In 1 Chronicles 13 David was moving the Ark of the Covenant and the oxen stumbled. Uzzah, a friend of David reached out to steady the ark and immediately was struck dead making two things very apparent:
1. God doesn’t need our help.
2. The Ark is to be carried on the shoulders of men not the backs of pack animals.
There are many carts that men make to advance the purposes of God according to their own convenience. Unwittingly we commit the sin of Uzzah in coming up with a better idea of how to promote the gospel. What would have happened if Uzzah hadn’t done this? The presence of God would have fallen! (For the Ark represented His presence.)
After this happened David realized something was wrong and needed to be figured out (all the while mad at God for not sanctioning his (David’s) own way of doing things. In the meantime, the Ark was taken to the home of Obed-Edom for safekeeping and all the while the Ark was in this man’s house he was blessed beyond measure.
Jewish scholars in antiquity believed that Obededom appointed his sons as temporary priests before the Ark while it was in his home and it was placed in a sacred place in his home. Whatever the case may be, Obededom was so respectful of God’s presence IN HIS OWN HOUSE that God blessed him beyond measure.
Uzzah then presumed upon the Ark and paid a dear price. Obededom gave place to God with great deference and honor and was showered with unprecedented favor and blessing in his own place of residence. David saw this and when he retrieved the Ark he didn’t take it to Shiloh but took it to HIS house that he might be blessed as Obededom was.
Is your house as the house of Obededom? Are you giving place to Him and compelling even your children to specific responsibilities only for the purpose of acknowledging and honoring the God we claim to serve? May your house then be as the house of Obededom and may God bless you in all that you do there.
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