“And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name, the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.” – 2 Samuel 6:2-3

The Ark of the Covenant had been away from Jerusalem for many years and David wanted to bring it back to where it belonged. David loved the LORD and because he had experienced the glory of God, he wanted all the people to experience it. In Old Testament times, nothing was more directly linked to the glory of God than the Ark of the Covenant, so he organized a cart to put the ark on and bring it into the city. Sounds like a great idea! Great idea, bad method...

“And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” – 2 Samuel 6:6-7

What went wrong? Why was God angry when David wanted to do something good for all the people? The fact is – that nothing was wrong with what he did, but everything was wrong with his method. God prescribed a very specific way of transporting the ark (in the law), but David did not consult God’s Word before he made his decision, he just did the most logical thing and loaded it onto a cart. It is always important to measure everything we do against the Word of God, because God is not only concerned with WHAT we do, but with HOW we do it. God told Moses very clearly...

“And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them.” – Exodus 25:13-14

“When the camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his sons shall come, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of the Testimony with it. Then they shall put on it a covering of badger skins, and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue; and they shall insert its poles.” – Numbers 4:5-6

David didn’t think that it was a big deal, how they moved the ark, but he suddenly realized that God was to be taken more seriously when Uzzah got killed. By touching the ark, he was in direct violation against the commandment of God. He thought that the avant-garde way of doing it was more dynamic, much easier and more effective, but it led to disaster. David was actually adopting the methodology of the Philistines...

“And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place.” ...Now therefore, make a new cart, take two milk cows which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. Then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go.” – 1 Samuel 6:2,7-8

In the same way, there’s a great danger in the church today when we borrow the methods of the world and of other religions to try and accomplish the purposes of God. We see that church services are moving away from the teaching of God’s Word and are being furnished by either multi-media entertainment or by pagan practices. Between the Seeker-sensitive movement and the Emerging Church trends, we have moved very far away from the church in the book of Acts:

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers... And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:42,47

The Apostles didn’t try to appeal to the Roman culture of the day, nor did they try to come up with new methods to get more people to join them. They simply did what God told them to do, and the LORD Himself built the church. Just like David, we can be very sincere in what we are trying to do, out of a heart for the lost, but we can be sincerely wrong in our method. God is not just our buddy, He needs to be feared and respected for who He is. His Word is not just a collection of stories and suggestions, but it should be looked upon with trembling (Isaiah 66:2). It should be used as doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16-17), as the final authority on everything (Psalm 138:2), as the absolute truth (John 17:17) and as the commandment of a Holy God. It would be wise to remember:

“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.”
– Proverbs 16:25

Let us therefore look to God’s Word for our answers and not to our own opinions, and let us measure our methods against Scripture to see if it is Biblical. We need to do God’s work in God’s way.

In Christ,
The Searchlight team