2 Samuel 6:1-15 (NIV) – The Ark Brought to Jerusalem
6 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah[a] in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name,[b] the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it,[c] and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets,24 harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
8 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.[e]
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.
12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
Do you sometimes feel like your anger is legitimate? Do you feel like your fears are justified?
Great me too. Now that we’ve established that you’re human, let’s explore a passage in the bible where a fellow human deals with similar feelings and fears.
In 2 Samuel 6 (NIV) the title given is The Ark Brought to Jerusalem, and that is exactly what is happening in this passage so there is no need for a huge overview. But what I would like to examine is verses 1-15.
As David and his men were bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, a series of unfortunate events had occurred which ended in tragedy. In short, as they were celebrating bringing the Ark of God over, one of the oxen stumbled and Uzzah, trying to stabilize the Ark of God, reached out, held it, and God struck him down.
As you can imagine, David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah. It would seem to me that David’s anger was legitimate. I mean Uzzah was just trying to keep the Ark of God from falling over, yet he was struck to death because he touched the Ark of God.
To make matters even worse, fear had crept in and David was afraid of the Lord that day. He said ““How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me? It would seem that David had a justified fear. I mean after seeing Uzzah being struck down beside the Ark of God, you could imagine the fear David might have for his people in trying to continue the journey to Jerusalem.
So he did what most rational people would do. He decided that “He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.” In other words, let’s rule out any possibility that anything like that may happen again. I’m giving the responsibility to the house of Obed-edom.
Three months later, king David hears that Obed-edom, his entire household and everything he has is being blessed because of the Ark of God. It then said “So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.”
It took David three months to realize that the Ark of God was the blessing. It took David to hear that someone else was being blessed by the very thing he was unwilling to take in order to continue on the journey.
There is no journey that God has called His people on that doesn’t come with obstacles. There will be times where you might feel like your anger is legitimate and might very well be. There will be times where your fears are justified and this might be so. But please do me a favour and don’t let it get in the way of your obedience to what God is calling you to do.
There have been so many moments in my life where I’ve been angry and sometimes directed my anger to the Lord. I’ve spent countless hours trying to figure out right from wrong, legitimate to illegitimate, from justified to unjustified and there was no answer that satisfied my soul. I’ve allowed fear to dictate what I’m willing to do and not do for the Lord. After wrestling with God many times, I come to the conclusion that I am not God (I know rather obvious). But when you begin to understand that it is God who knows all, you will then realize the importance of being in His presence. The importance of listening, obeying and being in relationship with Him because we don’t know what the end results may be.
1 John 3:19-20 (NIV) says:
19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Our hearts can be filled with anger, caged in by fear causing restlessness and yet in the presence of our God we find rest; knowing that He is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
David’s decision in fear kept him from the Ark of God for three months. How long could you go without the presence of God? What decisions have you made that have kept you from continuing the journey God has called you to?
Father, I thank you for your son Jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross for our sins. By faith in Jesus Christ we are made righteous and justified before our God. I pray that we would not allow anything to get in the way of what you are calling us to do. The hard things, the painful things, the overwhelming things, let us cast it all onto you. Holy Spirit guide us, convict us, correct us and enable us with your power, to keep going on the journey. Let us not lose sight of the importance of your presence God. We love you and we need you more and more each day. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen!