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2 Samuel 6:3-7 – The Awesomeness of Worship

We read this chapter, and we don’t want Uzzah to die. But if only people had listened to God, this need not have happened. God doesn’t leave his worship up to us to do as we think best. He sets out in exact detail what he requires. God had laid down clear regulations about how the ark was to be transported. The book of Numbers tells us that it was to be carried on poles. Numbers 4v5: ‘When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it. Then they shall put on it a covering of goatskin and spread on top of that a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles’. Numbers 7v9: ‘They were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulder’. Numbers 4v15: ‘They must not touch the holy things, lest they die’. The fact that God tells them not to touch the holy things lest they die, suggests that God doesn’t want them to die!

Uzzah was struck down for something done with good intentions. The oxen stumble, he puts out his hand to steady the ark – and he’s struck down. But he wouldn’t have been in that position if the people of God hadn’t already been ignoring God’s instructions. David tells the Levites in the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 15:13: ‘Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule’. There’s no suggestion that the people deliberately wanted to dishonour God by putting the ark on a cart. But at the root of it, they think they know better than God – even if they would never have come out and said that. God had given them a particular commandment, but whether they think their way is better, or they think it will get the ark where they’re going quicker, or whatever the reason, they ignore what God has said – and they come up with their own way of doing it. Do you see the arrogance of it? Whatever the good intentions may be, they’re saying to the God of the universe: Look, we know you said to do it this way, but actually we’ve come up with a better idea. What’s the result? Death. That’s how seriously God takes his worship.

Question

  1. What does this chapter teach us about worship?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray that we would strive to take God’s worship more seriously.
  2. Use prayer points from your congregation.
  3. Pray for family matters.