Link to a special reminder from last week about the holiness of God.
A storm was brewing. Mistakes were made. Carless deeds of antipathy led to sin.
The people in charge had known just what to do to prevent the calamity that was coming.
They knew they should not disregard God. But they kept walking straight into the path of the vortex.
The disaster had nothing to do with Israel returning to idol worship as they had done before.
This sin was equally grave.
Sorrow was certain. Death was imminent.
If you had lived during the time the event happened and had just heard about the resulting punishment you would have thought how arbitrary and meaningless.
Here is the story of Uzzah, the man who was killed for trying to keep the Ark of the Covenant from falling.
Would you or I have reached out to save the Lord?
David again assembled all the fit young men in Israel: thirty thousand. He and all his troops set out to bring the Ark of God from Baale-Judah.
The Ark bears the Name, the name of the Lord of Armies who is enthroned between the cherubim. They set the Ark of God on a new cart and transported it…
Uzzah and Ahio sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart and brought it with the Ark of God from Abinadab’s house on the hill. Ahio walked in front of the Ark.
Uzzah reached out to the Ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled.
Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the Ark of God.
David was angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place Outburst Against Uzzah, as it is today.
David feared the Lord that day and said, “How can the Ark of the Lord ever come to me?” So, he was not willing to bring the Ark of the Lord to the city of David; instead, he diverted it to the house of Obed-Edom of Gath.
2 Samuel 6:6-10 (CSB)
So, ask yourself the same question. Would you have tried to save God?
How much hubris would that require?
God is holy. God is not helpless. The Ark never fell. Look at the passage again. The animal stumbled. The Ark didn’t fall.
And that is precisely the point. All of Israel, including King David, it seems, had lost their heart for the holiness of God.
This story has been hard for me to understand, too.
What Uzzah did seemed innocent and understandable until I was reminded of Who our God is and who we are. Even King David had to be reminded.
So, I began to read my Bible. I have listened to sermons from pastors that I knew I could trust. Most importantly, I have asked the Holy Spirit to give me understanding and open my heart to learn about this passage.
God is Holy. Set Apart and Pure. He is infinitely matchless in all that He is and all He has done.
You see, God never left the people without guidance. He gave clear instructions to Moses about what to do concerning His holiness. God told Moses how to move the Ark of the Covenant in the books of Exodus (25:14) and Numbers (7:9)
God protected the people from His Prescence because it’s purity would have killed them.
What next? What would become of the Ark? Would the people just leave it where it was?
So, he was not willing to bring the ark of the Lord to the city of David; instead, he diverted it to the house of Obed-Edom of Gath. The Ark of the Lord remained in his house three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his whole family.
2 Samuel 6:10 & 11 (CSB)
How is there a difference here than being in the home of Uzzah for three months?
Obed-Edom had a godly attitude. He welcomed the Ark of the Covenant with holy reverence and praised God. He did not disregard the Ark but most importantly, he did not disregard the worship of the Lord God.
“The Lord has blessed Obed-Edom’s family and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God.” So, David went and had the Ark of God brought up from Obed-Edom’s house to the city of David with rejoicing.
When those carrying the Ark of the Lord advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.
David was dancing with all his might before the Lord wearing a linen ephod.
He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the Ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of the ram’s horn.
As the Ark of the Lord was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.
2 Samuel 6:12-16 (CSB)
Mankind’s irreverent treatment of holy God always leads to brokenness. Do you see how Michal’s heart is revealed in the last verse? She is really despising God’s holiness. She does not revere God, even more than she despises her husband. Her life ends in sad separation from her God.
But look at David’s reply as his heart swelled with praise as he remembered the holiness of God the Almighty King of Creation-
“…I will play music before the Lord.
I will be even more undignified than this…”
2 Samuel 6:21 & 22 (NKJV)
What about you? Never bring dishonor to God by false worship. Don’t try to bring attention to yourself in worship. But the point of the scripture above is recognize the Holiness of God and never be ashamed to let the people in your world see- His Holiness lives in you.
Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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