Dagon

Around October of last year, I read the short story "Dagon" by H.P. Lovecraft. As far as I remember, it was a story about a suicidal sailor whose ship washed up on some uncharted island. While there, he looks upon a huge monster. This monster was unimaginable. It was powerful, hideous and the main character went insane just by being in its presence. That's the kind of power that I can't even imagine. I've even read that some critics believe that it's possible that, since this monster wasn't given a name in the story, it wasn't even the god Dagon, but a worshiper of Dagon. So, if one considers the power of the worshiper, it's hard to even conceive of the power of Dagon himself.

So it was with this in mind that I read 1 Samuel 5 today. Do yourself a favor and read the first five verses before you read the rest of this. Now I realize that there's a whole mythos surrounding Dagon historically that has nothing to do with Lovecraft, but this is just me reading from my own experience, and I think God's cool with that.

Imagining how powerful I view the Dagon of that story to be, it just puts me in awe of the power of my God! When the Dagon idol was placed in the presence of God, he fell on his face. Whenever he was stood up again, not only did God knock him down again, but He completely mutilated him. This is true power; that God is so good and holy that nothing unholy can stand near Him.

I've face a few things in my short time on earth so far, but I in no way believe that I've scratched the surface of all that's ugly, powerful and monstrous here. And the rulers of this world could be described in exactly that way. They do have power and on our own, we don't stand a chance against any evil in this world. But in the presence of a Holy God, evil is forced on its face.

It gives me hope that I can completely fail. That on my own, I'm really not much of a threat to any evil in this world. But I serve a God who is sovereign over everything, both good and evil. Nothing evil can prevail in His timing.