“But when they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, 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. So Uzzah died there in the presence of God.” (1 Chronicles 13:9-10 NLT)
Sometimes, with best intentions, we do what we believe to be the right thing, but it ends very badly. Uzzah was a man of God who believed he was honoring the Lord by not allowing the Ark to fall, so instinctively, he reached out his hand to balance it. It’s likely exactly what any of us would have done in that circumstance, so, why was the Lord so angry?
The Lord had clearly warned them in Numbers 4:15: “But they must not touch the sacred objects, or they will die.” So, true to His word, God did exactly what He promised to do. But why did Uzzah have to pay such a high price for following his instincts? This is pure conjecture, but my guess, had I been in his shoes, I would have been more concerned about what King David would have done to me if I hadn’t steadied it. On some levels, my sense is the Lord actually had mercy on Uzzah.
The Lord’s decision did several things that reinforce to us our need to listen carefully and obey completely what the Lord tells us to do, be, say, and think. Carrying out God’s plans isn’t only about doing what He says but doing it HOW and WHEN He says. Obedience is multidimensional. I’m reminded of the young boy whose mom told him to sit down. For several minutes the little guy refused to sit, but upon further threats, finally lowered himself into the chair. His mom tried to encourage him with affirmation saying, “Now, was that so hard?” To which the little guy responded: “My body might be sitting, but in my mind, I’m still standing!”
We need to know the Lord knows our heart, so, doing the right thing isn’t always the right thing. Joshua Harris reminds us: “The right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing.” Uzzah did what he believed to be the right thing, just at the wrong time. We can do that also with the best intentions. One of the clearest examples to me is sharing our faith with someone. Obviously, we’re commanded to do that; yet, if done at the wrong time or with the wrong attitude or in the wrong setting it could have disastrous results.
My most vivid remembrance of that was a time I was sharing with a young man with whom I’d had several brief conversations. On this occasion I was standing in my driveway and he was finally opening up and our conversation was going in a direction I’d been praying for months it would go. Then suddenly a salesman with whom I’d discussed buying a sweeper, in an attempt to show me how spiritual he was, began to badger my friend in ways that immediately shut him down. Before I could redirect the salesman, my friend was gone.
The salesman may have thought his intentions were right and good, but they were not prompted by the Lord and though I reached out to the young man with whom I’d been speaking many other times, I never had opportunity to speak with him again about the Lord. We must seek the Lord, not just in generalities about His will, but specifics.
His timing is always perfect, and His ways are above our ways. There are times He gives us the “go” at a second’s notice and sometimes He says to hit the brakes. Doing the right thing in the right way at the right time demands our sensitivity to His Spirit moment by moment. Please be attentive to His leading!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 