You Want Me To Make What?

# 78 – Today's Du-votional comes from 1Sa 6:4-6, “Then they said, "What is the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?" They answered, "Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 "Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that ravage the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, from your gods, and from your land. 6 "Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, did they not let the people go, that they might depart? (1 Sam 6:4-6) Ever get a gift from someone and you said something like, “You really shouldn't have,” ….and you really meant it! This appears to be such a gift doesn't it? “Hey thanks Philistines, just what I always wanted. Golden hemorrhoid replicas and rats for My charm bracelet! And what about the goldsmith? “You want me to make a what?” Seems ridiculous, but when you boil it down, that's what all forms of idolatry are....ridiculous! To their credit though, in making the golden images of these two things, the Philistines are acknowledging that the God of the Israelites was indeed responsible for the plagues that beset them, and in that manner were “giving glory to God.” They also knew some of the history of the Israelites and seemed to be indicating that the sooner the Philistines did this act of what they perceived as proper appeasement, the better it would be for them. Egypt delayed and the plagues got only worse. Good lesson for all of us. Don't delay dealing with your sins. Repent! Turn to Jesus, lest things get worse. And don't think you can appease the wrath of God with your good works. They work about as well as a golden hemorrhoid. Only one thing appeases the wrath of God against sin, and that's the blood of Jesus. 1Jo 1:7b says, “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”