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Killed by an Ark

by Jerry Ousley
6/23/2023 / Devotionals

Killed by an Ark

By Jerry D. Ousley

Can you imagine that? They were doing the wrong thing for the right reason. I’m talking about the incident that took place in 2 Samuel 6. It was all about the ark of the covenant. Last week we spoke about the ark that God instructed Noah to build in order to preserve life after the great flood. The ark in this chapter is the Ark of the Covenant, built by the direction of God given to Moses while they were enroute to the Promised Land.

Essentially the Hebrew word for “ark” means “coffer” or “storage chest.” Hence the ark of Noah was a giant box that was designed not for navigation but to simply house all life and let it just float around on top of the water. The Ark of the Covenant was a box approximately 2-1/2 feet high, by 2-1/2 feet wide, by 3-1/2 feet long. It was overlaid with gold and an item called the “Mercy Seat” was made from gold as a lid to the box. It was used to store articles directed by God. At one time it contained the tables of stone with the ten commandments, a pot of the manna God had given them to eat in the wilderness, and the rod of Aaron that had budded as a sign that God had appointed him to bare the priestly lineage. Over the years the items were lost except for the tables of stone with the commandments.

It was supposed to stay inside the Tabernacle and later the Temple in the Holy of Holies where only the High Priest could enter once per year in order to make sacrifice for the sins of the nation of Israel. But somehow, it had become the practice for the Israeli people to carry it with them in times of war, I suppose to remind them that God was with them and to let their enemies know that God was with them.

This practice had caused them to lose the Ark to the Philistines in a battle that took place when Eli was both Judge and High Priest over Israel. They had gone to battle and God had allowed them to take the Ark captive, slaying Eli’s sinful sons. When the news got back to Eli, he fell over dead at the word that the enemy had taken the Ark. Samuel took over after that. To make a long story short, God had cursed the Philistines for having the Ark and they put it on a new cart, took a cow that had calves and released it to see if God was directing them to return it to Israel. The cow wouldn’t leave her calves unless God drove her. And that’s what happened. She mooed and cried for her calves all the way back to Israel but she took it there.

Okay, enough of the history lesson. Perhaps that is why David, when he wanted it brought to the new capitol city of Jerusalem, placed it on a new cart. They played and danced before it as they made the trip to Jerusalem. Suddenly, the cart hit a pothole in the road and the Ark shifted and began to fall off the cart. A man by the name of Uzzah reached out to catch it so that the precious artifact wouldn’t fall to the ground. But when he touched the Ark, he fell over dead. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? I mean he was only trying to help. He was only looking out for the Ark. He didn’t deserve to die in most of our opinions. I believe that’s what David thought too. Immediately they stopped where they were, at the threshing floor of Nachon, and unloaded the Ark in the house of a man named Obed-Edom until they could figure out what to do. There it stayed for three months. Perhaps three long months for David as he was confused about what had happened. After all, he was only trying to bring the Ark into the capitol city. Surely such a holy article belonged there. But those three months were a very blessed three months for Obed-Edom. During those months he experienced prosperity and blessing like never before in his life. Could it be because the Ark of God was in his house? That’s the inference in the story.

David then took the priests and the staves made to carry the Ark and it was brought the rest of the way to Jerusalem on the shoulders of those appointed by God to carry it. This is how it was supposed to be done. And they got the Ark to Jerusalem.

The lesson for us is that often we try to do the right things for God in the wrong way, and because of it we can be hurt. What am I talking about? I’m speaking of our good works. “But aren’t we supposed to do good works?” Of course we are. It is good that we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, take care of the poor and be there for those who need an advocate. Our good works reflect Christ in our lives. But if we aren’t careful our good works can become instruments to bring glory to us rather than to God. If we aren’t careful, we’ll find ourselves patting ourselves on the back for all the good we are doing. We’ll feel like we are doing something special for God.

If we strip away all the layers of good works in our lives - things done for the right reasons but with the wrong attitudes – we may find ourselves trying to catch the Ark, and actually doing a good work that will land us in the wrong place. Of course we are to do good works. But good works are a reflection of Christ in our lives, not to build us up. Not to earn salvation. Not to be good enough for Heaven. Not one of us, regardless our works, will be good enough to get in. When we do these things to earn salvation we are reaching for the Ark in the wrong way.

Let’s do our good works to show people the love of Christ. But let’s give the glory to Christ. After all, in reality, not many of us would do these things for nothing. The nature of man is to do things for what he will get out of it. But the love of Christ propels us to do good works not for the “at-a-boys” but so others can see true love, in reality, the only pure love, that can only come from God. Let’s take the Ark to Jerusalem, but let’s do it the way we are supposed to.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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