Avoiding the ditch

Bob and I were riding our road bikes several years ago, yes, dare I say, spandex and all.  I had purchased a cute yellow Trek at a garage sale that I was pretty excited about.  Let’s go!  One day, we were sailing along quite well on a two-lane highway when half a house flew by on an “oversized” (you could say that again!) load—it had to pull into the other lane to get around me.  I figured the other half was right behind, so I did the natural thing…I looked behind.

Now, experienced riders (which I am not) can do that without losing their cycling “line”.  Me?  I ended up going full speed into the ditch, which I could have ridden out of, except for a driveway’s concrete culvert a few feet ahead. 

Needless to say, the concrete won. 

So I relate to this story about King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant, the ancient symbol of Yahweh’s presence, into the capitol.  He had put it on an ox-cart, and they were making their way with much celebration and glee, until the unthinkable happened…

“…the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark. Then the LORD’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and he struck him dead because he had laid his hand on the Ark.” 

Obviously, this caused quite a stir:

“David was angry…[he] was now afraid of God, and he asked, ‘How can I ever bring the Ark of God back into my care?’”

Yep, that’s it.  I get (what I think is) a good idea, God will like this one, and BOOM!  Off I go, zero to sixty in three seconds—

—only to end up in the ditch.  Then it’s really easy to blame God for my ignorance and rashness (which hurt not only myself, but the other Uzzah’s in my life as well!)

David was a warrior, a prolific songster, and a mighty king, BUT…he wasn’t a priest.  Perhaps in his unbridled passion, he neglected to ask those “in the know”.  Consider what happened when his royal predecessor, King Saul, acted as priest instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive as instructed.  (Things did not go well.) No one can deny that David was an enthusiastic individual, and truly had a heart for his God.  But even so, it is tantamount that we seek His guidance first and wait patiently for His timing.  Thankfully, David didn’t give up.  It was a good plan, it just had to be God’s plan:

“Then he commanded, ‘No one except the Levites may carry the Ark of God. The LORD has chosen them to carry the Ark of the LORD…We failed to ask God how to move it properly.’”

The information had been available but it’s possible that, after all these years of waiting and struggling to even survive, they were so taken up with this pending coronation (they had been doing some pretty seriously partying for three days prior), David overlooked this very important concept (that was penned by his future son, Solomon, BTW.  Maybe the son was learning from his dad’s mistake?)—

“Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes. People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the LORD.”

Kinda wish I still had that bike.  (Unfortunately, I still have the spandex…)

1 Chronicles 13: 9,10; Proverbs 19:2,3  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.