Surprisingly, there’s a story in I Samuel that talks about hemorrhoids. You may already be familiar with it. Toward the end of the time of the judges, the Philistines attacked the Israelites at a city about twenty-five miles from Shiloh, the home of the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant at the time. The first day of the battle, the Israelites were soundly defeated. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders had the idea to send men to Shiloh and bring the ark of the covenant to the battle site so that “it” would save them from their enemies.

When the ark arrived, the Israelites shouted so loud, the ground shook. The Philistines heard the shouting and wondered what the noise was all about. When they learned the ark of Yahweh was there, the Philistines were afraid. And they had reason to be. They believed a god had actually come into the camp – one of the gods who had earlier “struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert.”

But they knew they had to win or be slaves, so they fought hard and defeated the Israelites – killing 30,000 – and what was more, captured the ark of God. They took it back to Ashdod and put it in the temple of their god Dagon, until their god broke falling down before the ark. God not only judged their god, but their people as well. The author said the Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and He brought devastation and afflicted them with hemorrhoids. The Philistines recognized the punishment was from the God of Israel, so they sent the ark on to another city. The same death and affliction happened there and wherever they moved the ark, so that after seven months, the Philistines called all their priests and diviners and asked what to do with the ark.

They told them to send it back to the Israelites – with gifts – but they also warned their fellow countrymen to not “harden their hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did.” Send the ark back now before we get nine more rounds of hemorrhoids and worse. What I want you to notice is that the Philistines knew and were afraid of the power of the God of Israel. They knew and believed the stories of the plagues on Egypt – that had happened in a different country 400 years earlier! The Israelites, apparently not impressed by their own God, had not asked for His help but dragged around the ark of the covenant like a good luck charm.

When I see the sin and craziness going on around us now, I am fascinated by how hard the world, like the Philistines, fights against God, as if they know how powerful He is and need to fight as hard as they possibly can. They go all out and sometimes even throw up their fists in victory, seemingly unaware that God has already won. Let the strength and hope of that knowledge give you peace but also inspire you to bring those fighting so futilely to the winning side.

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I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

The Gift of Peace 

Before Jesus was betrayed and taken to the horrible crucifixion, He told his disciples what would happen in the days to come, when He would no longer be with them physically. He told them about the horrible things that may happen to them, but also the incredible gift that was coming to those who believe in Him- the Holy Spirit, who would dwell within them. He encouraged His disciples to continue trusting Him and to remain in Him. In Jesus, we can enjoy the gift of peace, knowing that whatever comes our way, we’re with Someone who has overcome the world and defeated death. This is a beautiful piece from someone being real honest about what they’ve gone through. A lot of you listen to Christian music, and Big Daddy Weave has been around for years. I love their music. This is called “Hating Yourself” and when Mike Weaver shared his words, I was like, I understand that. And I don’t know if you ever dealt with thinking I just don’t like myself, Lord. I know I need to love who I am because of who I am in You, but I need help along the way. Mike Weaver is just being honest about when he dealt with that.

If you are in a place of self-loathing, I pray that will be lifted off you in Jesus’ name. 

Hating Myself

Man, I just went through a really weird season, but an awesome season because I never really knew how to give voice to this, but I just hated myself. I never knew that was wrong, either. I knew that Jesus loved me, but I was never good enough for me. I had this standard for myself that I could never live up to, it seemed like. Nobody ever put that on me. There was this day, I remember literally the feeling of the cold concrete on my leg as I’m sitting on the floor of the garage, telling God everything that I hated about me and man, I had a list too. In the middle of me just pouring out, God shows up. And it was the voice of God in my heart, saying Michael, you need to let Me tell you what I think about you for once. So I’m sitting there, ready, on the journal of my heart, ready to write the most profound thing I’ve ever heard and God says to me, I like the way you smile. And I don’t know what it was, but as simple of a thing as that was, it was like- it just- there are these walls that I had built up in my heart and God just took this wrecking ball to all of them. He just began to fill my heart and my mind with stuff that He, the God of the universe, likes about me. He showed me that day that His love for me is not based on my ability to perform for Him. It’s completely based on what Jesus has done. It makes all the difference.

Mike Weaver

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