READ: I Chronicles 13-14.
Verses chosen for meditation: I Chron 13:3, 10.
3 Then
let us bring
again the ark of our God to us, for we
did not seek it
in the days of Saul.”
10 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.
REFLECT
Almost the entire chapter 13 is on David's attitude in handling the Ark of God. We are told how David went down to the Philistine city where the
ark was being held captive, took it upon a cart and tried to bring it back to
Jerusalem. As a man after God's own
heart, David sought to restore the Ark to its place of honour, 13:3. David's
intentions for doing this were clearly commendable. He clearly wanted to seek Yahweh
by using the Ark to enquire of Him.
He knew the law commanded that the Ark be carried only
by the Levites, but in the exuberance of his joy and his zeal, he thought God
wouldn't mind if the Ark was carried in another way. Despite David's good
intentions, his attempt to move the Ark met with disaster. During transportation,
an Israelite named Uzza noticed that it was about to fall off its carriage and
so he did a noble thing - he held the Ark to keep it from falling. But when he
did that, he was instantly struck dead by the Lord, vv. 5-10.
David was displeased with himself. But as he thought it
over, he realized that it was all his own fault because he had neglected the
word of the Lord.
RELATE
Uzza shared David’s high regard for the things of God. He
was struck dead not because of his disrespect to the Ark. It was the opposite; despite
his noble intentions, he was struck dead when trying to preserve the Art from
suffering damage. Friends, there are many today who, like Uzzah, are trying “to
steady the Ark of God”. Are we not sometimes too?
An important lesson to learn from this is that godly
intentions are not good enough. We may have the very best of intentions to
glorify the Lord, to do His will and even to protect His work from danger, but still
displeases God and fail miserably in His work. Why? Because God requires His
work to be done in His way and not in our own way. As an Israelite,
King David should have known that using an ox-cart was not the divinely
prescribed way for transporting the Ark. It was not God's way at all.
Relating to our Christian service, we serve not only
with good intentions but with absolute obedience to His instructions. There
were clear instructions how the Ark should be handled, and that the Ark was to
be hand-carried by prepared and consecrated Levites when it was transported
(Deut 10:8). The Bible clearly teaches the
importance of a careful, precise obedience to what the Word of God instructs
without man’s “adding or subtracting”. Otherwise, consequences shall follow. Just as we affirm God bestows blessings
and favour upon all believers, yet we cannot ignore truth such as suffering and
discipline. We reject preaching “wealth and health” (prosperity gospel) gospel messages too, at least not for the purpose to win more souls for Christ.
One personal application comes from the injunction that
King David gave to the Levites who carry the Ark - they are first to sanctify themselves
for their task (reading on I Chron 15:12). May we not just be “religious” every
Sunday but let us be ready to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is our reasonable service.” (Rom 12:1). This is the call, so paramount
for us in our personal walk and devotion with God.
REST
May we, like David, be kings after God's own heart,
ready to walk in obedience to the very words of Scripture itself that we may
demonstrate, as he demonstrated it, the glory of the kingdom over which Jesus
Christ is King. In His Name we pray, Amen.
Vincent
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