SEPTEMBER  11

THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD

I SAMUEL 5:1-12



“Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.” (I Sam. 5:4)

The Ark of the Covenant contained two tables of stone with the Ten Commandments written on them that the Lord had given to Moses (Deut. 10:2-5). It also contained the writings of Moses, also known as the first five books of the Bible (Deut. 31:24-26). So the ark contained God’s Word.

Israel had been defeated in battle (I Sam. 4), and the ark had been captured by the Philistines. They brought the ark as a trophy into the temple of their fish God, Dagon. But the next morning, they found the image of Dagon laying face down, prostrate before the Ark of the Covenant. Hoping this was a mere coincidence, they set the statue up back to its place. However, the same thing happened the next morning – except this time Dagon’s head and both hands were cut off and placed on the threshold of the temple.

This graphically illustrates the power of God’s Word. Neither Satan nor any of his demons can stand before it. Only the stump of what the devil was is left to remind us of our vanquished foe. He’s already been conquered!

Jesus used God’s Word to defeat the devil (Matt. 4 and Luke 4). Anything Christ said would’ve been Scripture, since He is God. Yet He quoted the same written Word that we have, because He couldn’t come up with anything more powerful! The written Word of God that we have is infinitely more powerful than any of us realizes. We have that same power that made Dagon fall prostrate before the ark. Put God’s Word inside you today, and watch how your problems bow down! (AW)