Doing Things God's Way

In 1 Chronicles 13 we read about David's desire to "bring back the ark of our God" to the people of Israel. From the account of the story recorded for us, it appears that David's heart and intent in doing this were right in every way. He starts by consulting his leaders and checking to be sure his plan is "from the LORD."

¹Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader.
²David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is from the LORD our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may meet with us;
³and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul."

The people are in agreement with his plan.

⁴Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

So far, so good.

And the plan begans to develop.

David assembled all the people of Israel and they all go to Kiriath-jearim in Judah to bring the ark of God back to Jerusalem. The distance from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem was about 10 miles (probably less). So, all the people went out to Kiriath-jearim and were to come back with the ark. What a procession this must have been! It must have looked much like when they would move, by tribes, from place to place in the wilderness during the 40 years they spent there.

⁵So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
⁶David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the LORD who is enthroned above the cherubim, where His name is called.

But, here's where the trouble begins to set in for what was supposed to be a wonderful celebration. This one brief statement reveals "trouble ahead!"

⁷They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart.

For now, let's continue with the story ... remember, this was a celebration for all of Israel as they were bringing the ark of the LORD back to Jerusalem for all the people.

⁸David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets.

The party is in full force. David and the people are exuberant. Finally, they can celebrate before the ark of the LORD again. Everything is going well. It's all going just as planned. UNTIL ...

⁹When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it.

No big deal. The oxen had probably stepped in a hole or something. But Uzza and Ahio were close by, watching over it. So Uzza steadied the ark to make sure it didn't fall. "No biggie."

EXCEPT, it apparently WAS a "biggie" to God!

¹⁰The anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.

Whoa! Wasn't that a little extreme, God? That really wasn't very "seeker-sensitive," God! After all, we all came out to "seek" You and Your presence, "for we did not seek it in the days of Saul," and this is how You treat us? That's apparently how David felt. He actually became angry.

¹¹Then David became angry because of the LORD'S outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day.

So David became "afraid of God" and ended the party. He "parked" the ark at the nearby house of Obed-edom and he and the people all went home. What was to be a great celebration ended with the death of Uzza.

¹²David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God home to me?"
¹³So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
¹⁴Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the LORD blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had.

This passage of scripture often leads to a number of questions.

• Why did God kill Uzza?
• Why did David get angry about it?
• Why did David "park the ark" at Obed-edom's house?

Then, life continues in Israel. The next chapter talks about Hiram king of Tyre sending cedars and carpenters and masons to David to build a house for him. It talks about David "enlarging" his family with more wives and children. And it talks of a major battle with the Philistines. Life went on.

But David was not content. He still wanted to "bring back the ark of our God" to the people of Israel. So, by the next chapter (1 Chronicles 15), David's focus returns to that objective.

¹Now David built houses for himself in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

But this time, David was going to go about it rightly.

²Then David said, "No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for the LORD chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to Him forever."

Here's a key...

David knew how the ark was supposed to be transported. This was not a new revelation to him. He knew this before he had gone out the first time. As did all the people with him - especially the priests. They all knew how the ark was supposed to be handled.

But, somewhere along the way, it seemed like a good idea to just put this on a cart and let the oxen pull it. That was so much easier than having to carry it all the way back. After all, it was 10 miles. Just walking 10 miles takes a while, much less carrying the ark that far.

Lesson #1:
When God has given direction on how to do something, trying to do it any other way is sin. It is a direct violation of His direction.

David knew that. He knew that was why God killed Uzza. He knew that Uzza took the wrath of God that was directed towards all of them.

¹³"Because you did not carry it at the first, the LORD our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance."

Lesson #2:
God's definition of "seeker-sensitive" is the seeker being sensitive to His ways!

On with the story...

Once again, David assembled the people. But this time David and the Levites went about the task properly. This time, he went to the priests and, specifically, the Levites. It instructed them to consecrate themselves and prepare to carry the ark - which represents the presence of the LORD.

³And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to its place which he had prepared for it.
⁴David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites:

...

¹¹Then David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab,
¹²and said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' households of the Levites; consecrate yourselves both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it.

The priests and Levites understood this. They "knew the rules" for carrying the ark. This time, they prepared themselves and they carried it properly.

¹⁴So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.
¹⁵The sons of the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles thereon, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.

David was still intent on doing this with a celebration - with singing and rejoicing before the Lord.

¹⁶Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.

This time it is David, the elders of Israel, and the captains of thousands who went with the priests to make the trip from Obed-edom's house back to Jerusalem with the ark. Apparently, the others waited in Jerusalem for them to return.

²⁵So it was David, with the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom with joy.

Now that they were doing things God's way, things went much better. (Selah! How many times have we all been through that lesson?)

²⁶Because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

This time even David was dressed in priestly attire. His "fear of the Lord" from the first attempt had caused him to respect God's way and not take the matter lightly.

²⁷Now David was clothed with a robe of fine linen with all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the singing with the singers. David also wore an ephod of linen.

And this time the mission was accomplished.

²⁸Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres.

And we reach the end of the story.
But, let's return to the three questions posed earlier.

Why did God kill Uzza? - Because Uzza, David, all the priests and really all the people knew that the ark was not to be carried on an ox cart. They also knew it had been designed to be moved without having to be touched. They all, including Uzza, knew better than to do what they were doing that day. They thought they could worship God on their terms, in the way they chose. They were wrong. God is still a Holy God - and it would do us well to always remember that.

Why did David get angry about it? - Likely, David was more angry with himself than anyone else. David knew that he had set Uzza up to be killed by putting him in a position he should not have been in. If the ark was being carried in the manner clearly defined by God at the time it was built, this would not have happened. David knew he was ultimately responsible for Uzza's death.

Thankfully, we do not often see God strike someone dead as He did Uzza. However, I wonder how many tmies we have experienced the wrath of His displeasure in lesser ways. (I'll skate out a little further on this ice ...) I wonder how man times we have followed the instructions of a leader, spiritual or otherwise, and done something we knew to be improper. Learn a lesson from Uzza.

Lesson #3:
Doing something wrong will cost you much more than it will cost the person who told you to do it - regardless of their position or level of authority.

Why did David "park the ark" at Obed-edom's house? - In my opinion, that was the wisest course of action at that point. When you realize you are going down a wrong path, even if the end goal is a good (right) one, STOP. And stop IMMEDIATELY.

Lesson #4:
When you start on a mission and you realize you have the right mission but the wrong method, STOP - preferably before anyone gets killed!

That's what David did. He realized that objective was right, but the method was wrong. David "stopped the train" - even though "the train" consisted of the whole nation of Israel. He said, "we are not going any further with this plan" and sent them home. What integrity!

But David didn't stop at that point. He regrouped, prepared a place (a tent) to put the ark, and went back out to complete the mission in the right manner.

Lesson #5:
When you have to call something to a halt because of a false start, DON'T QUIT. Go back to God to get the right method (or strategy). Then, in proper timing and with right methods, FINISH THE MISSION.

We need to learn to be good military men and women. When they fail to accomplish a mission, they regroup and develop a plan to go back and get the job done. Too often in "the army of the Lord" we simply go home and sit down with the attitude of "well, that must not have been God."

If we are going to be reformers of our culture, we need to develop the spirit of a warrior like the one David had. "I went about this wrong. It cost me one of my best men. Now ... how do I go back and accomplish the mission?"

David had learned how to persevere and continue until he saw a victory. Have you?

weeding your garden

Yesterday as I was weeding my flower beds, I was reminded of lessons the Holy Spirit taught me many years ago while doing the same task. I thought they might be good to share with others.

A number of years ago a friend of mine in ministry had asked me some questions regarding the difficulty she was having with helping a particular individual get free from some things in her life. The woman had been through multiple deliverance sessions, including with the friend who was discussing her situation with me, but never seemed to reach any point of real victory. I promised to pray about the situation and see if God would give me insight.

A few days later, I was out weeding my flower beds. The "dirt" in the area (I hesitated to even term it "soil") can be rock hard. Hence, try as you might to dig the root out, you usually end up with only part of it which, of course, means you get the top (the visible evidence) of the weed, but it soon grows right back.

However, this day was different. It had rained most of the week. The ground was saturated. On this particular day, I could pull most of them out, root in tact, by hand. Those that I couldn't simply pull, a small spade would easily dislodge the root. In some places, the ground was so wet that the dirt would quickly even fill back in the hole left, so there was little to no evidence that something had been removed.

In the midst of that, I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me about the ministry situation.

In the parable of the sower (recorded in Matthew 13 and Mark 4), Jesus refers to the soil of a person's heart determining their ability to receive the word of God and produce fruit based on it. In one of the scenarios within His story, the heart soil is full of thorns that "choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." (Matthew 13:22) As I was weeding my flower beds that day, I was reminded of this analogy. The issue is to get the weeds (thorns) out of the garden of our heart.

The question posed to me had been why it was so difficult to remove the "thorns" in the situation with this particular individual. (In other words, why it was so difficult to see healing and deliverance that lasted.) I knew I had encountered other, similar situations over the years as well. Yet, with other individuals who had as many issues or even more or "worse" issues, the deliverance had been much easier, the healing immediate, and the both had been permanent (a done deal!). What made the difference?

As I was pulling the weeds so easily this particular day, when I had spent many other days in these same beds that had been much more laborious and the results had not had any long-lasting benefit, I suddenly "saw" the answer.

The difference was in the state of the soil!

The reason I was able to pull the weeds so easily today had nothing to do with my desire to get rid of them or my willingness to spend the time and energy needed to do the job. It had everything to do with the condition of the dirt in which they were rooted.

I immediately "knew" the issue was the preparation of the heart's soil before the ministry session. When the heart of the person coming for ministry has been saturated by the "washing of water with the Word" (Ephesians 5:26), then the ministry session is much easier and the results are real and sustained. Pulling down the strongholds within a person's mind, delivering them of the spirits that have oppressed them, closing off those doors (permanently!) that allowed that access, and seeing them healed from the issues of the past still takes effort, but the results are visible and sustained. They are free from those areas and it shows in their countenance and in their life!

However, when the person desiring ministry has not invested the time and effort to "water" their heart with the truth of the Word of God, it's like trying to dig the weeds out of my flower garden on a hot, dry day. It's very difficult to do. And, while you may actually get all of a particular root here and there, there are more "missed" than gotten. Hence, while there is usually some fruit from such ministry, much (dare I say "most") of it is short-lived. Without getting the real root of the problem, the "symptoms" (weeds) simply begin to resurface.

In the end, those ministering spent a lot of time and energy for very little result. Even more sadly, the person receiving ministry often feels that "this doesn't work" and are hesitant to go through another deliverance session later. Tragically, some who have gone through several different sessions begin to feel "there's no hope for me."

What I learned from this revelation is that as a minister in the area of deliverance and inner healing, I need to be sure the person asking for a deliverance session is ready for it. There needs to be counseling done ahead of that time to ensure the person has "softened" their heart soil by the "washing of water with the Word" so that the time spent will be productive and will bear good and lasting fruit in their life.

It is sometimes difficult to tell someone "no" when they ask for ministry. However, I have learned that if they truly want to get set free, they are willing to hear "you aren't ready to go through that yet" and do what it takes to get there. They are willing to go through the preparation phases to get to a day when the weeds can be quickly and easily pulled.

======
Here's a word of warning for someone!
(I sensed that strongly as I typed the following statements.)
There are those who are not willing to pay that price and simply want the "quick fix" from you, as a minister. They are not willing to invest their own time and effort to get to a point of being ready for effective ministry. (For some, this includes not being willing to give up areas of sin in their lives.) They may leave and tell everyone how "hard hearted" you are, because you "refused" to minister to them. Do not succumb to the their pressure and minister to them! It is not likely to have any long-lasting benefit (if any, at all) and they will simply then tell everyone about their "awful" experience with you. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Be driven by compassion coming from the heart of the Father - not the "need" of the person. Move (minster) when the Holy Spirit says it's time. If He says "no," we need to also say "no" as well.
======

For those who have issues that you want (and need!) to get past - be those besetting sins into which you continually fall, those "hot buttons" that set you off for no apparent reason and need to be "defused", or just attitudes and feelings that you are know are inconsistent with God's Word - I can personally testify to the reality and the benefit of effective deliverance ministry. I have experienced both deliverance and inner healing. I have also seen their awesome results in the lives of others. It is real. But, be willing to prepare yourself to deal with your issues.

... and get those weeds out of your garden!

God Chooses Whom He Chooses

I was reading in 1 Chronicles earlier this evening. While I doubt any of you are saying, “Oh, yes, one of my favorite books!” I did find some nuggets buried among all the genealogy. :)

In 1 Chronicles 5 we have the history of the sons of Reuben. The first thing that caught my attention in this passage was in the first two verses.

“1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright. 2 Though Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came the leader, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph).” 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 (emphasis added)

To understand this, we need to refer back to Genesis 35:22 and Genesis 49:4.

“22 It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it.” Genesis 35:22

“4 'Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father's bed;
Then you defiled it--he went up to my couch.'” Genesis 49:4

We do not know what led up to Reuben, Israel’s (Jacob’s) first-born son having a relationship with Bilhah. Bilhah was Rachel’s maid and one of Israel’s two concubines. Since Rachel was having difficulty in conceiving while her sister was freely producing sons for their husband, Rachel had “given” her maid to her husband as a concubine, just as Sarah had given her maid, Hagar, to her husband, Abraham, when she believed she would never be able to provide him with a child. Bilhah bore two sons to Israel, Dan & Naphtali.

Whatever the events leading up to the act, the sin was committed. “Israel heard of it” and the Holy Spirit saw that it was recorded in Scripture. That one sinful act, dishonoring both his father and Bilhah, cost Reuben his “preeminence” – the rights bestowed on the first-born son.

We sometimes seem to believe that God doesn’t really care about what we do day to day – or that in His “grace” He will overlook our sin. Not so!

There have been too many times over the past few years of the secret deeds done by men of God in places of “preeminence” being brought to the light for all to see and know. As with Reuben, these things always exact a price – whatever “preeminence” the individual had, it is stripped from them.

There have been many sensing and expressing that there is more exposure to come. God is intent on having a pure Bride for His Son. The five-fold ministry is specifically tasked with assisting in bringing Her to maturity. Those within the five-fold ministry, and particularly those in key (or preeminent) leadership positions, who are themselves living impure lives need to hear and heed this warning. Get it straight – or know that the time is coming when it will be exposed.

But there is another point here that is also interesting to me.

When Reuben lost the privilege of the first-born birthright, it did not simply pass to the second-born son, Simeon. Instead, it passed to the sons of Joseph, which means the grandsons of Israel.

We know that both Israel and God favored, Joseph. We know that Israel favored him because he was the first born of Israel’s first love, Rachel. But we do not know why God favored him – any more than we know why God favored David over his brothers or why God “highly favored” Mary above all other women to be the mother of His Son.

Have you ever looked at someone that God has obviously “favored” (anointed in a special way, caused to be favored by both believers and non-believers, placed in a key position, etc.) and wondered, “why did God pick them?” (Be honest! I have – and I’m pretty sure at least most of you have as well. :)

I’ve learned over the years to simply take a step back and realize that God is Sovereign. He gets to choose whom He wants to choose.

He chose Abram while he was in a heathen land to send out of that land to a land he knew nothing about, including not even knowing where it was, promising to give it to him. He chose Isaac over Ishmael. He chose Joseph to be the deliverer of not only his family but the nations of the world at that time. He chose Moses over Aaron to be the deliverer of His people. He chose Saul, the son of Kish, from the smallest family of the smallest tribe in Israel to be the first king. Then, when Saul lost the favor of God due to direct sin (there’s that theme again – God will judge sin in His leaders), God’s favor was passed to David, the youngest of the sons of Jesse. And the list goes on …

Lest we think this was simply an “Old Covenant thing,” let’s take a look in the New Testament. Jesus chose the 12 to be His disciples. (He even chose Judas knowing what he would do in the end.) Out of them, He chose three – Peter, James & John – to be His inner circle and get special times with Him that the others did not. Yet, when it came time to establish the church in its early days, it was James (the brother of Jesus, not the disciple/apostle) that was selected by God to head the council of elders in Jerusalem. And we can’t forget Saul, turned Paul. God picked one of the worst human enemies of the early church to become one of His greatest ambassadors.

Yes, God chooses whom He chooses.

He sometimes even chooses the unrighteous and gives them favor and preeminence to do His tasks for Him. That's a teaching for another day ...