Last God Standing

1 Samuel 5:1-4

¹“After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

²Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.

 ³When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place.

⁴But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained.”

The ark, the very presence of God, was placed before the false god, Dagon. Before such holiness, glory and power he could not stand. Despite his worshippers’ best efforts to keep him standing, Dagon was completely broken down before the Lord.

 In a similar way, when you invite Jesus into your heart, the fullness of his presence enters your being. And God, in all his glory and holiness, will NOT allow any ‘idol’ of your heart to stay standing in his presence for very long.

The first commandment: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3). 

And right after that: “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” (Exodus 20:4-5).

You may think, “Well, I don’t have any statues or figurines lying around my house, so I’m good.” But those ‘other gods’ and ‘idols’ are pretty much anything in heaven or on earth apart from the One True God that you bow down to and worship with your time and resources. If you put a person, a dream, a career, a car, a cat, ANYTHING before God, it becomes an ‘other god’, an ‘idol’.

God wants, and entirely deserves, the number one position in your life. He is the One who saved you and set you free. He is the One who paid your ransom, and he is now living in you. God will ensure that he is the last God standing in your life. If you do not willingly lay down these other things, God will lay them down for you; and they’ll probably smash like Dagon in the process.

If your best friend becomes more important to you than Jesus, the Best Friend ever (John 15:13) and the One who gifted you with the friend in the first place (James 1:17), God will most likely cause that person to draw away, or allow them to disappoint you. If your grades become more important to you than the One who gave you your brains (Psalm 139:13), despite your best efforts, you may fail. God will break down all else you place your trust in, right in front of you, until he is the last God standing.

Lay everything down before the One who deserves it all.