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?