That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11
What a Mighty God we Serve is one of my favorite upbeat choruses that is nearly impossible to sing sitting down, instead the beat and the message invites to singer to stand and move, raising hands in worship to the awesomeness of God. What started out as a Black Hymn has been modernized and is now a powerful declaration of the God we serve. The more modern version lyrics are “What a mighty God we serve! What a mighty God we serve! Angels bow before Him. Heaven and earth adore Him. What a mighty God we serve! He is the King of kings! He is the King of kings! His name is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! Oh, He is the King.” I bet if you know the song and have sang it at church, just reading the words makes you tap your toe or you have an inclination to stand and start moving in worship to our King! While I love the songs about the goodness of God and How much I love Him, we still need to be reminded about the power and faithfulness of God. Jesus is not only our salvation, our way back to right relationship to God, He was given power and authority over all of heaven and the earth. Matthew 28:18 says “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Matthew 19:26 plainly states, “With God all things are possible.” During His earthly ministry, He fed the five thousand, addressed and delivered those who were bound in sin like the women from Samaria and the man in the tombs, cast out demons, healed the sick and even raised the dead. He lived a sinless life, died on the cross and became our sin, and rose again on the third day to take back the authority sinful man gave to Satan. Romans 8:34 “It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” He is with God praying continually for us. Ephesians 1:20-21 teaches us, “which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and post, and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come.” He has all power! What a mighty God we serve! Revelations 17:14 “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is the Lord of Lords and King of kings, and they who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” He is our powerful soon coming King and nothing will stand before Him! That just at His name every knee shall bow!
The 1 Samuel 3-5 God revealed the judgement against the High Priest Eli because he knew about the sins his sons were committing and would not restrain them. God told Eli to judge the iniquity in his own house and Eli refused to confront their sins. The blatant disregard for God was so evident, his sons were having sex with the women who came to the temple top worship at the very door of the tabernacle. Can you imagine coming to the temple to worship and having to walk around the priest and a woman having sex at the door of the tabernacle? A few years later, Israel went to war with the Philistines and 4,000 people were killed in battle that day. The people wanted to know why God had allowed them to suffer such a defeat. They did not understand that the sins of the priest had brought defeat on the nation. They decided to bring God to the battle with them without being clothed in a lifestyle of rig outness, they sent back to the tabernacle and brought the Ark of the Covenant to the battle field. When the army of Israel saw the Ark, the shouted with triumph so loudly that the earth shook. The Philistines mustered all their courage and fought, defeating the Israelites. During the battle, both of Eli’s rebellious sons were killed and the Philistines captured eh Ark of the Covenant. Not only did about thirty thousand men lose their lives that day including both of Eli’s sons, the Ark was captured. Any time we try to mishandle God or to manipulate His power without a pure and righteous heart, it will always lead to unsavory consequences. We cannot take the victories from a previous battle and make them work for the next battle unless God has given instructions to do it again. God is not a Jeanie in a bottle that we can make a wish and it automatically comes true. He is sovereign and we are supposed to approach Him with fear. The fear of the Lord is a deep reverence, awe, and respect of God’s holiness. When we truly see God for who He is and have respect for Him, we will no longer try to manipulate Him into fulfilling our desires. We will go back to His word and find the promises He has made and stand on them, but never try to take God somewhere He did not instruct you to take Him, or do something we want on a whim. Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, all whose who practice it have a good understanding, His praise endures forever.” Psalm 33:8 “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him!” Psalm 147:11 “But the Lord takes pleasure n those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.” When we face a battle, in fact every day, we should go to God in awe and respect asking Him what His plan for victory is. When Eli heard his two sons were dead and the Ark of the Covenant was captured, he fell over and boked his neck and died. Then Hid daughter in law went into labor when she heard the news, she bowed down and delivered her son. She named him Ichabod because “the glory of has departed from Israel.” Thirty thousand men dead in a short battle, both the high priest and his two sons were dead and the Ark of the Covenant was no longer in the possession of the Israelites. Sadly, all the years of following God and watching God do mighty works in their midst and on their behalf, they still did not understand that the power and glory was not due to the Ark of the Covenant, but the God who chose to dwell on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant and no man can capture God and hold Him hostage. The Philistines made a serious mistake that day as well. They Brought the Ark of the Covenant, what they thought was the God of the Israelites and set it in the house of Dagon, their God. They did not know that they could set the Ark by the statue of Dagon, but there is no god who is comparable or able to do what the One True God can do. Our God is high and lifted Up and there is none beside Him. When they cane back to the house of Dagon the next morning, they got a glimpse of their mistake, Dagon who was sitting next to the Ark of the Covenant, fell over on his face before the ark of the Covenant (Every knee shall bow!) They set Dagon back on his feet and when they came back the next morning, Dagon was on his face again in front of the Ark, this time his head and both hands were broken off. If was so frightening to see, they Philistines no longer visited the house of Dagon. No only did God destroy the statue of Dagon, God struck the men of Ashdod with tumors. They sent the Ark to different towns of the Philistines and every time it arrived the men of the city broke out in tumors. They decided to return the Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites, so they placed it on a cart, with two milk cows hitched to it to carry the ark back to Israel. Then God sent the cows to carry the Ark back to Beth Shemesh and they sent it to Kirjath Jearim. Finally, the Ark was back in the country it belonged to.
Maybe you are in a difficult season and it seems like everything you try does not seem to answer the problems you are facing and you are feeling like the “glory of the Lord” has departed from you. Maybe you have tried to recreate a past miracle and do what God did last time and it is not working for you. It may seem like the losses are too great and there does not seem to be an answer for what you are facing. Let me remind you about the Mighty God we serve! If He could make the god of Dagon fall on its face and worship Him (and He did), the second time cutting off his hands and head, He is more than able to make your advisory and circumstances fall before Him as well. While I do not believe that every difficult thing, we face in life is caused by our sins, some things He allows just so He can get some glory, the Bible is very clear that our sins withhold the goodness of God from us. Take time with God and repent for your sins, and then ask Him to show you if there is any wicked way in you that you did not repent for. Repent for trying to be god and doing it in your own strength and strength. Ask God to fight the battle for you and do whatever He instructs you to do. Remember that at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow, every sickness, every spirit of lack, every spirit of delay, every thing that has tried to set itself up higher than the One True God. Do not come into agreement with the “problem” with the words you speak, but claim God’s promises and praise Him until the answer or help arrives. I love the story in 2 King 6 where Elisha was trapped in Dothan and surrounded by a hostile Aramean Army and Elisha went on about his business in peace. When his servant asked him, Elisha prayed and asked that God would show the servant the mountains filled with horses and fiery chariots. The battles you face may seem huge, but I serve a God who comes when we call and His army is greater than the enemy I am facing. What a mighty God we serve!
Cathy Nesmith