Today’s Text: First Chronicles 10-14
Key Text: First Chronicles 13:8
“And David and all Israel were celebrating before God will all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with trumpets.”
It must have been quite a parade – David and all the people celebrating and worshipping as they transported the Ark of the Covenant. The very presence of God was with them again and they couldn’t help but celebrate.
Two things in this episode of Israel’s history strike me.
First, that being in God’s holy presence was something to be celebrated above all else.
Do we approach God with such jubilant celebration – celebrating Him with all our might – or do we too often take God for granted?
Second, that God’s holy presence is not just something to be celebrated – it is to be respected too. Indeed, there was such power in God’s holy and awesome presence that, as the story goes, a man by the name of Uzza even lost his life that day – simply steadying the Ark as it was about to topple.
While that may seem somehow unfair to poor Uzzah – the point is quite clear – God’s awesome holy power is never to be taken lightly.
Again, do we too often take that power for granted, as if we can switch it on or off, for our own purposes, as we desire?
Such ancient stories may leave us a little puzzled.
But I think the lessons we find there are worth noting regularly.
Our God is a holy and awesome God – not to be trifled with – and certainly always to be reverently, fervently celebrated – with all our might.
That’s why I have a problem with those “God is my co-pilot” bumper stickers, well-meaning as they might be.
God isn’t my co-pilot. He is the one and only, holy God, the Source and Sustainer of all that is, may we never ever take that for granted.
IGW3 - In God's Word, In God's Will, In God's Work 