Grant English gave the sermon at Grace Church this morning and spoke on 2 Samuel 6 In short, David tries to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, a guy touches it and dies. David gets ticked off at God, then sees the errors of his ways and dances practically naked in the street and then has to put up with his wife telling him why it was wrong to dance in the street.

Grant spent a little time on the guy dying from touching the ark and I thought he made some great points there. I want to explore those a little further.

So, David gets this great idea that he wants to move the Ark from the ?house of Abinadab? (where it had been since the 7th chapter of 1st Samuel) to Jerusalem. Sounds like a good idea. David got a cart loaded up the ark and took off for the big city. On the way one of the Oxen stumbled, the ark teetered and Uzzah reached out to steady it. Seems like a reasonable thing to do, but God struck him dead right there on the spot. Not only that, the Bible says “The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act.?

Wait a second! God?s anger burned against him? What did he do wrong? He was just keeping the Ark from falling in the mud. I?m sure God wouldn?t want the Ark to fall into the mud. Why would he kill a guy who was just trying to do the right thing? Why did he think it was an irreverent act? Come on, isn?t this a little harsh? Uzzah had good intentions, wasn?t that good enough?

Well? no. Good intentions don?t cut it, especially when ?good intentions? cross paths with ?God?s Will.? In those circumstances good intentions will always lose and apparently, so will the good intender.

Where did they go wrong? First, David didn?t listen to God. He went about doing what he thought God wanted without consulting God and His word. If we look at Exodus 25, God tells how he wants the Ark to be transported, by people. Not on a cart pulled by oxen. And God tells who he wants moving the Ark. Numbers 4 says the Kohathites were the ones that were to do the carrying, not Uzzah.

Out of ignorance or stupidity, David led Uzzah to his death. Had they gone back and read the instructions first, they would have known the proper way to transport the Ark and been alright. Their good intentions would have been balanced with God?s Will.

So, what do I do with this? I?ve been guilty of doing the same thing David and Uzzah did. I?ve gone off on my own to try and do God?s Will with the best of intentions and I?ve failed miserably. I need to go back to His word, to meditate on it and KNOW it so that when I attempt to do His will, my ?good intentions? will not crash headlong into the immovable force of God?s Will. And, as the leader of my household, keep my family from paying the price.

This sermon gave me several things to write about. More later?