Workplace Week 25: Inspirational Flags and National Symbols

Workplace Meditation

Inspirational Flags and National Symbols

Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 4:1-11

Passage Key Words: ark, covenant, shout, defeated, fled

Topical Key Words: flags, anthems, national monuments, altar, cross, Church

In most nations, the national flag and anthem are the symbols used to evoke patriotism, selfless service and passionate devotion.  However, the national constitution is the covenant that defines citizenship, rights, institutions, powers, punishment and rewards.  In one battlefield, the Israelites who faced the Philistines wanted to use the “ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty,” their religious symbol for God’s presence, to change their military fortunes.  When they brought the ark there, the people gave “a great shout that the ground shook.”  But their battlefield expectation failed.  They had abandoned God’s covenant which their religious symbol pointed to.

Today’s Christian Churches and cultures enjoy more symbols than those Israelites but we face the same danger—the temptation to abandon God’s covenants for the inspiration of our symbols—in society and the workplace.

May God help us to put obedience to His commandments over the inspirations of our symbols.