David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God.
David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah; so that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, "How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?" So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord into his care in the city of David; instead David took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
2 Samuel 6:1-10 – NRSV
Years before David’s reign, before Saul became king, and even before Samuel assumed leadership of Israel, the ark of the Lord had been a mighty symbol for the people of God. After a devastating loss to the Philistines, the Israelites decided to take the ark with them into battle, assuming that, if they hauled the divine throne to the battlefield, God would ensure their victory to protect his throne and defend his name.
Their assumptions were incorrect. The ark was lost and began a unique little exodus of its own (1 Samuel 4-6). Taken to Philistine territory as an apparent captive of Dagon, Yahweh vindicates both his ark and his name by proving his power superior to Dagon or any other being. After God devastates the major cities of Philistia with plague, the Philistine kings chose to send the ark back to Israel on a brand new cart. The ark finds its way back to Israelite territory, and it is taken to the house of Abinadab for safe keeping.
After David captures the idols of the Philistines at Baal-perazim, he has the opportunity to think about this history. Just as the Israelites once hauled the ark into battle to tip the scales toward victory, so the Philistines brought and lost their idols as a result of the same logic. David believes in Yahweh, and has sought to honor him for the victories he has thus far experienced. What better way to honor God than to bring the symbol of God’s presence with his people to the center, to the capitol, of his people?
A new cart is built to carry the ark, just as the Philistines had done. Instead of two cows sent out on their own, though, this wagon is pulled by oxen, and carefully led by humans. Yet this time, instead of a successful trip, there is death. God breaks out against the Philistines at Baal-perazim, and God breaks out against Uzzah at Perez-Uzzah. Everyone is horrified and scared.
In his years of being with the ark in his father’s house, had Uzzah grown careless of respect toward the ark? Or was the problem the fact that the ark was moved on a cart instead of by the carefully prescribed and historically practiced method (Ex 25, 40; Num 3; Dt 10)? If the cart was the problem, then why wasn’t it a problem for the Philistines?
The Philistines didn’t have a way of knowing not to use a cart. God actually used the Philistine’s “cart test” to prove that he really was in control of their little universe. And, the Philistines didn’t have any Kohathites to carry the ark anyway.
David, though, should have known. As king, he had a responsibility to know the teachings of God. David either didn’t know his Torah here, or chose to ignore it.
The actions of God scare David, and then, as it so often does, anger follows fear. The anger of David rises. How could God have done this thing? Was death really necessary? Doesn’t God appreciate the honor that David chose to show him? The confident David, the King David who has had all of the answers so far now finds that he is uncertain of what to do and estranged from his God. He returns this dangerous ark of this dangerous God to storage. Obed-edom courageously extends hospitality to the ark within his home.
How do we handle God when God doesn’t appear to play by the rules, at least not the rules as we understand them? Perhaps the beginning of wisdom really is the fear of the Lord (Ps 111:10; Pr 9:10). He is not predictable; he has free will; he knows and understands that which we cannot. Neither can we “handle” God. God is beyond our manipulations, even if our well-intentioned designs are for his glory.
Perhaps gratitude, and not anger, should follow fear. Thankfulness that as many of us who have life, have it. Thankfulness that God has seen us through so many battles. Thankfulness that God has provided our every need and asked for so little in return.
Much of our grief comes when we focus on the tragedy that God appears to have let happen instead of the hundred that he has prevented. Many of our problems with God come when we focus on the prayer he doesn’t appear to hear instead of the thousand that he has answered.
May God forgive us when we are blind to his blessing.
May God forgive us when we tell God how he ought to be God.
May God forgive us when we think that we should be able to understand him or his actions.
May we praise God for who he is and what he has done.
May we praise God in spirit and truth.
Blessings,
Ron
Showing posts with label free will. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free will. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Freedom to be vulnerable ...
Over the next few days I will be sharing some of the closing thoughts from our team members. I wanted to close down this devotional experience this way so we can all hear the hearts of our brothers and sisters in the trenches with us. I wanted to share with you some of what I have heard and felt over the past few months of this experience. Thank you all for your help and encouragement along the way.
Jason
Angela’s Thoughts
Good morning! I had something I wanted to share with you before the day of "business" began :)
One memorable experience I had in regarding to your awesome devotional schedule is from a different perspective.
I don't remember what it was that kept me from the meeting this particular morning, but it was the morning that you discussed worship and had a lengthy time of singing as a group. I have thought about that morning many times since knowing I missed it.
I have tried to envision what the group sounded like, tried to imagine what the room felt like, what everyone's faces looked like, and tried to recreate what my heart may have felt in those moments. And I find myself very saddened that I missed such a beautiful moment of spiritual intimacy shared with my closest friends and family. Personally, I need to sing as a channel of encouragement and connection to God, as well as listen to music that praises our God. We have replaced a lot of TV time by listening to the Christian XM station on the satellite, but it's just not the same and it never can be as hearing the combined voices of those who love God and each other deeply. I know that it's taught over and over again about "not forsaking the assembly" out of respect for the elders, the congregation, and your own relationship with God. But never have I felt the repercussions of "forsaking" the assembly so strongly than to know what I missed out on. I can't imagine going through life, let alone a job like we have, without that sense of family, belonging, connection, and even sorrow when opportunities for time spent together are lost out on.
It is difficult for someone with my temperament to admit that I am in need of anything. But there is no denying the fact that I need my friends. I need my brothers and sisters. I need their encouragement through their presence, their prayers, their words, and their songs. To pretend otherwise is both cowardly and selfish. Praise be to God and His Son, that we have the freedom to be vulnerable with each other and that that vulnerability completes God's plan for His Kingdom, both now and in eternity.
Thanks for a wonderful time of challenge and growth <>< Angela
(hint, hint: can we please sing again sometime)
Jason
Angela’s Thoughts
Good morning! I had something I wanted to share with you before the day of "business" began :)
One memorable experience I had in regarding to your awesome devotional schedule is from a different perspective.
I don't remember what it was that kept me from the meeting this particular morning, but it was the morning that you discussed worship and had a lengthy time of singing as a group. I have thought about that morning many times since knowing I missed it.
I have tried to envision what the group sounded like, tried to imagine what the room felt like, what everyone's faces looked like, and tried to recreate what my heart may have felt in those moments. And I find myself very saddened that I missed such a beautiful moment of spiritual intimacy shared with my closest friends and family. Personally, I need to sing as a channel of encouragement and connection to God, as well as listen to music that praises our God. We have replaced a lot of TV time by listening to the Christian XM station on the satellite, but it's just not the same and it never can be as hearing the combined voices of those who love God and each other deeply. I know that it's taught over and over again about "not forsaking the assembly" out of respect for the elders, the congregation, and your own relationship with God. But never have I felt the repercussions of "forsaking" the assembly so strongly than to know what I missed out on. I can't imagine going through life, let alone a job like we have, without that sense of family, belonging, connection, and even sorrow when opportunities for time spent together are lost out on.
It is difficult for someone with my temperament to admit that I am in need of anything. But there is no denying the fact that I need my friends. I need my brothers and sisters. I need their encouragement through their presence, their prayers, their words, and their songs. To pretend otherwise is both cowardly and selfish. Praise be to God and His Son, that we have the freedom to be vulnerable with each other and that that vulnerability completes God's plan for His Kingdom, both now and in eternity.
Thanks for a wonderful time of challenge and growth <>< Angela
(hint, hint: can we please sing again sometime)
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
With a great hope ...
Hear the word of God from the book of Samuel …
The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling …
Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that is at Migron …
Saul faces circumstances which are indeed overwhelming: his enemy has vastly superior technology (they have chariots; he has none), and they outnumber him exceedingly (there are 10 enemy horsemen to every one of his men). What is he to do? How is he to respond? The writers of Samuel rarely bother to tell us what is going on inside someone’s head, but they give an account that is so vivid that you can deduce much from a character’s actions. We have two clues. First, Saul moves his troops to a place inaccessible to chariots, and then sits down under a pomegranate tree. He is not moving, not doing anything. Second, look at his people! They are hiding in any hole that they can find. They have crossed past despair into abject fear.
What does this tell us about Saul? How a people behave tells us something about their leadership. To quote Julius Campbell from Remember the Titans, “Attitude reflects leadership.” If the people are in despair, it’s very possible that leadership is as well. And when Saul stops doing anything, that is the sign that he, too, has lost hope.
Fortunately, that is not the end of the story:
One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side." But he did not tell his father … In the pass, by which Jonathan tried to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on one side and a rocky crag on the other; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. One crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.
Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few." His armor-bearer said to him, "Do all that your mind inclines to. I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine." Then Jonathan said, "Now we will cross over to those men and will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up; for the Lord has given them into our hand. That will be the sign for us."
From a worldly point of view, it is hard to blame Saul and the people for their despair. But they have forgotten the divine perspective! Jonathan has not. He lives with a great hope: “It may be that the Lord will act for us.” Jonathan has hope that God will take care of him, but he acts with the realization that both he and God are persons with free will. Just because he wants God to act in a certain way doesn’t mean that God will. Yet, underneath his great hope is an unshakable one: “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many, or by few.” Nothing can stop God from making hope into history! Notice one other thing: because Jonathan refuses despair but chooses hope, his armor-bearer follows his lead: “I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine.” Jonathan’s hope makes hope credible for others. What is that hope? God is the saving God. Nothing can stop him from taking care of his people. Just as this is Jonathan’s hope, it should be ours as well.
How does the story end? There are twists and turns, yet the hope and action of Jonathan and his armor bearer reveal the power of God acting for a mighty victory that day. God’s people triumph overwhelmingly. Still, someone had to hope. Some human being had to do something, even if that something seemed insignificant at the time. Jonathan was that hopeful someone.
Ultimately, hope is revealed in godly action just as despair is revealed in faithless inaction.
May God help us act today in hope of his mighty saving power.
Ron
1 Samuel 13:5-7; 15; 14:1-10 – NRSV
The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling …
Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that is at Migron …
Saul faces circumstances which are indeed overwhelming: his enemy has vastly superior technology (they have chariots; he has none), and they outnumber him exceedingly (there are 10 enemy horsemen to every one of his men). What is he to do? How is he to respond? The writers of Samuel rarely bother to tell us what is going on inside someone’s head, but they give an account that is so vivid that you can deduce much from a character’s actions. We have two clues. First, Saul moves his troops to a place inaccessible to chariots, and then sits down under a pomegranate tree. He is not moving, not doing anything. Second, look at his people! They are hiding in any hole that they can find. They have crossed past despair into abject fear.
What does this tell us about Saul? How a people behave tells us something about their leadership. To quote Julius Campbell from Remember the Titans, “Attitude reflects leadership.” If the people are in despair, it’s very possible that leadership is as well. And when Saul stops doing anything, that is the sign that he, too, has lost hope.
Fortunately, that is not the end of the story:
One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side." But he did not tell his father … In the pass, by which Jonathan tried to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on one side and a rocky crag on the other; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. One crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.
Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few." His armor-bearer said to him, "Do all that your mind inclines to. I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine." Then Jonathan said, "Now we will cross over to those men and will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up; for the Lord has given them into our hand. That will be the sign for us."
From a worldly point of view, it is hard to blame Saul and the people for their despair. But they have forgotten the divine perspective! Jonathan has not. He lives with a great hope: “It may be that the Lord will act for us.” Jonathan has hope that God will take care of him, but he acts with the realization that both he and God are persons with free will. Just because he wants God to act in a certain way doesn’t mean that God will. Yet, underneath his great hope is an unshakable one: “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many, or by few.” Nothing can stop God from making hope into history! Notice one other thing: because Jonathan refuses despair but chooses hope, his armor-bearer follows his lead: “I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine.” Jonathan’s hope makes hope credible for others. What is that hope? God is the saving God. Nothing can stop him from taking care of his people. Just as this is Jonathan’s hope, it should be ours as well.
How does the story end? There are twists and turns, yet the hope and action of Jonathan and his armor bearer reveal the power of God acting for a mighty victory that day. God’s people triumph overwhelmingly. Still, someone had to hope. Some human being had to do something, even if that something seemed insignificant at the time. Jonathan was that hopeful someone.
Ultimately, hope is revealed in godly action just as despair is revealed in faithless inaction.
May God help us act today in hope of his mighty saving power.
Ron
1 Samuel 13:5-7; 15; 14:1-10 – NRSV
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