Moments of Decision: Chapter 6: David's Decision

David's Decision: Doing Right the Wrong Way

From the book: Moments of Decision by Vance Havner

David decided to bring the ark to Jerusalem. The Philistines had captured it during the last sad days of Eli. It caused them so much trouble that they put it on a cart and returned it, and for a while it stayed at the house of Abinadab (see 1 Samuel 7:1). David undertook to bring it to Jerusalem. His motive was good, but his method was wrong. He was right in his intentions but wrong in the implementation. God had ordered that the ark should be carried only on the shoulders of the Levites. David loaded it on a new cart to be drawn by oxen. He probably got the idea from the Philistines; so it was an expedient borrowed from the enemies of Israel. On the way the oxen stumbled, and when Uzzah put forth his hand to steady the ark, God struck him dead (see 2 Samuel 6:2-8).

This strange tragedy has some serious lessons for us today. Just as David borrowed his idea from the Philistines, the church today has borrowed from the world the vehicles of her ministry. We study the techniques of this age, the gadgetry of the business, social, and entertainment world, looking for new carts on which to carry the ark of our testimony. We hold a wet finger in the air to ascertain which way the popular wind is blowing; we set our sails to catch the latest breeze. Instead of asking, "How does God do it?" we ask, "How does the world do it?" We are religious copycats; we mimic the manikins of this Punch and Judy show we call progress. We have called Hollywood to our aid as though the gospel were a form of entertainment. Our worship is streamlined, our preaching slanted to tickle the ears of a generation that cannot endure sound doctrine.

When Uzzah tried to steady the ark, his intentions were good, but the whole procedure was wrong to start with. Today the ark reels and rocks, and Uzzah is worried. The brethren are disturbed about the unsteadiness of our doctrine, the wavering churches, the unstable swaying of modern Christianity. Sincere efforts are made to stabilize the situation, but they will end as Uzzah's did, in tragedy, for we have started out wrong. We must give up our new carts and get God's work on the shoulders of separated and dedicated people.

What was the sin of Uzzah? He had no regard for the sanctity of the ark. He was the son of Abinadab, and all his life he had seen the ark in his home. It was a familiar piece of furniture and had become to him just a box. Some of us grow so familiar with the gospel, with the worship and ordinances of the church, that we lose our reverence. Alexander Maclaren says in his Expositions of Holy Scripture that Uzzah had lost the sense of awe: "Nothing is more delicate than a sense of awe; trifle with it ever so little and it speedily disappears. There is far too little of it in our modern religion." Just watch any Sunday morning congregation!

Uzzah had lost his regard for the sacredness of the ark as the symbol of God's presence among his people. In his commentary, Matthew Henry puts it this way: "Perhaps he had affected to show before this great assembly how bold he could make with the ark, having been so long acquainted with it. Familiarity, even with that which is most awful, is apt to breed contempt."

It is a fearful thing to treat the ark as though it were a box! We can become so accustomed to being Christians and being preachers that we place unholy hands on sacred things. Our intentions may be good, but, as Matthew Henry says again: "It will not suffice to say of that which is ill done that it was well meant."

It is only because of the long-suffering of God that more corpses, like Uzzah's before the ark, do not lie around today. Even ministers of long experience may become so accustomed to their work that it becomes routine, and the holy awe departs. Growing up in Christian homes, we may easily mistake the language of Christianity for its life and become parrots of pious phrases. There is no greater hindrance to genuine spirituality than a superficial familiarity with Christianity from childhood. We get so accustomed to it that we play marbles with diamonds. We are hearing everywhere about relevance; we had better do something about reverence.

There is another angle to this episode. It may have been more sophisticated, up-to-date, and speedier—it actually took longer—to haul the ark on a cart, but it was not God's way. There was something personal about carrying the ark on the shoulders of the Levites; shifting to a cart lessened the sense of personal responsibility. Today the Lord's work has become impersonal. We let a machine do it. Putting our shoulders to the wheel is not the same thing as putting our shoulders under the ark. Too much of our giving is like feeding nickels into slots in a vending machine. It is a vain oblation when the Macedonians do not first give themselves. God wants self before service and substance. Fancy new Philistine carts may take a load from our shoulders, but we cannot transfer personal responsibility.

The problem was not that the oxen stumbled, the cart shook, and the ark lurched; there should have been no oxen and cart to begin with. No matter how many Uzzahs try to steady the ark, we are working on the wrong problem, and we are not going to help matters by making better carts and hiring trained Uzzahs. New ways to raise church money, to increase attendance, to interest the young people, new styles in church music—we never had so many new carts running all over the place, but never has the ark wobbled as it does today.

There was plenty of fanfare and music on this occasion, but it did not hide the fact that the whole arrangement was David's idea and not God's. We read that the thing was right in the eyes of all the people (see 1 Chronicles 13:4). But the voice of the people is not the voice of God. It is possible to put on an elaborate religious parade and have only a performance instead of an experience, a form of godliness without the power thereof.

David finally came to his senses. He was late getting around to it but better late than never. He began by recognizing that the ark should be carried only by Levites. He had broken that rule; that was at the bottom of all the trouble. The first thing we need to do in church these days is to discover that God's work must be done by God's people in God's way. A church cannot be run like a department store. Business and musical ability can be used only when dedicated and sanctified because they that are in the flesh cannot please God (see Romans 8:8). Only the Levites were qualified to carry the ark, and only separated and dedicated people can do the work of the church. Personality, education, ability, enthusiasm—all these glorify God only when empowered by the Holy Spirit.

So David had a convocation and gathered all Israel to bring back the ark the right way the second time. We need to call such a meeting today, to summon God's people back to God's way of doing God's work. That is revival. David assembled the priests and Levites and charged them to sanctify themselves that they might bring up the ark of the Lord (see 1 Chronicles 15:12). We elect and appoint choir members, Sunday school teachers, and deacons on the basis of ability, education, and position in the community, but we rarely ask, "Have they ever set themselves apart for the service of God?" I am amazed at the kinds of people I sometimes see working in the church—no wonder the ark wobbles!

Musicians were appointed for this occasion. If ever sanctified musicians were needed, it is today! The church has been invaded by gospel jazz, degenerating from hymns to hootenannies; church music has fallen upon evil days. Gospel singing is primarily a matter of heart rather than art, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord. A musical education can be dedicated to God; it stands to reason that a trained voice can sing better than an untrained voice, but in the last analysis, when it comes to glorifying God, what makes the difference is whether the singer, trained or untrained, is a separated, dedicated, Spirit-filled Christian. We are in a world where the standards of this age do not apply, no matter how gifted, popular, or successful one may be in the eyes of men.

When David finally brought the ark back to Jerusalem, it was a time of great rejoicing. It is always such a time when God's work is done by God's people God's way. That is revival. But Michal, David's wife, did not rejoice. She was Saul's daughter and had bad blood in her veins. She despised the king and met him with satire and scorn (see 2 Samuel 6:16). As a result, she suffered the shame of barrenness for the rest of her life. When revival comes, there will always be Michals who find fault. When our Lord cleansed the temple, there was great rejoicing, but the Pharisees voiced bitter protest (see Mark 11:15-18). Such people are already smitten with spiritual barrenness and bear no fruit to the glory of God.

The biggest business before the church today is to get the work of God off the new carts, the Philistine-like expedients of our own devising, and back on the shoulders of separated men and women. Too many Philistines run the churches today. The world has gotten into Sunday school classes, choirs, offices, and pulpits. The ark is shaking and Uzzahs are trying to steady it. The whole procedure is wrong and we need to call a convocation and start over. We do not need something new; we need something so old that it will seem new!

God's work must be done by God's people in God's way. They that are in the flesh cannot please God, and no flesh can glory in his presence. The church has become an Old Adam Improvement Society. Having begun in the Spirit, we would perfect ourselves in the flesh. Old Adam is walking down church aisles rededicating himself, but God does not accept the old nature and cannot use old Adam, no matter how much he rededicates himself. God uses only men and women who have died and have risen with Christ to walk in newness of life. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit and only the twice-born can serve God in spirit and in truth. We have rededicated ourselves to death and to no purpose, because the wrong people are doing the rededicating.

God ordered that the anointing oil should not be poured on man's flesh, that none should be compounded like it, and that it should not be put on strangers (see Exodus 30:30-33). We cannot anoint old Adam for God's service. Imitation worship, praise, and joy are anathema to him, for the unction of the Spirit cannot be prepared in the apothecaries of the natural man. To make old Adam into a deacon or teacher or minister is to anoint a stranger.

Ezekiel's valley of dry bones is with us today (see Ezekiel 37:1-10). We hold dry-bones conventions where church experts, with briefcases full of graphs and charts, lecture on how to rearrange dry-bones church members into new designs, but there is still no flesh on them and no breath in them. We have dry-bones specialists for each bone: jaw-bone experts, collar-bone, knee-bone, ankle-bone, any-bone experts with beautiful new arrangements for bones of all ages; but still there is no flesh on them and no breath in them. We need to prophesy to the bones and to the wind until there is a mighty shaking and these dry bones live.

Church members need to ask themselves three searching questions: Am I one of God's people? Much of our church work is being done by people who have never been born again. If they are what they have always been, they are not Christians. Christians are a purchased people, not their own, but bought with a price, a different people because they belong to a new race. Am I doing God's work? I do not mean church work alone, but living for Christ every day everywhere. Much of our church work may not be God's work. He may never have started it and may have nothing to do with it. Pastors are often kept busy doing things God never called them to do. Am I doing God's work God's way? Why do we do what we do? Is God working in us or is it unsanctified flesh, glorying in his presence, trying to please him?

When God's people do God's work God's way, that will be revival, and David will get the ark back to Jerusalem.