In 2 Samuel 6, we read about how King David and the nation of Israel had decided to bring the ark of the covenant back to the city of Jerusalem. The Philistine army had captured the ark previously, but upon its return to the nation of Israel, it had been kept in an obscure village throughout the reign of King Saul, and now David wanted to restore it to its rightful place. So far, so good…the ark represented God and His awesome power and even contained the tablets of stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed, and it was certainly proper and time to return it to the temple in Jerusalem.
However, look what we read in 2 Samuel 6:5-7, “And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.”
God had given the Israelites specific instruction on how the ark was to be carried on poles by the Levites and not placed on the back of a cart, AND God had specifically instructed that no one outside of those specified were to even touch it! Uzzah had the best intentions – he wanted to keep the ark from falling off the cart which the oxen pulled, so we would think that would be perfectly fine – but it doesn’t matter what his intentions were, it matters what God had COMMANDED them to do! He disobeyed God’s commandments.
We too often think, “Well, as long as we have the best intentions, God doesn’t really care how or why we do certain things.” God DOES care, and He HAS commanded us in His Word how we are to live and behave as Christians and followers of God. The Bible even commands us in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Even if we’re just eating and drinking, we should be PLEASING and HONORING God.
God has CLEARLY laid out in the Bible that we are to seek Him with ALL of our heart, that we are to BE HOLY as He is Holy, that we are to NOT LOVE this world, and He EXPECTS us to DO WHAT HE SAYS! We could argue, “But Uzzah was just trying to keep the ark from falling. If he hadn’t touched it, it would have ended up on the ground and broken?” IT DOESN’T MATTER! When God says don’t do something, HE MEANS DON’T DO IT! And when God tells us TO DO something, he means DO IT! It’s not our position to argue how or why, and just having the right intentions doesn’t mean we are no longer bound by His Word.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 sums up the Christian life, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Charles Stanley often says, “Obey God, and leave all the consequences to Him”, and that should be our life.
We often claim when faced with a choice of obedience to God’s commandments, “But God want’s us to have fun doesn’t He?” or “God doesn’t expect us to really do this or that…” The answer is quite clear. GOD WANTS US TO OBEY! PERIOD! END OF DISCUSSION! When we don’t, we risk our lives like Uzzah did.