"They replied, 'If you send the ark of Israel's God away, you must not send it without an offering. You must return it with a guilt offering, and you will be healed. Then the reason His hand hasn't been removed from you will be revealed.'"
1 Samuel 6:3
The priests and diviners of the Philistines recognize the power that the Lord has over their own gods, and they remember the plagues He brought upon Egypt's hardened hearts. They recommend that the ark not be returned alone, but rather accompany it with a guilt offering to cleanse them of their sin against God.
As a guilt offering, the Philistines made golden statues of tumors and mice for each of the five cities which they had taken the ark to. They made these specifically to represent the plagues God sent against them in those cities. Essentially, they're giving the plagues back to the Lord along with their sin.
Question of the Day:
What kind of guilt offering do you owe the Lord for your own wrongdoing? What plagues has God sent against you to convict you of your sin? What is the sin He has convicted you of? Send both back to Him at once - both the sin and the plagues - and call on His promise to reclaim you!
Prayer of the Day:
Lord, I give You my sin and all that it brings with it. I give You my sin and all my plagues so that You may burn them up in the furnace of Your wrath. I know that many of these sins and plagues will take time to eliminate, but I trust that Your compassion is full and Your time will be right. I ask that You burn away all of the fleshly desires within me and replace them only with Your holy righteousness. Leave only that part of me which You created to set me apart from all other humans as an individual Creation of Your perfect mind, so that I may be the Me that You created Me to be - the Me who mirrors You. Amen.
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