II Samuel 6:6-7

Look at II Samuel 6. This was a tremendous event that was going to take place. The Ark of the Covenant was about to be brought up from Baale Judah and it was just exciting! There were some thirty thousand soldiers here—special soldiers—"chosen men." There were probably another twenty or thirty thousand people or more on the scene. This was a huge event! The streets were lined with cheering throngs of people! This was a very joyous time for the nation of Israel!

The story is familiar to us. They had placed the ark on a cart and...

David was afraid of the ark—and of God! Let us notice, however, that God did not rush down and give David the answer. He did not say, "David, do you see what you have done wrong?" He did not explain to David just why He struck Uzzah. He made David work through the problem.

He does the same thing with us. When we find that we are out of sync with God He does not simply rush to intervene and say, "Now there, there, my son." He does not pat us on the head and say, "You are alright."

Rather, He says, in effect, "Now do you understand that you are in hot water?" He asks, "Are you feeling pain?" And you say, "Yes!" And He says, "Well, alright, now can you figure out why?" And so we have to do that.

Upon close examination we find that those who had advised David were complacent and neglectful. They thought that because the ark came to them on a cart from the Philistines they could simply send it on to where it was supposed to go in like manner. We see that did not work out so well!

The instructions for how to properly carry the ark are found in I Chronicles 15:2, 14-15. I am sure that these instructions were originally learned correctly because David had to work his way through the problem.

Can we make mistakes like this? David was "a man after God's own heart!" Of course we can! David made mistakes left and right and yet God loved him. When God puts us through such things it does not mean that we are not cared for. David committed adultery with Bathsheba; killed Uriah the Hittite; caused the death of thousands and the death of his son, Absalom. All because he took God's laws for granted.

And we, too, can become complacent and neglectful as to how we live our lives. And if we do not respond to God then He is going to increase the pressure on us.