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.

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