Bible Study Blog for Tuesday, July 19, 2011
1 Chronicles 13-15; John 7:1-27
The WIZARD of OZ wanted people to Fear and Respect his presence. So he hid behind a curtain and projected his image into flames. But Toto pulled the curtain back, and the mere human Wizard was exposed. Not so with GOD.
POOR Uzzah.
The guy went from celebrating and worshiping God – to dead.
He was guiding the cart carrying the ARK of GOD – when the oxen stumbled. He tried to steady the Ark – but when he touched it – God struck him dead on the spot.
Why such a HARSH response to an innocent mistake of good intentions? Because the presence of God was unimaginably sacred.
His rule for the ARK was: No direct human contact. No exceptions.
And God’s instructions for moving the Ark were unmistakably clear:
Insert poles into the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed.
Exodus 25:14-15
What’s the point?
When it comes to WORSHIP – I don’t decide what’s important.
God does. And when it comes to specific instructions from God -
My job isn’t to be CREATIVE. My job is to be careful.
WOW.
Have a BLESSED Monday!
Tags: Bayside Church Woodland, Bayside Woodland, Bible Study, Chronicles, John
The Uzzah incident: evidence that maintaining our own relationship with Him can only be accomplished by being careful to obey Him (there, disobedience was first not carrying the ark with the poles and by putting it on a cart like a farmers load of cucumbers—there is great danger when we diss God) and by trusting that He selected us for relationship (before He constructed the world and the universe) and will keep us close to Himself and obedient to Him. He is faithful to honor Himself through us by forgiving (for Christ’s sake) our past disobediences. The whole thing is always about relationship on His terms, not ours. The part of today’s story I always thought was wry was that David felt free to be angry with God because God smote Uzzah—but if I understand how God works, actually God should have also smitten David because it was under his authority that the Ark happened to be on the cart in the first place.
The way that God punishes always seems like overkill (metaphor intended) when viewed from my human perspective. In this blog, not long ago, you referred to the Korah incident where God met rebellion with a spectacular (in the best traditions of Cecil B. DeMille) captial punishment. I’m also thinking of Achan’s disobedience as another example of God’s demand that we keep His Commandments close to our consciousness so that we’re first aware of the rules before we are tempted to head off in the direction that leads away from Him. There’s always pain associated with stepping away, and despite His forgiveness and His subsequent restoration of our relationship with Him, I remember my own failures too long, and the Enemy will use those memories as tools to keep wounding me despite God’s forgiveness. I need God’s help to better follow the instruction in Phil 3:13-14 to forget the past so as to be sure I’ve emptied the Enemy’s toolkit.