The reign of King David was a turbulent one. He had many decisions to make and, like the rest of us, sometimes he made mistakes. Scriptures tells us, however, that he was a man after God’s own heart, and the general tenor of his ways was to live in a manner that was pleasing to God.
His motives were, no doubt, of the best when he decided to bring the Ark of God from Kirjathjearim to Jerusalem and he made elaborate preparations for the journey. The Ark was put on a new cart and drawn by bullocks, but when the bullocks stumbled and Uzza, one of the drivers, put out his hand and touched the Ark to steady it, he died immediately, and instead of going on to Jerusalem David stopped at the house of Obededom and left the Ark there.
“And when they came to the threshing-floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the Ark, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the Ark, and he died before God. And David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza . . . And David was afraid of God that day, saying How shall I bring the Ark of God home to me ? So David brought not the ark home to himself to the City of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite. And the Ark of God remained with the family of Obededom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obededom, and all that he had.” 1 Chron. 13: 9-14.
During the three months that the Ark remained in the house of Obededom, David did some serious thinking and we find that he realized that the reason for God’s displeasure was that he was trying to bring the Ark to Jerusalem by his own method and not in the way God had appointed. It was not to be put on a cart and drawn by oxen, but to be carried by the Levites, and no one else was to touch it. So he called the Levites to sanctify themselves.
“And the children of the Levites bare the Ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord”. 1 Chron. 15:15.
Now we see the difference between doing things our own way and doing them God’s way. In the proving of things not seen.” Chron. 15:13 David says to the Levites, “For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us for that we sought him not after the due order.” But now that the Ark is being carried according to God’s instructions by the Levites, we have the record in the 26th verse that “God helped the Levites that bare the Ark of the covenant of the Lord” and it reached its destination without further mishap.
Our destination, if we are pleasing to God, is to find a place in the Kingdom of God soon to be set up on earth, and, if we are to achieve that result, we must strive for a place therein in the manner outlined in God’s word, the Bible.
Our intentions may be good but we can’t follow the popular course of doing it in our own way. We often hear people say we are all going to the same place, but by different roads. Nothing could be further from the truth. God has made the conditions, and, in His Word, there are only two roads described.
“Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7: 13-14.
We read in Malachi 3:6, “For I am the Lord. I change not.” It is, therefore, just as necessary now to do things in the way God has appointed as it was in the time of David. The instructions are simple and easy to be understood. We can spend a lifetime delving into the deep things of the scripture and it is good if we do, but the basic principles, as laid down in the Bible, are not complicated and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One