I Chronicles 13-14
Dear RTB’ers,
The incident of Uzzah and the Ark offers a timely lesson for us. As the Ark is being transported on a cart, the oxen stumble and Uzzah reaches out his hand to steady the Ark. Sounds like a reasonable reaction – except that his action violated God’s rules concerning these holy things: And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. … the sons of Kohath … were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulder. (Numbers 4:15, 7:9) The lesson for us – no matter how well-intentioned our plans and activities, if they violate God’s law or His clear will for us, we are wrong to go off in those directions. In truth, Uzzah was set up for failure – the Ark never should have been on a cart; it should have been carried on Levites’ shoulders.
And David inquired of God… And when David again inquired of God… (vv. 14:10a, 14a). David twice inquiring of God is another good lesson for us. Just yesterday I was in a meeting with a group of men and the topic of “praying before doing” came up. Part of this discussion came to the issue of praying for the “little things” as well as the “big things”, whatever those little or big things are in each person’s eyes. But our bottom line was that we surely should be praying more often in (and before) everything that we do! Even in the “little things”. Granted, David’s battles with the Philistines were big things, but his seeking God is another good lesson for us.
Blessings.
See also: April 5 (2023) / I Chronicles 12-15 (beyond the first paragraph).