Does this sound familar? Your wife comes home from the store with a huge box filled with seemingly hundreds of pieces of processed wood and hardware. The picture on the front of the box shows this beautiful entertainment center standing majestically in a pristine living room. And you know your wife expects hers to look equally majestic. After you fight off the urge to procrastinate and continue watching the football game, you rip open the box and dump its contents on the floor. Your manhood has now been challenged. You want to please your wife, to show her that her husband is capable, smart, and good with his hands. The last thing to fall out of the box is a thick instruction book written in eighteen different languages. Your supreme pride and arrogance quickly leads you to discard the needless manual written only for dummies who can't put a cap back on a bic pen. In a matter of 30 minutes, your project starts to take shape. You're feeling pretty good about yourself at this point. You're going to make your wife happy and stroke your ego all in one sitting. Yeah baby! But wait, something's not right, the dowel holes for the shelves don't seem to line up. What the? You soon realize that you had failed to face all of the unfinished sides of the different wooden pieces in the same direction!! AHHHH! A few curse words leave your lips and in walks your wife. "What's wrong?," she asks. The question alone stings your pride. And you can already anticipate the next dreaded question...."Did you read the....?" See, I can't even finish typing it!! I've been there, done that!
Now, the consequences of our failure to read the directions were more of an annoyance. It was a simple matter of disassembly and reassembly. It was my pride that was injured. No big deal. But 2 Samuel 6, is a whole different story.
David was establishing his new capital in Jerusalem. And one of the first things he decided to do was bring the ark of the covenant to the capital city. The ark had been staying at Abinadab's house for approximately 40 years where his sons were appointed to take care of it. It is interesting to point out that the ark was sent to Abinadab's house before Saul became king. (1 Samuel 7:1-2) Yet, Saul did not attempt to bring it to his capital. This shows the contrast between Saul and David's heart toward God. Unlike Saul, one of the first things David did when he became king over the united kingdom of Israel was to bring the very presence of God to Jerusalem. Certainly, David had good intentions with this decision.
However, David and his men failed to read or remember the instructions found in Numbers 4:1-10 regarding the proper handling of the ark. The ark was no entertainment center. The ark of the covenant was where the Lord literally dwelt! This was no common symbol or flag. This was the very habitation of God - the creator of all things!! The meticulous instructions on how to move the ark where set up by God to help the Israelites to appreciate the terror and power of God! They needed to understand that He was not to be taken lightly. That is why Numbers 4 instructs a certain clan of the Levites (sons of Kohath) to literally carry the ark. This was a great honor amongst the Levites. The transport of the ark would not be left to unpredictable animals. There would be no shortcuts to carrying the ark by hand.
Yet, what do we see happening in 2 Samuel 6? The ark is placed on a new cart pulled by oxen and driven by Abinidab's two sons, Uzzah and Ahio. What's wrong with this picture? Numbers 4 is being completely ignored. David's good intentions seem to be mixed with haste, arrogance, and irreverance. While David leads a marching band ahead of the cart, he ironically acts as though he does not understand the magnitude of the ark and God's literal presence. The ark was to be carefully and deliberately carried by Levites to its new home. This would have taken longer and required much more effort. But David, Uzzah, and Ahio took the shortcut. They didn't read or heed the specific instructions provided by God. His very presence was not fully comprehended. It became more about the event than God. It became more about ceremony and pomp and circumstance than Jehovah - The One true God of Israel. And the consequence of this irreverance and sloppiness with the ark cost the life of Uzzah. At first reading, this punishment may seem harsh. But this was a complete mishandling of the very presence of God! God was in their midst and they treated Him no better than a cargo of crops headed to market!
Two points I should take away from today's study: 1) Never allow good intentioned ministry to move ahead of God Himself and 2) God is to be revered and feared.
So often we can get involved in a minstry in our church and get caught up in the activity and make that activity a complete substitute for communing with God. The ministry may provide accolades, increased popularity, status, and personal gratification. And then God slowly fades into the background in our minds and hearts. Be careful not to be like David, Uzzah and Ahio and get caught up in the ceremony and good intentions and forget that God has specific instructions for your life that are found in His word. And when those "good" activities conflict with God's instruction manual, we need to stop, disassemble, and reassemble. Otherwise, the very "good" we think we are doing is all in vain.
The ultimate purpose for which we were created was to fellowship and worship God and God alone. He is to be feared (respected, to be in awe of) and reverenced. In our culture today, even in many churches, irreverence is in style. It's cool to give Jesus nicknames, use slang when speaking of God, and make worshipping God more like a rock concert or a means of showing off. But do not forget the example of Uzzah. While God is a God of love, patience, and forgiveness, He is a holy God, an omnipotent God, a God we cannot even look upon without Christ's blood covering our countless sins! A true understanding of God's presence will drop us to our knees with our face in the dirt and proclaim we are on Holy ground!
Prayer: May I never be so lazy, flippant, and arrogant to toss aside Your instruction manual for my life. May I learn to reverence You name and presence in my life as I continue to learn more and more about You and Your awesomeness! Forgive me for those times I have treated You like any other hero, celebrity, or idol. You require and deserve so much more!
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