Finding good titles are a chore for me.
I’ve never been very good with titles.
So I have to work at it.
I’ve worked to find a title for today’s message.
When I first looked at the text several months ago, I titled today’s message, “Haste Makes Waste.”
We all know that to be true.
As the carpenter puts it, Measure once, cut twice; measure twice, cut once.
Haste makes waste.
But haste is not David’s problem.
To the contrary.
As I looked at the text, David works hard to make this day glorious.
To bring the ark to Jerusalem.
A new cart for the Ark.
Procession mapped out.
30 thousand soldiers.
Musicians marching and making a joyful noise.
Everything planned out.
To maximize the day.
David’s day.
His victory.
His glory.
His pride.
His way.
Begin to see a problem?
It’s David’s day, all right.
But Uzzah pays the price.
We’re all connected, are we not?
Every life impinges on every other life.
Students pay a price when teachers fail to teach.
A political leader makes self-serving decisions and thousands, even millions, suffer from hunger, unemployment or civil war.
A corporate executive decides that bottom-line stock performance is the only thing that counts - Wall Street cheers - while employees lose their pensions, benefits, jobs and homes.
Believers pay a price when pastors proclaim another gospel, as Paul notes in his letter to the Galatians [1.6].
Children pay a price when parents get it wrong.
With good reason, the commandment spells it out: if parents bow down and worship false gods, children pay the price.
These days, false gods are likely to be money, power, career, fun and games, or even severe strictness … I’ve seen children abused and hit because parents demand too much, give too little, and maybe those parents were abused when they were little, and the junk gets passed on, generation to generation.
Yet the Commandment makes grace clear: dysfunction goes through the third and fourth generation, because God puts a stop to it; and those who love the LORD and keep God’s commandments sow the seeds of faith that go on for a thousand generations.
A thousand generations.
The connections are huge.
We’re all connected to one another.
The greater our responsibility, the more lives we touch.
Great or small, a corporate executive or a parent, we all touch someone’s life.
I wonder if David knew Uzzah.
Uzzah was recruited to accompany the Ark … he was a priest, from a family of priests.
When the oxen stumbled, the cart tipped, Uzzah reaches out to steady the Ark, lest it fall.
The LORD is angry with Uzzah … God strikes Uzzah down.
Whoa!
What’s going on here?
Wouldn’t anyone have reached out a hand to steady the Ark?
Perhaps a wiser man might have said: “What will be will be … who am I to straighten things out? I will not touch the Ark of the LORD; that’s God’s business.”
Maybe we just have to let things fall, sometimes … can’t rescue everything that might fall down.
All of us can count moments when we should have kept our mouth shut … deleted the email instead of sending it … when we should have stayed home, stayed out of it, rather than interfering.
Police officers learn this with domestic problems - husband and wife fighting like cats and dogs .. the police show up, husband and wife turn on the police.
The police don’t always have a choice, but we all know those moments when it would been better if we had stayed home, kept our mouth shut, and did nothing.
Sometimes, we need to let things fall where they may, if fall they must.
Perhaps the Ark wouldn’t have fallen … and even if it had, so what? The earth is the LORD’S … the dirt of the roadway as well as the sky above.
God takes care of God’s things just fine.
Uzzah should have keep his hands to himself.
But there’s more to the story.
If David had done it right in the first place, Uzzah wouldn’t have died as he did.
Ultimately, Uzzah’s death is David’s fault.
David is the man with the greater responsibility, and David acted irresponsibly.
David disregarded the LORD’S Word about the Ark.
Spelled out in Exodus 25.
Four gold rings on each leg of the Ark; four acacia-wood poles, covered in gold, never to be removed - the Ark carried by the poles … hefted by Levites.
Only Levites can carry the Ark of the Covenant.
David should have known that. Someone should have reminded David … but no one wanted to rain on David’s parade … to Uzzah pays the price of David’s folly.
David get angry at God when Uzzah dies - that’s what we do when we flub and get into trouble; we blame God … or anyone else, for that matter … anyone but ourselves.
And then David got frightened … an important step in the right direction … the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.
David learns a painful lesson - Uzzah’s death is David’s fault.
It takes three months for David to recover.
And then David does it right!
In 1 Chronicles 15, David says to the priests, Because you did not carry the Ark the first time, the LORD our God burst out against us, because we did not give it proper care.
Three months later, David does it right.
The Ark is carried by the Levites, not trundled around on a cart.
Within six steps, the procession stops.
Ox and fatling sacrificed.
This day belongs to the LORD.
What we learn from all of this is simple and profound.
Uzzah reminds us to be patient and thoughtful - never be the proverbial fool who rushes in where angels fear to tread.
The next time we see something teetering, perhaps we might just think of Uzzah and hold back … trust God to take care of God’s things.
And from David:
To learn - we’re all connected … every decision we make … rear our children, behave at work, live our private lives, what we do in public - everything is connected to everything else.
David learns a hard lesson … to ignore the LORD always brings disaster.
Which is why David writes some years later, I’ve sinned against you, O LORD - you alone! When David disregards the LORD, people around him pay the price.
Live and learn.
We learn what Jesus says so eloquently: those to whom much is given, much is required.
If David is going to be the king, the king of God’s People, David has some mighty big lessons to learn …
Much has been given to David.
Much is required.
So it is for all of us.
To God be the glory!
Amen and Amen!
1 comment:
I read 2 Samuel 6 tonight and was searching for insight. this post was a blessing. thank you!
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