Grave Mistake or Grace Re-take?

Grave Mistake or Grace Re-take?
Words of Faith 1-21-25
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2025
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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2 Samuel 6:6-11
[6] When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. [7] The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God. [8] Then David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. [9] David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, "How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?" [10] He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. [11] The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.

After many years, the Ark of the Covenant was on its way to Jerusalem. David was apparently in such a rush that he did not make the careful provisions specified in the Law regarding the transport of the Ark. The Ark was to be carried by Levites, who would bear it on their shoulders by means of poles passed through gold rings attached to the ark. Even the Levites were not permitted to touch or look in the ark because of its holiness.
Instead, the entourage loaded the Ark onto a wheeled cart for the journey to Jerusalem. It is not even clear how they achieved this without dying. The cart was probably a simple farming cart pulled behind oxen to move, well, farming things-- if you catch the drift.
David and the others may have thought that just the return of the Ark to a central location should be considered a gracious and thoughtful act. Surely, the rescue of this holy possession of Israel should be enough for God to be happy with the whole situation. The cart didn't matter.
Somewhere in the process of all this, a grave mistake had been made. The Ark was probably rattling and lurching along in the cart when they passed over a rough outcropping of stone called a threshing floor. The oxen suddenly stumbled and it appeared that the Ark might be thrown from the cart. Instinctively, Uzzah, one of the attendants, laid hold of the ark to prevent its fall, and in that instant, he was struck dead.
The Bible says that it was an act of irreverence that brought this consequence. Still, it was an irreverence shared by many, not just Uzzah. David was angry at first and then afraid. Perhaps he was angry with himself. After all, he was the one in charge. It would take some time for him to get over this.
We may ponder the harshness of the Lord's discipline in this situation. After all, wasn't Uzzah trying to do a good thing? Wasn't the entourage attempting to bring the Ark to a location in a city that would unite the people of God?
The problem was not so much one of intention or motive. David and his group had taken the Lord Himself and His instruction too casually. They had set aside the specific instruction that four men carry the Ark that was intended to prevent such catastrophes. They had set aside the instruction that these men would be Levites, the priestly family. They used only two men and loaded the Ark into a common cart drawn by oxen. Then, when a mishap was apparent- caused by a lazy approach to transportation- Uzzah laid his hands upon that holy thing. David and the others missed that the absolute holiness of God requires that sacred things be handled in a holy manner rather than a casual manner.
Since God had "broken out" in wrath on Uzzah, David named that place Perez Uzzah, meaning "outbreak against." David learned a powerful lesson. He would not move the ark again until the Lord gave him instruction. It remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months before they continued on to Jerusalem.
There is cause to pause here.
God is holy. Do we get that? Really get that? We do not have the Ark of the Covenant among us anymore, but some things are sacred. Some things are holy. There are specific instructions from God. Some priorities are clear.
We might ask: Are there some things that I have been treating too casually? Are there times when we have been tempted to think or say, "Well, I know God asked for four, but He is just going to have to be happy with two. He asked for a qualified person, but we are going to just use who we want. He asked for a specific approach, but he should be happy with a pickup truck."
The problem we face is that if we grow casual with God and neglect His holiness, He will not simply grow casual with us; His holiness is not compromised.
Our relationship with God and with other people is most holy. If we slowly grow casual in the way we treat God's presence in our lives and the appointments he sets before us with others, we may find ourselves stumbling and even falling irreparably.
Other holy things are entrusted to us, such as marriage, the Bible, family, and sacred relationships. The priority of private and public worship in our lives is not without concern. If we grow casual in the way we treat the Body of Christ and the times of assembly for worship, or casual in the way we observe the tithe, or casual in the way we honor the Lord's Day in our priorities and schedules, we are really no different from the group that tossed the Ark of the Covenant onto a farming cart and started dragging it across the countryside.
Of course, we can fall into legalism, which is just as dishonoring, if not more so. Legalism is where we observe the form of reverence without a reverent heart. That is not what is called for here. A reverent heart will manifest reverent action and behavior.
When we treat the holy things of God-- our relationship with Him, worship, the Lord's Supper, the tithe, His day-- like they are possessions of ours to be moved about as we please, we make a grave mistake that could be costly. When we respond to the love and holiness of God with honor and respect, we make a grace re-take instead. Grave mistake or grace retake? The choice is yours today.

Lord, I want to make a grace re-take. I want to rethink the way I have been doing things with you. I confess that I have treated some of Your things as if they were my possessions rather than a sacred trust from You. Help me reshape my life's priorities so that I approach Your holiness in reverent awe. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2025
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2025 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.