God's wrath and blessing

God’s wrath and blessing 2 Samuel 6 It’s sometimes tempting when life seems to be on a role, when things are going well for us, to become somewhat caught up in our own success, to be so optimistic about our life and about the future that we forget that we’re not actually in control of our own destiny, that in fact as we read in Isaiah chapter 40 verses 6 to 8: “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands for ever.” And yet it is so easy to forget this if or when all that we do appears to bring us success. Easy then to forget the ultimate authority of God over the whole of our lives. That is until something happens to bring us up short. Well this appears to have been the case for David as we look at chapter 6 of 2 Samuel. After Saul and three of his Sons died in battle against the Philistines, David was quickly declared King by the tribe of Judah. And then, after some initial opposition from Saul’s remaining son, Ish-Bosheth, supported by Abner who’d been the commander of Saul’s army, he was anointed King over the whole of Israel by the Elders of Israel. Along with his men David then marched against Jerusalem which was ruled over by a Canaanite people called the Jebusites; he defeated them and established his royal residence there; redeveloping Jerusalem, which he called the City of David, and building his Royal palace in the City. So that his power and his reputation began to grow and as a result, when the Philistines heard about all this they set out to defeat him, as they’d done Saul, before he became too strong for them. But David enquired of the Lord as to what he should do and was told: “Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you” (chapter 5 verse 19 of 2 Samuel). He and his army therefore fought, and won a great battle. So much success! Now he was ready to turn his attention fully to the one who’d brought him that success. Now the great symbol of God’s presence and power amongst his people had always been the ark of the Covenant which was constructed during the time of Moses in accordance with the Lord’s instructions, mainly to house the tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written. It was also in effect the throne of God, because it was between the cherubim on the lid of the ark that God appeared to Moses, and so how right therefore it must have seemed to David that it should be found in the same location as the throne of the King of Israel! And so he quickly made arrangements for the ark to be transported to Jerusalem. It had actually been left at the House of Abinadab 20 years before, according to 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 2, after it was taken there when it was returned by the Philistines who’d captured it at the time of Eli and his two sons’ death. And it had remained there all this time being guarded by Abinadab’s family, kept safely away from threat of further capture. But now David decided that it was time to move it, and there was going to be no way that the taking of the Ark from Abinadab’s house would be a low key affair. For him this would have no doubt been the highlight of his reign up to that point ... the God of Israel coming to his place of safety, his place of honour, to the place where he belonged amongst his people. And so we read in verse 1 of our passage that David brought together out of Israel thirty thousand chosen men, such a large and impressive escort which would have had a dual purpose, both deterring any possible attack from the Philistines, whose territory was nearby, as well as declaring to everyone the greatness of the Lord God Jehovah, the God of Israel. David also ensured that a new wooden cart was made to carry the ark, so that there’d be nothing to threaten its purity; and it was guided by Uzzah and Ahio who were sons of Abinadab. Then as the cart travelled along, a huge crowd of people, David and the whole house of Israel, began to celebrate with all their might before the Lord, full of enthusiasm as they sang praises to him and played music on many different instruments. What a joyous occasion! Surely this would have been pleasing to the Lord! You’d think so. But then, what of God? Yes David and the people were praising Him, but where was He in all this, what was His role? Usually, as we’ve seen over the weeks, before David embarked upon any new major project he’d firstly seek and receive confirmation of the Lord’s will concerning the matter. For instance last week, you may remember, before pursuing the Amalekites, who’d taken his entire people hostage, David had sought guidance from the priest Abiathar, who used the Urim and Thummim to determine God’s will; and recently, as I mentioned, when preparing to attack the Philistines, David firstly asked God if he was right to do so. Now however it appears that when he was preparing to take the ark to Jerusalem, David took it for granted that this was Gods will not bothering, it seems, to consult him. And when we read 1 Chronicles chapter 13, which gives us more detail on this incident, we find that he conferred extensively with the leaders of the Israelite army but when it came to the ordinary people, and in particular to the religious leaders, he merely said to them, “If it seems good to you, and if it is the will of the Lord our God… let us bring the ark of our God back to us.” And then we’re told, “The whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the people.” There was so much presumption here. For all of them it seemed the obvious thing to do, this final stage in the ultimately victorious process that had brought them to this point. And so they launched themselves into the venture with great enthusiasm; demonstrating however, at the same time, that enthusiasm alone isn’t enough. Because as the cavalcade advanced towards Jerusalem the oxen suddenly stumbled such that the ark was in danger of falling and Uzzah, understandably, reached out to steady it. Well it was the last thing he did as we’re told, “The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.” David had been full of good intentions and yet in his enthusiasm he and the people had forgotten about God, forgotten who was actually in control of things, forgotten also the strict requirements of purity that a holy God expects of his people. They’d got above themselves and the Lord was forced to bring them down to earth with a bump. They’d begun to treat him almost as their pet god, one who was theirs to do with as they pleased, whereas all along as Don Carson tells us, “God had been profoundly concerned to eradicate any hint that he is nothing more than a talisman, a controllable god, some godlet akin to other neighbourhood godlets” When suddenly Uzzah was struck down dead, they were reminded that this was very far from being the case. And it wasn’t as if Uzzah was being in any way malicious in reaching out to steady the ark. No his sin was that he’d no awareness of rightful reverent fear, no understanding of the huge difference between the things of God and the ordinary things of man. Today when people take the Lord’s name in vain they’ll often brush it off saying they don’t mean anything by it. But that is precisely the point; they don’t mean anything by it, and God won’t be treated with such couldn’t care-less-ness ... he demands fear and he expects reverence. And David had forgotten to give Him this, by ignoring the clear instructions that the Lord had given for handling the ark. You see it should have been carried by priests holding on to the poles that fitted through the rings on the ark’s side, and yet instead David had used the method so recently adopted by the Philistines when bringing it back to Israel. A warning perhaps about the potential dangers attached to the tendency that exists to throw out tradition in favour of modern methods when doing church. A reminder that an understanding of the necessity for change should always be balanced by a deep theological understanding ... that is an understanding of our God and his ways. An understanding that, at first, David appears not to have had. Because his immediate reaction, after the sudden death of Uzzah, was one of anger. How could God have repaid all that he, David, had done for him in this way? After all the planning and arranging, after all the pomp and ceremony, all the praise and adoration. It was an almost petulant reaction, as if he was saying, “It’s not fair God”. How very easy it is to think that we know better than God and to turn on him annoyed when things don’t work out as we’d like them to, especially when we’ve worked hard to try and ensure they do. Instead of asking ourselves and God, “Why” and waiting for his response? But then soon David began to gain understanding; as verse 9 of our passage tells us: “David was afraid of the Lord that day…” In other words he began at last to think clearly, to bring the sovereignty of God into the equation and to realise his own powerlessness in comparison with it. Reminding us of the truth of those words from psalm 111 that: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.” And yet this understanding of David was still only partial understanding, because his fear initially made him recoil from God not follow him as he sought to put the ark away again, giving up his intention to take it with him into Jerusalem. The reaction perhaps of one who is newly made aware of God’s incomparable perfection in comparison with their own utter fallen-ness. Because David, though perhaps at times prone to over enthusiasm, also had an intense love for God and a recognition of and readiness to admit, his own failings. But then we find God demonstrating his loving forgiveness to David by giving him a much deeper understanding of his nature, the nature which he had revealed to Moses many years before, declaring of himself in Exodus chapter 34 verses 6 to 7: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Because over the next three months, whilst the ark remained now at the house of Obed-Edom, the whole household was blessed and David learned that actually God delights to bless, and that true reverence leads to his blessing. That his discipline is only for a while and is meant to lead to repentance and a change of heart. So that once again he was encouraged to bring the ark up to Jerusalem; this time treating it with true reverence ... Having it carried by the priests as God required whilst acknowledging God’s Lordship by making sacrifices to him as it moved along. And yet this was done with no apparent reduction in David’s and the people’s enthusiasm. Again there was great rejoicing as, with shouts and the sound of trumpets, David and no doubt the entire assembly danced with all their might before the Lord. A demonstration that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with enthusiasm rightly channelled. That in fact the Lord delights when we’re enthusiastic in his service. It’s only a problem when we get so taken up by our enthusiasm, by our emotional response to God that we forget to be still before the Lord and to give him his rightful place. One person who couldn’t see the difference between right and wrong enthusiasm though was Michal, David’s wife and the daughter of Saul. She stood and watched David from a window in the palace as, along with the ark, he entered Jerusalem leaping and dancing before the Lord, wearing only a lined ephod - the traditional dress for such celebrations. Yet instead of joining in the praise to God that David was expressing all she could think about was what others might think of her husband behaving in this fashion. She couldn’t see past her own feelings of dented pride. It seems that she was more interested in pomp and ceremony, in winning the favour of others than she was in how to please God … very much the daughter of her father. She was incapable therefore of being able to subject herself fully to God, whatever that might entail. To have the deep awareness of God, the God-centeredness, that surely must characterise all true worship. And because Michal was unable to grasp the truth of God, she wasn’t allowed by Him to be a part of his great plan for his people, as we read that she “never had any children” ... no descendants of David came from her. So then, where do we stand as regards all this, we a congregation of God’s people who ordinarily would be meeting together this morning in God’s house, coming together to celebrate and to worship him? Do we come with enthusiasm? Hopefully so because, after all, we have so much to be enthusiastic about, don’t we? When we’re his then we’ve been chosen out of the world to live a new dimension of life through the power of the Holy Spirit, we know forgiveness, we know acceptance. Do we come with reverence and awe? Do we recognise and are we growing in our understanding of the one we can call our heavenly Father? Do we bow down before him, in the quiet moments, allowing him to speak to us of hidden “spiritual realities”? Are we led to allow the risen Christ to be Lord and master over all aspects of our lives? And as we come in worship to him are we able to acknowledge our own failings, our own weaknesses, and yet rejoice in that fact knowing that he is sufficient to meet all our needs, that he is ready to forgive and to bless? Do we come in worship as a united people, people with many differences but sharing that which is most important … the experience of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord? And finally, do we come with great thanksgiving, worshipping and adoring the living God, creator and sustainer of the entire universe? Wanting to let him know how much we love him; desiring that his influence become more and more a reality in our lives and ours less, not caring for what others might think. After all the Lord Almighty, our heavenly Father, is the one who is ultimately in control of all our ways. And so as we worship him today together, and as we continue to worship through the week that lies ahead, may we each know the blessings that he promises those who yield their lives in obedience, and holy reverence, to him. Amen