“If I could just get some undeniable, scientific proof of God’s existence and power, I’d believe in Him!” Maybe you’ve heard people say that, or maybe you’ve said that yourself. Well, what happened when the ancient Philistines got exactly that kind of proof?

After all, when they captured the Ark of the Covenant in battle, the Philistines naturally put the Ark into the temple of their god Dagon in the city of Ashdod as a trophy of war. But when the statue of Dagon seemed to be prostrating itself before the God of the Israelites (5:3), and when tumors began to break out on the men of Ashdod (5:9), they wanted to make sure these weren’t just coincidences. So, they moved the Ark to another one of their cities, Ekron (5:10). And sure enough, tumors began to break out on the men there as well (5:12).

Yes, it was getting hard for the Philistines to deny that the God Who had sent so many terrible plagues on the Egyptians (6:6 and 4:8) was doing the same thing to them. And so they designed one more experiment to prove that the God of the Israelites was really responsible for all their woes: they put the Ark into a cart, hitched untrained cows to it, and took their calves away from them (6:7-10). But instead of getting tangled in the unfamiliar harness and instead of trying to go find their calves, the cows took off for the land of Israel, pulling the yoke as if they had been doing it all their lives (6:12). No, the only reasonable explanation for any of this was that the Lord, the God of the Israelites was real: He wanted His ark back, and was powerful enough to make that happen.

But what was the reaction of the Philistines when they saw these inexplicable events? Did they bow down before the Ark, admitting that the Israelites’ God was more powerful than theirs? Did they seek out Israelite priests, asking them the proper way to worship the Lord? No, the Philistine commanders just went home (6:16), back to their old ways, and back to their old gods. They had an undeniable encounter with the sovereign power of God, but remained unchanged.

And that unfortunately continues to be true for so many people today. When they experience deliverance from danger, or even miraculous healings, they say they were “lucky.” When they receive unexpected blessings, they simply consider themselves “fortunate.” And when they see the way that Jesus changes his followers’ lives, transforming selfish, ambitious people into humble, self-sacrificial servants – well, they just say such Christians are “fanatics” or “phonies” or even “hypocrites.”

So, what about you? How will you respond to the undeniable blessings that God pours out on you today? How will you react to the Christ-like behavior of the believers around you? Will such evidence strengthen your faith in Jesus? Or, like those ancient Philistines, will you never be satisfied with enough proof?

I Samuel 5:1-6:16 (NASB)

Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
3 When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again.
4 But when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on 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 on the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.
5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6 Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the Ashdodites, and He ravaged them and smote them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territories.
7 When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.”
8 So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they said, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” And they brought the ark of the God of Israel around.
9 And it came about that after they had brought it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city with very great confusion; and He smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them.
10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it happened as the ark of God came to Ekron that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to us, to kill us and our people.”
11 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
12 And the men who did not die were smitten with tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

6:1 Now the ark of the LORD had been in the country of the Philistines seven months.
2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we shall send it to its place.”
3 And they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but you shall surely return to Him a guilt offering. Then you shall be healed and it shall be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”
4 Then they said, “What shall be the guilt offering which we shall return to Him?” And they said, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of you and on your lords.
5 “So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that ravage the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will ease His hand from you, your gods, and your land.
6 “Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, did they not allow the people to go, and they departed?
7 “Now therefore take and prepare a new cart and two milch cows on which there has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home, away from them.
8 “And take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you return to Him as a guilt offering in a box by its side. Then send it away that it may go.
9 “And watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance.”
10 Then the men did so, and took two milch cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.
11 And they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the likenesses of their tumors.
12 And the cows took the straight way in the direction of Beth-shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it.
14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stood there where there was a large stone; and they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.
15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the box that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the LORD.
16 And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day.