1 Samuel 6- When Good Intentions Go Wrong

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Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

SPEAKER_00 0:11

2nd Samuel chapter 6. Well, we're considering the life of David. I probably don't need to tell you that, but we've entered into 2 Samuel, in which we see that Saul has died and David is finally the king proper, right? He's uh ruled uh a few years in the south, the southern kingdom of Judah, and and now he's become king over the entire uh land of Israel. So uh it's as God had said back in 1 Samuel 16 that he would be uh a king, a king. Um now just because David is the king, we need to realize doesn't mean he's arrived. Uh until we get to heaven, it's a continual process of learning in our life. The Bible calls it sanctification, right? It's this process of God chiseling things out of our life, and it can be painful, right? But he's faithful to make us just a little bit more like him in character. And uh let's just see what David learns today in chapter six. We'll read kind of uh say the first act of this verses one through eight, and then we'll see where we get with it. Again, David gathered all the choiced men of Israel, 30,000. David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baal Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So they set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out from the house of Abinadab, which was in the hill, on the hill, and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart, and they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of firwood, on harps, on stringed instruments and tambourines, on cistrums and cymbals. And when they came to Nakon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his heir, and he died by the ark of God. And David became angry because the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah, or outbreak against Uzzah, as it is to this day. So here we see David has a desire on his heart to bring the Ark of God to the city of David, Jerusalem. Now, you guys know the ark we're talking about here is not the ark that Noah built. This is the ark that God had Moses build in the wilderness. It's a box, right? And on that ark was a covering, it was a small box covered in gold, and on that was a covering known as the mercy seat. Attached to that mercy seat, there are these angels, these cherub angels. There's two of them, so it's plural, cherubim, and and they overlooked the mercy seat. It's really a picture, it's a model of the throne of God in heaven. And and here, David has it in his heart to bring it to Jerusalem. Now we haven't seen the ark since the beginning there of 1 Samuel in chapter 7. You'll remember there that the people of Israel took it out to battle against the Philistines and thought, well, God's going before us, the Ark is going before us. The Philistines defeated Israel there and they captured the Ark. And it was there for a time in Philistia, um, really whooping up on their idols, right? Knocking over the statue of Dagon, uh, giving them tumors there. And and they send it back finally to Israel. They send it back on a cart, and it comes dragged by these two uh mama cows, uh, just just back to Israel. Now it arrives at this house of Abinadab, and that's where it stays for about 20 years. So we see the meanwhile here of the Ark of God, it's been about 20 years just sitting at a guy's house, a Levite's house, and and and there it is. Well, David has this good thing on his heart to bring it from storage there to Jerusalem, his new capital city. And as we look at this, we understand it's a good-hearted plan. You could say that David has a good thing in his heart, but as we look at it, what he wants and how he does it, he's missing some very important things as we read this. We understand. Number one that we're missing here is inquiry. We talked about this last week. We read there in the last chapter that David inquired of the Lord. David asked God, God, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to go here and do this? Do you want me to attack? What do you want me to do? David inquired of the Lord. But here in chapter six, we might notice David never asked God. And it's a classic problem because God wants to be part of every decision in our life. He wants to be considered and consulted. And we see this problem throughout the Bible, right? We see this problem with Moses, who takes it upon himself to kill the Egyptian there. Not God's plan. We see it with Joshua, who gets the plan for Jericho and it goes wonderfully. And then afterwards, he goes to Ai and he does not ask God what to do. He just takes it upon himself. Later on, he makes a treaty with the Gibeonites, does not ask God. And there's trouble in Joseph, uh in Joshua's life because he didn't ask God, he didn't inquire of the Lord. Well, here it's a good-hearted thing that David wants to do, but he doesn't ask God. Asking God involves a few things. Asking God involves trust. God, I don't know what's best in my life, but you do. God, I'm trusting you with my life. What do you want me to do? Uh, it involves some open hands, it involves uh some humility, right? Making decisions on our own has a certain amount of pride to it. God, I know what's right, I know what's best in my life, I'm just gonna do it. So failing to ask God, it's pride, it doesn't involve trust, but true inquiry involves obedience. And check this out it involves obedience. Sometimes we ask God what to do. Well, then we're we're obligated to do it. If not, it's disobedience, and that's a big deal. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that the wise man builds his house on the rock. Well, who's the person that builds their house on the rock? Jesus says it's the one who hears what I have to say, hears my word, and does it, hearing what God wants and doing it. That's important. All these things go together with inquiring of the Lord. We can flash back though to the life of Saul. Saul's big downfall was in 1 Samuel 15 when he refused to do what God said. You'll remember, God told him, Go and attack Amalek and completely and utterly destroy them. Man, woman, child, animal, all of Amalek, destroy them. And you remember God gave Saul the victory, but he kept the best alive. Samuel came and said, What is this, Saul? I thought God told you to utterly destroy everything. And Saul says, Well, there in chapter 15, verse 8 and 9, I've spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the lambs, and all that was good. And I'm offering him as a sacrifice to the Lord. Now, check it out. Samuel goes on to say this in 1 Samuel 15, 22 the Lord has uh has the Lord great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion, disobedience is as a sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry because you rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king. So check it out. Saul does not obey what God has to say. Um, he finds out what God wants, but he doesn't do it, and it's his end. It's like witchcraft, it's like idolatry, Samuel says. So check it out, all those things put together. Here's David, a good thing on his heart to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem, but he doesn't ask God, he doesn't submit to God, he doesn't allow room to obey what God has to say, and check it out. Even a good-hearted plan. Now, listen, a good-hearted plan can be bad and destructive if we don't inquire of the Lord. It's important. And here's the deal: why do we see this again? Because we so often forget. We forget this idea of submitting our plans to the Lord. I was reminded of it last night, uh, discussing uh a great business opportunity, a possible financial thing in my life. And and I it may be a good thing. It seems like a good thing, it seems like a slam dunk good thing. But my wife reminded me, hey, you know, I listened to your study last week about inquiring of the Lord. Have you actually asked God about this? Like, thanks, dear. Way to convict, you know, but I'm grateful, right? Because I had to say, you know what? It's funny I could give a study on that and then just go right into it because it makes sense. It's a good idea, but even good ideas, even godly ideas can be in the wrong place if we don't ask God. And that's what happens here with David. We see it the wrong plan, the wrong time, the wrong way. Now, the result we see David takes the ark out of the house on a cart, just like the Philistines did. And there's a big procession, you know. Picture it. There's just music and instruments, and they're just having a great time going down the road with the ark of God. It's a parade, you know, and there the oxen stumbles. And Uzzah, God bless Uzzah, right? Uzzah, good intentions. He reaches out his hand to stable the Ark of God. And it says in verse 7 there that God's anger burned against Uzzah. That's what it really says. God's anger burned against Uzzah, and whack, Uzzah's dead on the spot, right? And it's just a fact. Now, that word anger there, it really does have that idea of burning with anger. We all picture that, right? Your ears are kind of like you can feel they're just warm. You're so upset. What was God feeling at this moment? Anger, burning with anger. Now, this is tied to his holiness. Let's just say that. This is tied to God's holiness. God is a consuming fire, right? Um, it's nothing personal, but we understand God can't dwell with sin. Exodus 19. They're at Mount Sinon, and God says, Moses, make sure the priests consecrate themselves lest I break out against them, right? But picture that. It's God's holiness, right? God's a consuming fire. Now, we probably need a little bit more of that in our Christianity. I'm as casual as casual gets. If my wife didn't say it was a good idea to wear jeans, I'd probably wear shorts today. I'm just saying, right? But but you know, we probably need a little bit more holiness in our life, an idea of God's holiness. He's God, right? You don't just come to him on your own, you know. You don't come to him in your sin because he's a consuming fire. He's holy. He can't stand in that. Now, it's important that we also understand that God is not a fire. God is not a thoughtless, heartless fire. Oh, I can't help it. There's sin. I just lash out at sin, right? Jeremiah the prophet tells us in Lamentations chapter 3, verse 21 it's because of the Lord's great love we're not consumed. His mercies are new every morning. So check it out. God has mercy and love. And we come to him, and every day we come to him as sinners. We're messed up from morning to night, but God's mercy is there, and we're not consumed. So God's not a heartless, thoughtless fire, but his holiness is a real thing. And here you can imagine the change in this parade as they're all rejoicing and singing and dancing, and all at once oozes on the ground, smitten by God, right? And there David goes over, picture it, goes over and stands over him. And notice his response in verse 9. David, uh, I'm sorry, verse 8. And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah. So, what do we get here? That same word. David burns with anger over this. David sees Uzzah dead on the ground, and his honest emotion is he is angry at God. I think that's really what's going on here. It's enough for them to have written it down, right? That David was so angry, he was just burning with anger. Now, check it out. That's an honest emotion to feel. Now, David's not correct in being angry, but notice God doesn't just turn around and smite David. Like, how dare you be angry at me? I have every reason to lash out against Kuz. I'm holy. How dare you? And David feels anger, and God says, That's fair. It's wrong, but that's fair, right? We can be honest with God, how we feel. There's no point in being dishonest with God and how we feel, right? Tell him what you're feeling. It's what he wants to hear from you. I'm struggling with that. Why did these bad things, these hard things happen? They were so young. Why do they I don't understand it, but God, I just feel it. I'm hurt, I'm depressed, I'm angry at these things. You can tell God what you're feeling. And David here was honestly angry. Now, God has mercy on him for sure. Um, but notice what it does to David here. He's angry, but then also in verse 9, he was afraid of the Lord that day. So David kind of gets this reverence. All of a sudden, it just comes upon David, this reverence, like Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 1, who is in the presence of God and he said, Woe is me, I'm unclean, I'm a man of unclean lips, and I live amongst the people of unclean lips. Like Daniel, who says that his strength was taken from him and vigor was turned to frailty, like John in the book of Revelation, chapter 1, verse 17, who sees Jesus and he fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand on me, saying, Do not be afraid. But but you see, just that reverence in the presence of God, but this fear keeps David away. Notice, I think we can read on. David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, How can the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David, but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of God remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his household. So it keeps David from doing what's on his heart for three whole months, right? But notice what's going on at this house of Obed-Edom, aside from having a cool name, right? Uh Obed Edom, his house is blessed because of the ark. I don't know what that means. You know, did the crops just start to spring up? Was there a rainbow that just appeared over his house? And it's like, you know, clouds are everywhere else, but over my house it's sunny. I don't know what that is. You know, did he just receive every every everything that came in the mail was a check? I don't know, right? You know, but God blessed him because of the ark, and that's a beautiful thought. Uh, being a believer doesn't mean your life is easy. We say that all the time. But we've got to say there is some serious blessing being one of God's kids. Man, it's a blessed life in the presence of the Lord. And so it provokes David to this kind of jealousy, I imagine. He sees Obed Edom and hears, man, things are going great for him. I don't know what's going on, but ever since he got the ark, blessing, you know. And David goes, you know what? That's it. And there's a change of heart here with David. We most definitely see repentance in his life. So important, he goes the opposite direction. I'm sure there was inquiry because he did things right this time around. We'll see. He heard what God said and he obeyed. Um, now notice how it goes down in verse 12. And with uh, let's see, in verse well, verse 12. Now was told King David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought the ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the city of David with gladness. And so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fat and sheep. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod, not much. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord, was shouting, and with the trumpet, uh, with the sound of the trumpet. Now the ark of the Lord came into the city of David. Okay, well, we'll stop there for for now, but notice David makes some changes, right? David does it the right way, no cart involved. He has them carrying the ark, those that were bearing the ark. Um, this is important because this was part of the downfall the first time, right? He had done it the Philistine way on a cart, but God made it pretty specific there in Exodus 25. You put rings on this ark. There's rings, gold rings on each corner of this ark. There's poles that go through those rings. And the priests are to carry, not just any priests, the Koathites are to carry the ark on the poles on their shoulders. That's how you're to do it. Now you look at that and you go, well, that's just semantics, isn't it? Right? What's the big deal? Cart, poles, what God had said this is the way it needs to be. It's obedience rather than sacrifice. And here David repents in verse 13. They're bearing the ark. Now he adds to that every six paces they sacrificed. This isn't a command, but I think this is a realization of how holy God is. Man, I am not holy. I need sacrifice in my life. My righteousness is like filthy rags. Uh notice, we can notice with David here, he's wearing a linen ephod and he danced before the Lord. Says there that he whirled and spun, right? Now, in their culture, this was an obvious job that David was doing. It was a fool, so to speak, would go before a king and do this, kind of like a court jester, right? Would go before the king and dance and just, you know, make a big production, humbly going before the king to show the greatness of this king. Well, here's David humbly traveling before the ark, just giving it as all. Now, this is a big deal. This is a lot of humility, because we see in verse 20, if you want to skip down to verse 20, his wife Michel's response. Then David returned to bless his household. And Michel, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, How glorious! You can hear the sarcasm, right? How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids and his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. So Saul's daughter realizes, David, you've made a complete fool of yourself. That's not a very kingly way to act. And David responds, look at verse 21. So David said to her, It was before the Lord who chose me instead of your father, who and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel. Therefore, I would play music before the Lord, and I will be even more undignified than this. I will be humble in my own sight. And so David goes, You know what? I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make a fool out of myself for God. I don't need to strut around like the king. It's not dignified, that's not what God needs. It's humility, and David understood it, not coming in his own goodness, but coming in humility, only through sacrifice, right? And David's understanding. Now let's turn last year to Psalm 24. Because Psalm 24 most would say was written at this time. Uh at this time that this was going on, that David brought the ark back. Psalm 24. Verse 1. The earth is the Lord's in all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates. Lift up, you everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. Man, he realizes it. God, I'm nothing. It's not my will that I want in my life, it's your will. I'm not the one that needs to be seen. It's you that people need to see. You're the king. What do you want in my life? And of course, that's the place God wants us to be. God, what do you want? Um, God, again, it's so easy to say it. Certainly, your will be done in our lives, but our hearts are so deceptive. We we can say it, but so often there are things that hold us back. And God, it's a daily thing to recognize who you are, to realize your place of leadership, of rule in our lives. God, so much blessing involved with your presence in our life. So much goodness in the places that you take us. Not always easy, but it's right. God, I just ask that these things would be real in our lives. God, if maybe there's things that we're deciding on, things that we're doing, just presumptuously. God help us to bring it to you. God, you're so good. And we trust that even today. God, work these things in our life. In Jesus' name we pray.