Thursday
Well, it got a little scary moving the Ark of the Covenant, maybe a little too scary for David and so he leaves it with Obed-Edom the Gittite. Funny how when Obed-Edom was being blessed by the Ark that David decides to bring it to Jerusalem. So what happened to make carrying the Ark different the second time?
On the first trek of the journey, no one thought to seek God’s counsel on how the Ark should be transported. So they just ran off haphazardly and when the ox stumbled, the cart jolted, and the ark slipped, Uzzah reached out and touched the Ark and was struck dead. Now two things happened here worth noting.
- God didn’t need anybody touching the Ark in order to save it, He is very capable of doing that himself.
- The Ark was never meant to be carried on a cart.
David failed to follow God’s precise instructions and when he did, he did so in disobedience and it cost Uzzah his life. When we are disobedient, often others may suffer the cost for our actions. This story may seem very harsh to us, but when God instructs us, He really wants us to reverently follow and listen to what He says. We can read in Numbers 4:15 some pretty specific orders as to how the Ark was to be moved. “…and when the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites are to come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. When David instructed to have the Ark move, it was never meant to be put on a cart, old or new. It was to be carried by men, holding on to the poles. They were to be Levites and those of the family of Kohath. (Exodus 25:13-14; Numbers 7:9)
So, three months pass and we now have the Ark being transported correctly and we read how David praised God with total abandonment. He was not afraid to act foolishly, instead he just let his praise for God flow from within. We generally tend to choose not to worship in this fashion. (Although this past Sunday at our church we had some ladies do interpretive dance and enhanced sign-language to one of the songs to express themselves in worship.) But generally, it is hard to even get someone to lift their hands in praise or shout out an “amen” during worship. It is risky business to express ourselves too much in worship. We don’t want to look foolish after all. This is what David’s wife Michal thought. I wonder what Jesus would think? For me worship just has to be genuine. In whatever way God calls you to worship – that’s how you should worship. (Amen. Hands lifted in praise to God.
Blessings on the day
Pastor Kathy