Do things God's Way
I Chronicles 13 is the account of David endeavoring to bring the Ark of God back to Jerusalem. During the time of Samuel Israel went out to fight the Philistines and were defeated. They decided to go up against the Philistines again and said "Let us bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Shiloh so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies." I Sam. 4:3. The Lord had told them to place the ark in the Most Holy Place (Ex. 26:33-34) and that he would meet with them there and give them all his commands. (Ex. 25:22) He had never authorized them to take the ark into battle.
Instead of Israel being helped by the ark, they were defeated and the ark of God was captured by the Philistines. 1 Sam. 4:11. The Lord sent a plague on the Philistines and after seven months they decided to send the ark back to the Israelites. So they made a new cart, placed the ark on the cart, hooked it up to two cows who had newly calved and sent the ark on its way. 1 Sam. 6:7-10. It went to Beth Shemesh. The people of Beth Shemesh rejoiced to see the ark and made a sacrifice unto the Lord, but some of the men looked into the ark and the Lord put 70 of them to death. 1 Sam. 6:14-19.
The people of Beth Shemesh sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearmin asking them to come and get the ark. They took the ark and put in the house of Abinadab where it evidently remained until David had it in his heart to bring the ark to Jerusalem. I Sam. 7:2 in the Amplified version of the Bible reads: "The ark remained in Kiriath-jearim a very long time (nearly 100 years, through Samuel's entire judgeship, Saul's reign, and well into David's when it was brought to Jerusalem.) For it was twenty years before all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." David said "Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul." I Chron. 13:3.
The ark was constructed with four rings attached to its four feet, then poles were inserted into the rings on the sides so it could be carried on the shoulders of the priests. (Ex. 25:10-15, Num. 4:5, 15, Num. 7:9) Instead of carrying the ark as the Lord had prescribed, David had a new cart built and copied the mode of transportation that the Philistines had used to send the ark back to Israel. Of course the results were disastrous and Uzzah died because he reached out and touched the ark. The ark was placed in the house of Obed-Edom and after a period of three months David brought the ark to Jerusalem the proper way, carried by the priests. (But that's in tomorrow's Bible reading.)
God did not allow David and Israel do what he allowed the Philistines to do. He has prescribed ways for us to live that please him. What he overlooks in the sinner he will not overlook in his children. The laws he gives us to follow are not to put a heavy burden on us but are for our good and for our happiness. He tells us how to have happy marriages, how to raise our children, how to conduct ourselves in business, etc., etc. "Be careful to obey all the law.........;do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Joshua 1:7-8.
This portion of scripture is a powerful lesson to listen to what God says, search the Scriptures to find out how he wants you to live and determine to do things God's way, not the ways of the world. The ways of the world lead to disaster; God's way leads to success and blessing.
Tomorrows Bible Reading - 1 Chronicles 15, Ezekiel 27, Luke 24
God is good all the time,
Naomi Brinkman
2 comments:
Wow! I love this phrase, "what He overlooks in the sinner He will not overlook in His children". Such a powerful statement and so true.
This reminds me of the parable of the lost son in Luke 15:11. The father celebrated the son that came back, but there was never a celebration for the son that was always there. There is a different kind of grace for both, God meets us where we are at.
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