The
house of Obed-edom was richly blessed not by choice but by design. Divine providence
would have it that what happened to Uzzah caused David to abandon his plan to
bring the Ark of God into his city. In so doing, he had unwittingly benefitted
the house of Obed-edom. And God used the blessing He bestowed on that house to
stir David’s heart to complete what he had originally intended to do. All these
took place to show us that all our blessings in life come at the initiatives of
God. He engineered means to woo and stir our hearts to make us yearn to draw us
to Him to enjoy the blessing of His presence. If God does not take the
initiative to draw us to Himself, we by ourselves will not be stirred to seek
Him. This is truly God’s prevenient grace at work.
David’s
desire for God’s presence was the initiative of God. He was stirred by
what the Lord had done in the house of Obed-edom. So he once again set out to
bring the Ark back to the city. Verse 13 hinted at what 1 Chronicles 15 describes in
detail what David did to bring the Ark of God into the city. It would not be
stretching our imagination too far to say that David had realized how wrong he
was previously when he allowed the Ark of God to be carried on a cart. Now he
righted the wrong and have the Ark brought to the City of David by the Levites
bearing it on their shoulders.
Besides
that, David also sacrificed an ox and fatling when the bearers of the Ark had
taken six paces. Dressed in a linen ephod, his joy could not be contained and
so he danced exuberantly before the Lord all night. In saying that he was
dressed in a linen ephod, was by way of saying that he had stepped into the
priestly anointing. With great rejoicing and trumpet sound, David now as king
and priest led the house of Israel into worship before the presence of God,
represented by the Ark. In Psalm 16, David assures us that in the presence of
God, there is joy and at His right hand, there is pleasure forevermore. If we
want to experience true joy and great pleasure, we must take the time to draw
near to God. These can only be found in the
presence of God.
How
God dealt with David was essentially His patience in display. He shows us
through this incidence that He will not be angry with His people
forever. The painful experiences of life are meant to awaken our hearts to His
love. When rightly discerned, those moments are the calls of God to repent,
change, and to boldly return to Him. David did it and found the restoration of
joy in God.
Like
David, our joy in the Lord can be contagious. But do bear in mind that what we
do is not always acceptable to everyone, even people who are close to us. This
was seen in how Michal, his wife, despised him for what he was doing. She saw
David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.
But like David, we must not be inhibited by the feeling of others. Yes, not
even by the people we love. Worship is an intensely personal thing. And true
worship is a personal feeling openly expressed. True worship cannot be hidden.
It is something that we are not afraid to express openly. We must not let
anyone impede our worship and we must also not impede others from worshipping
God. Worship of our faithful and loving God must always be encouraged. Let everyone
worship God unreservedly. He is worthy of it all!
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