David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets. When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark, because the oxen had stumbled. And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah; so he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day. – 1 Chronicles 13:8-13 ESV
Warrior;
This is an interesting situation that makes little sense to we humans. We can reason that Uzzah was treated unfairly. What did he do that caused God to strike him dead on the spot? This one story shows us clearly that what we think we are doing, and what God sees us doing can be quite different. To understand this situation we need to stop making God into our image. Genesis 1:26 tells us: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness….” We are made in the God class, we were made to create, to reason, to have free-will, to have moral power and the capacity to attain Holiness. Even though we are in the God-class, we are still also lower than the angels. We cannot fully reach our potential without God’s help, God’s grace, and mercy, without God’s ACTIVE ministry of reconciliation. We also must remember that we are NOT God, or don’t become God’s, we can’t even think in the way of Jehovah. It is written: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) We need to stop making God into our image and using our finite reasoning to justify our actions and our anger toward God. The God who is INFINITE and OMNISCIENT- perfect knowledge!
Leader, this shows you the awesome responsibility of leaders. Uzzah’s death was ON DAVID- Uzzah’s blood was on David’s hands. David was a man after God’s own heart, (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22), he had good and noble intentions. See the reason for moving it- ibid v1-4, see how he sought counsel from the people. See how David and all Israel were celebrating before God WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT! Yet, God has laws. The ark of the covenant was the place of God’s presence. While the Lord was present among His people in the exodus (Ex. 13:17–18, 21–22), He localized this presence in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was constructed so that the Lord would be among His people: “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Exodus. 25:8). But in an even more specific way, the ark served as the place of HIS PRESENCE. “There I will meet with you … on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you” (Exodus 25:22; emphasis added). This was the equivalent of the HOLY OF HOLIES in the Temple. The Holy of Holies was accessible only to the Israelite high priest. Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the high priest was permitted to enter the small, windowless enclosure to burn incense and sprinkle the blood of a sacrificial animal on the mercy seat of the Ark. By doing so, the high priest atoned for his own sins and those of the people. The Holy of Holies was separated from the rest of the tabernacle/temple by the veil, a huge, heavy curtain. The curtain was so heavy and formidable that it was said to take 40 priests to move it. Holy and UNHOLY cannot co-exist. There was separation from a Holy God, and an unholy creation. That shows you the SERIOUSNESS OF SIN. We are so defiled, that a HOLY GOD cannot, WILL NOT allow uncleanness in His presence. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Conduit, when God was walking with the Israelites in the desert, He had them create a shadow of things in heaven and He was extremely specific on how things were to be made and how things were to be done. “And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to CARRY”. (Numbers 4:15 emphasis mine) So Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service. And four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But to the sons of Kohath he gave none because they were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be CARRIED ON THE SHOULDER. (Numbers 7:6-9 emphasis mine) David was responsible for knowing GOD’S LAW, David was responsible for searching the law, for having the Priests go through the BOOKS, and make sure that all of God’s requirements were met. He had gotten lackadaisical- David lost a bit of the reverence that GOD deserves and demands! As the leader, David had Uzzah’s blood on His hands. When we do not seek God’s Word, Will and Way, we can have the blood of others on our hands! Read God’s WORD and you will learn 2 things: Life ‘aint no fair’, and ‘life is hard’! We need to stop putting our morals, our beliefs and our sense of fairness, or SOCIAL JUSTICE- onto God. We were made in the image of God, let us STOP making God unto our likeness, our image, our way of thinking! You are a leader, the question is this: Are you leading people into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, or will you have their blood on your hands for not knowing and sharing the WORD OF GOD, as…IT IS WRITTEN? How can you Lead people to eternal salvation if you do not seek HIS WILL and HIS WAY, through HIS WORD? If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. (Ezekiel 3:18) Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!
Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional 