Rules?



Prayer: Let us all with gladsome voice  Praise the God of heaven,
Who, to bid our hearts rejoice,  His own Son hath given.
To this vale of tears He comes, Here to serve in sadness,
That with Him in heav’n’s fair homes We may reign in gladness.

Read: 2 Samuel 6:1–19
http://www.esvbible.org/2 Samuel 6:1-19

Think about It: One of the things we often ask our children when they do something that is outside of the perimeters we set for them is, “Why did you do that?” (It’s not a very good question, because the   answer will always be, “I don’t know.”) But the question rises to our lips because we know that they know better. The rules have been established. 

One of David’s first moves as he sets up his household in Jerusalem is to rescue the Ark of the Lord from where it has been residing for at least 40 years (some believe it was outside of Israel for about 100 years) inside of Philistine territory. He is God’s man and he wants that symbol of God’s presence with him in Jerusalem. This is a good and natural desire. But instead of moving the Ark the way the Lord had instructed (see Exodus 37:1-29), it was instead placed upon a new cart that was pulled by a team of oxen. This was not what the Lord had told the Levites to do. The Ark was to be carried by four Levites on poles that were suspended through four hoops on the corners of the box. That way, a person need never actually touch that which was holy unto God. As the cart jostles the Ark over the rough path, of course it is in danger of tipping off and falling to the ground. When the inevitable happens, Uzzah puts out his hand and attempts to keep the Ark from falling. A natural reaction, right? Why was he punished by death for this infraction? Because he knew better. As a priest, he already knew how the Ark was supposed to have been transported. His mistake wasn’t in touching the Ark but in disregarding God’s instructions for transport in the first place. Uzzah died because he arrogantly thought he could do things his way instead of God’s.

Fortunately, when we reach out our hand to do something that we know we are not supposed to be doing, God doesn’t strike us dead, or certainly none of us would not still be here! But it certainly must grieve the Spirit when we know better and do it (and you can define that “it” however you want) anyway. Because we live after the suffering and death of Christ, we know that God will not strike us with His punishing hand, for He has already done that to Jesus. Perhaps when the Spirit convicts us of our sins, instead of saying we don’t know why we did it, we can say with the tax collector in the temple, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (See Luke 18:9-14)

Prayer: We are rich, for He was poor; Is not this a wonder?
Therefore praise God evermore Here on earth and yonder.
Christ, our Lord and Savior dear, Be Thou ever near us.
Grant us now a glad new year. Amen, Jesus, hear us.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more