2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
We are really given a privilege when we can greet each day with our minds and souls turned to God. Our loving Abba is eagerly awaiting our willingness to seek Him out and listen to what He has to say. As I have been answering His call to write about the series of events leading from David’s covenant with Jonathan, He has been on the job revealing wonderful lessons which motivate us to keep our covenant agreements with Him. When God led the people into the Promised Land after all those years of wandering in the wilderness, it was His intention to dwell right there with them. It was only the iniquity of the people that finally prompted God to depart from the Temple that was built in Solomon’s time [EZK 10: 4]. During the time that Saul’s son, Mephibosheth, was growing up and before God’s decision to depart to heaven, “David called together the best soldiers in Israel, a total of thirty thousand men, and led them to Baalah [called Kiriath Jearim in some versions of the Scriptures] in Judah, in order to bring from there God’s Covenant Box, bearing the name of the Lord Almighty, Whose throne is above the winged creatures [on it’s lid, called the mercy seat]” [2 SAM 6: 1-2]. It was then, that God was to teach Israel about His requirements for obedience and reverence to Him. The story that follows in this chapter also reveals the difficulty that existed in David’s relationship with his wife, Michal (Saul’s daughter).
The Ark had been kept at the priest, Abinadab’s home, and it was placed on a new cart. Remember that it was carried by means of poles, so that no man would ever touch it [EX 25: 10-22]. It is at this point that we are introduced to what has become known as the Davidic style of worship. 2 SAM 6: 3b-5, “Uzzah and Ahio, Sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart, with Ahio walking in front. David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might to honor the Lord. They were playing harps, lyres, drums, rattles, and cymbals.” As they reached the threshing place of Nacon, suddenly the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. God became angry with him and killed him, because his touching the Ark was an act of irreverence. David saw what happened an initially felt angry toward the Lord. Then, he became frightened and in a quandary about how the Ark could be transported to Jerusalem. We get a chance to see how the Lord transforms David’s mind here from anger (his emotion arising from the flesh) to fear for God (the action of the Holy Spirit on his mind). God can do the same thing to us, if we allow our minds to be open to it. Out of David’s change of mind, came the solution to the problem-a solution directly from God! Even in the presence of David’s humanness, God showed compassion, recovered from His wrath, and guided David to the solution.
David decided to take the Ark to Obed Edom’s home where it would remain for three months. The Lord blessed Obed Edom’s family during that time, an indication that this three month resting time had been in line with God’s will (6-11). The Ark of the Covenant is not only the place over which God was presiding, but it was the symbol of the very covenant agreements He had with the people. That is why it’s location and the handling of it has so much to do with the issue of reverence. David realized that it was time now to transport the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. God put the idea in his mind to do this with great celebration (12). David offered a sacrifice and, “wearing only a linen cloth around his waist, danced with all his might to honor the Lord. And so he and all the Israelites took the Ark to Jerusalem with shouts of joy and the sound of trumpets” (13-14). Michal [Saul’s daughter who was one of David’s wives] looked out the window upon this celebration in disgust directed toward David’s style of worship. Later when David arrived home, she let him no in no uncertain terms how she felt. David’s response in (21) was, “I was dancing to honor the Lord, Who chose me instead of your father and his family to make me the leader of His people Israel. An I will go on dancing to honor the Lord.” Verse 23 goes on to say, “Michal never had any children.”
One might ask, what has all of this to do with me today and with the issue of covenants? The answer is in doing God’s will. To know God’s will, we must come to know God. The only way to do this is to listen for His commands and obey them, trusting in His ultimate righteousness and goodness. David learned with Uzzah’s death that doing God’s will meant carrying out God’s instructions as He gave them and demonstrating reverence for the Lord. The same kind of obedience and reverence toward God is required of us today. There is also the issue of singing, dancing, and playing music as a means of worshipping God. We all know that there are some denominations that still frown upon this sort of worship style. 1 SAM 6 provides proof that it is an acceptable style to God, and it’s His opinion that matters. It is not the only style of worship that is acceptable to Him, only one of a number. The bottom line is that we can use the Scriptures as a basis for determining what is appropriate behavior in worship and what is not. While this may seem like details to some, we must remember that nothing is in the Scriptures without God’s purpose and our benefit behind it. This is one more way that we can live up to our covenant agreements with the Lord Who loves each of us so very much.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have let us know how important to You our reverence toward You is. Your purpose in letting us see that Davidic worship is acceptable to You is to let us know one more way that we can keep our covenant agreements with You. The consequences to Uzzah and to Michal of not being reverent stand as reminders to us that disrespecting You has negative consequences. The word fear is often used as a synonym for reverence. While it is not meant to mean “fright” in this context, it is a wake up call for us, as it was for David to get over his anger when Uzzah was killed. We must realize that You demand our respect. This demand is not a temper tantrum on Your part, but instead a lesson for us on how we must behave toward You if our sanctification is to be furthered. You are not an egotist, Dear Abba, but You are a God Who rightfully insists that we give You the respect and attention You are due. Your love for Your people Israel extended to Your desire to dwell with them. Their disobedience to You led You to the decision to eventually depart from them during Ezekiel’s time. However, You have promised us in REV 22: 3-5 that once the New Jerusalem is established, You will dwell with those who have faith in You for eternity. The extent of Your compassion and love for the faithful is demonstrated eloquently by this. You are a God Who keeps His covenant promises and urges us for our own best interests to keep ours. We dedicate ourselves to doing this and to showing You the obedience and reverence You so richly deserve. In humility, we offer You our adoration, worship, trust, loyalty, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ’s holy name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at another series of events in David’s life that allow us to see just how important David’s faithfulness is to God. Not only will God make another covenant with David, but he will make one that touches each and every one of us directly. In the meanwhile, Mephibosheth is growing up during the events of 2 SAM 7 and isn’t forgotten. David felt real joy in worshipping the Lord, and so can we. David knew that God being with him was a privilege and a blessing. The same is true for us. The joy from worshipping God is a direct blessing from Him that comes to us when we are faithful and learn to love Him as He desires. I speak from first-hand experience with this and hope that you feel the love God has for each of us every day of your lives. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn