DEVOTION / Are you guilty of idolatry in God's name?

When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God (1 Samuel 4:3‭-‬4).

In a battle with the Philistines, the Israelites wanted assurance that the LORD would fight for them. They brought the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield. The ark was the symbol of God's promise to live among his people with grace and power.

What’s wrong with that?

What could be wrong with that? The nations around them brought their gods (idols) into battle in an attempt to guarantee victory. From the time wars began, soldiers have brought symbols of their faith with them into battle. How many Bibles and crucifixes and pictures of Jesus are carried by war zone Christian soldiers today?

What could be wrong with that? Nothing. There could be nothing wrong with it. As long as the symbols of our faith in God's grace remain symbols, reminders of his unwavering commitment to us in Jesus.

What could be wrong with that? Everything. Everything is wrong when we mistake a symbol that reminds us about God for God himself. When the ark of the covenant became a good luck charm, there was something terribly wrong. When God's Book or a crucifix or a portrait of Jesus becomes our basis for trusting that God is with us, there is something terribly wrong.

Symbols or talismans

Bringing the Ark of the Covenant to that battlefield appears spiritual. But Israel lost the battle with the Philistines because they treated God's ark as a substitute for God. They treated the ark as a talisman, a sorcerer's stone, an amulet. 

Israel forgot that their God is not limited by time or space. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. They had forgotten that humans cannot manipulate God to force him to do their will. They had forgotten who their God is. They traded a symbol for the Father who "raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms" and his Son who is seated "far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come" (Ephesians 1:20,21). They had forgotten God cannot be limited to a place or a symbol.

How do you view the symbols of God in your life? The crosses on your walls? The ceramic statues of the ascending Savior on your mantle? The fish symbol on your key ring?

In the midst of life's battles, religious symbols can remind us of who our God is. But they dare never replace faith in the God those symbols represent.