had been in the Philistine territory seven months, the Philistines called for the priests and diviners and said what should we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place. They answered If you return the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you'll be healed and you will know why his hand has not lifted from you. The Philistines asked what guilt offering should we send to him? They replied five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country and pay honor to Israel's God. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land, from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaohs did when he treated them harshly? Did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way? Interesting no-transcript, which would have been easier to make these golden images of the tumors and the rats and send them away with the Ark, or to change you know what's easier To make those images Sometimes.
Speaker 1:Change is not the easiest way to go. Have you ever found that out in your own life? It's kind of easier to try to find ways around that change. And what I mean by that change is that change of life that takes your life and hands it over to God life and hands it over to God. Where you submit yourself over to God and recognize his supremacy, where you stop trying to play God and do things your own way, Even if your own way produces harm for you. Pride sometimes prevents us from change, and if you're listening to this and you've found in your life that you are running up against some things that just are pointing to the cause of the problem being you and the way that you view God, it's time to change. It's not time to find a way to get around the situation. It's time to change.
Speaker 1:See the Philistines they wanted to get around the situation, get back to what they were doing. See the Philistines they wanted to get around the situation, get back to what they were doing. But God was actually offering them an opportunity to change, to exchange something that was lesser for something greater. But in order to make that exchange, you have to believe. You have to believe that what God is offering is greater than what you have, even though it's going to cost you giving up the control of your life. What you're really trying to control is negative. It's killing you. But because it's familiar and because there's pride involved, because there's the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, instead of changing, you try to hold on to it.
Speaker 1:It's time to let go. It's time to let go of those ways that are inferior. So how do I know they're inferior? I can't see God. You have to take him at his word. He's not a liar. He's telling us the truth when he says to us I am the way. The truth and the life is the one who models for us the magnificence of God, the supremacy of God, when we get a glimpse of Jesus. And that's what this is all about.
Speaker 1:That's what these stories are all about. These stories are all about us being shown that the ways of the world are inferior, in contrast to what God has provided. And God has provided Jesus. He's provided Jesus for us so that we can have someone who understands, someone who stands on our behalf, someone who went on our behalf and took our guilt, our fear, our shame and nailed it to the cross where he died. He died both for those things. He died with those things being placed upon him, and he took it so that we don't have to experience the judgments of God, the plagues of God, and if we have, it's only for us to be shown the inferiority of the way that we're going.
Speaker 1:It's a wake-up call. It's the fact that the same sun that melts butter hardens clay. It's not God picking on you. It's the result, it's the consequences of choosing something inferior. It's actually what those things provide. They just don't provide it up front, god exposed it and shows you what it really is all about in the end.
Speaker 1:So, jesus, jesus is the one who offers to us eternal life. In his love, in his weakness, he overcame the powers of darkness. Jesus overcomes any demonic entity. Jesus overcame Dagon, the Ark of Godagon, the Ark of God, the Ark of the Covenant. Jesus is the one who sits on that throne. He's the one, by the work of the Holy Spirit, toppled over Dagon, and he could topple over any idol that's in your life. We can turn, you can turn from those things and look to Jesus, regardless of whether or not you say that you have done this in your head. Perhaps you've only done it to keep people quiet and you've never really surrendered yourself over. You've reserved things for yourself, just in case. Just in case this isn't real. Well, it is real.
Speaker 1:Jesus is offering to us salvation, meaning deliverance from evil and the experience of the newness of life. You see, we don't have to be like the Philistines, trying to contrive a way to appease God through our religion, because it's not about religion, it's about relationship. We don't have to try to find a way to get God out of the picture so that the plague will stop. We need to invite God into the picture so that he can consume our lives. The plague will stop, and not only will the plague will stop, and not only will the plague stop, but we will be recipients of eternal life, the very life of God, being born of His Spirit supernaturally, no longer just fighting off the inevitable, but yielding over to the eternal life of God.
Speaker 1:Jesus. Jesus reaches out to you today and invites you to follow him, and what it will cost you is everything, but it's worth it. He is worth it, he is worth it. Relationship with God, citizenship in his kingdom, his kingdom, it's the pearl of great price. It's worth selling all to have that, and he offers it to us. If we believe in him, we place our confidence in him, no longer in ourselves, in our religion, but in him. What he accomplished on our behalf, he will credit that to us as righteousness, meaning we'll have right relationship with God.
Speaker 1:Let's pray, father, thank you.
Speaker 1:Let's pray Father, thank you. Thank you that we don't have to make golden rats and golden tumors to appease you, but that you want to enter into our lives to free us from the evil, delivering us from evil. You sent your Son to accomplish that. And, holy Spirit, thank you for revealing Jesus, thank you for revealing who he is and how he goes about transforming us from the inside out. We invite you to establish his life in us and we give you our lives completely.
Speaker 1:Cleanse us, free us from the bondage of our own selves and release us into life in your kingdom. Teach us your ways. Oh Lord, we stand here in the name of Jesus and we declare these things to be true and real and we say amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. All right, folks, we love you. If you have any other thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire at gmailcom. We would love to hear from you if you want to type in lifearoundthefire and look us up on the web, and we've got some cool stuff. Check it out In the meantime. God bless you. Adios amigos.