Wednesdays in the Word

I've learned another lesson from 2 Samuel 6 that I'd like to share here.

When we do a good thing, our way (and not God's) then people get hurt. (or die, in Uzzah's case)

David was on a great mission. He was bringing the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem but whether out of excitement or ignorance or whatever, he wasn't doing it God's way...
They were suppose to have two wooden poles put through the two golden rings on each side and it was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites. In this chapter, they are carrying it on an ox cart! The ox stumbles and Uzzah reaches out to steady it and he dies on the spot.

This passage has been used to portray God as this big bully in the sky waiting to toast you if you sin. People say, "Well, Uzzah was only trying to help and God struck him dead! See, you better not sin!" Well, God isn't cruel. He is just. If He gives instructions on how to do something and we don't do it that way, then we are at risk for all manner of consequences. It says that "Uzzah was killed for his error." The side note in my Bible says that "error" here translates into "irreverence." I imagine David felt awful! This was his mission and he hadn't followed directions and now a man was dead because of it. They now had a funeral to prepare for. So, David who is "angry" and "afraid" (v.8-9) decides to abandon this plan of bringing the ark to Jerusalem. They take it to the house of Obed-Edom which must have been near by. You can almost picture David saying "Keep this here for me and by the way, you don't want to touch it!" Maybe David expected to hear that Obed-Edom's wife dusted it and died or that one of his kids ran into it and was killed. That was not the case! The report that got back to David was that Obed-Edom was getting totally blessed by its presence in his home. Obviously, he didn't touch it out of obedience and reverence and because of it, he was getting his socks blessed off. It says that "The Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God."

I found myself doing a 'good' thing the other day, but the way I was going about it wasn't His way and I did not have a peace in my spirit about the whole thing. Zachary was with me and had to listen to me talk to myself : ) (I do that a lot) and try to figure out how I got in such a mess. This story came to mind and reminded me that people get hurt when I do things out of His will no matter how 'good' they seem.

~Becky