DAILY BYTE
Yesterday we looked at some of the history around David becoming king of the united kingdom of Israel and Judah, his establishment of Jerusalem as his new capital and his decision to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem to consolidate its place as the religious capital of the realm.
The event of bringing the Ark to Jerusalem was a spectacular affair. It was a grand procession involving 30 000 troops and a massive marching band. This promised to be a public relations coup that David’s “publicity agents” were hoping to get maximum mileage out of. But then, suddenly, things departed from the script as David’s carefully laid plans were disrupted by the unexpected, uncontrollable power of God.
We read that Uzzah, one of the men guiding the cart on which the Ark was being transported, reached out and touched the Ark when the oxen pulling the cart stumbled. And just like that, Zap, Uzzah fell down dead.
This is a tough episode for us to make sense of as it rails against our modern sensibilities of what is fair and just. But Uzzah’s shocking death is a vivid reminder to us of the power and holiness of God who was at work in David’s life but was way beyond David’s manipulation and control.
This is a reminder that we all need, as the increasing tendency today is for people to view God as some kind of cosmic Father Christmas whose primary purpose is to satisfy our desires, or a celestial cheerleader who exists to prop up our sense of self worth and make us all happy.
Consider these two insightful quotes:
“Reverence and awe have often been replaced by a yawn of familiarity. The consuming fire has been domesticated into a candle flame, adding a bit of religious atmosphere, perhaps, but no heat, no blinding light, no power for purification.” (Donald McCullough)
“Most people see God as a benign deity who does little more than ‘bless’ people – a spiritual butler who waits to meet our needs. Most people want a deity who exists to serve our purposes rather than the one who calls us out of ourselves to serve a divine purpose in the world…. But the Almighty God is not primarily here to serve our needs, but to claim us as a part of the fulfillment of God’s redeeming purpose in human experience…. The God David met at the Ark is not safe, but the God whose holiness struck Uzzah to the ground is very good; good enough to give us just a touch of bone-shaking reverence for the power of God, breathless wonder at the mystery of God, and a soul-cleansing awareness of the holiness of God.” (Jim Harnish)
When last did you bow down in reverence before God and declare that God is holy?
PRAY AS YOU GO
Most Holy God, your ways are beyond our ways. You move and act with complete freedom, unconstrained by the limitations we try to impose upon you. Remind us constantly of you who are, a God who cannot be manipulated or controlled. Surprise us with your majesty, dazzle us with your beauty, that we might kneel in humility and reverence before you and declare that you are Holy. Amen
FOCUS SCRIPTURE
2 Samuel 6:1-7
David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.
