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The Lord’s Way

2 Samuel 6:7-9, “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?”

In 2 Samuel chapter 6 we find David and the children of Israel laboring to bring the ark of the covenant to Zion, the City of David (2 Samuel 5:7; 2 Samuel 6:12).  The Lord gave specific commandments of how the ark would be moved from one place to another (Exodus 25:14; Numbers 4:6; Numbers 7:9), but David and the people of Israel chose another way; a way that was used by the Philistines in 1 Samuel 6:8-12.  They put the ark upon a cart that would be pulled by beasts. I suppose the idea sounded good to the people of Israel and some may have thought it would be much easier than the sons of Levi carrying it with staves upon their shoulders.  The issue was that this was not the way God said to do it.

In our study verses, we read about a man named Uzzah (whose name means strength, he was strengthened) reaching forth his hand to prevent the ark from falling to the ground because “the oxen shook it.”  Uzzah, from all appearance in scripture, seems to love the Lord and Israel.  He seems to be a devoted man to David, his king (chosen to labor this close to this precious article of furniture would lead us to this conclusion), and his zeal to prevent the ark from falling drove him to reach forth his hand.  One problem, this was not the Lord’s way. But dear reader, how could Uzzah and Israel be wrong?  The crowd was so large; the zeal of the people was on a tremendous level; and everyone seemed to be so happy, so how could this be wrong?  Simple answer, the Lord commanded it to be moved differently.  What began with a large crowd, with zeal and an outward appearance of happiness ended in death, sadness and separation from the ark.

David’s question in 2 Samuel 6:9, “How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?” is one every Bible student should meditate upon daily.  The ark meant the presence of the Lord to David.  He looked at the ark as God’s fellowship and the joy which accompanied it.  When we consider the context, it’s quite easy for a Bible student or a Church body to apply this verse to themselves by asking, “How shall I/we have the temporal blessings of the Lord and His presence in my/our life?”  The answer?  The same way David and Israel would, by doing things God’s way.

Dear reader, if you are like me, I often have times when I feel so far away from the Lord.  Like the Shulamite of Solomon’s Song (Solomon’s Song 2:1), I search for my Beloved, but I cannot find him. According to scripture, the way to find Him is to repent of our sins and labor with diligence to align ourselves with His Holy Word. In Acts 3:19 we read, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the PRESENCE OF THE LORD;…”  And in Matthew 11:28 -30 we read, “Come unto me, all ye that Labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, AND LEARN OF ME; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (emphasis mine).  Amen!

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