Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. David was not ignorant of the
law and its prescribed order in the moving of the ark. In
order to wean David from carnal religious reliance, the Lord
ordered David's path to include a foray into the indulgence of
his religious flesh, even as he ordered David's steps up the
stairs to the roof where he looked upon Bathsheba. The resultant
outcomes of both instances were ultimately a grief unto David,
which caused him to fall upon his face before the Lord. And
David was afraid of the Lord that day. And David said unto
Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. David devised a grand
religious ceremony to move the ark of God from the house of
Abinadab to the city of David. He had a brand new ox cart built
and even personally led a large band of musicians who played
upon numerous instruments in glorious fashion as they went
before the Ark in a raucous celebration fit for a king. Yet it was not
a celebration which was fit for the king of kings, and he demonstrated
his displeasure in it in the death of Uzzah. Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice. How quickly can the Lord turn
rejoicing into mourning when it pleases Him to chasten His
own? Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Uzzah should never have touched
the ark, but then he should never have been on the cart with the
ark in the first place. Make not provision for the flesh to
fulfill the lust thereof, for if ye live after the flesh, ye
shall die. Yet Uzzah perished primarily
because of David's sin, even as Uriah the Hittite and the
newborn child of Bathsheba and David's union did. These deaths
added to David's grief, and though he was initially angered by the
death of Uzzah, whenever the truth of what had happened sank
in, he was mortified for his own sin and was fearful of the
power of God, knowing that he too was worthy to be destroyed.
Yet as awful and tragic as the death of Uzzah was, the Lord
brought it to pass in order to lead David from darkness to light.
Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable,
and I have loved thee. Therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life." Thus we see this complex chain
of events take place in order to fulfill the purpose of God,
which is past finding out in all of its detail, and we only
see it revealed through a glass darkly. Yet we are certain that
there is no stone turned, nor blade of grass broken, which
is not ordained by the hand of him who does all things according
to the good pleasure of his will. From the day when the ark of
God was taken into captivity to the day when it was ultimately
brought to the city of David, every event surrounding it was
orchestrated by him who was in the heavens and hath done whatsoever
he had pleased. It is with this in mind that
we notice that the Ark was brought to the house of Obed-Edom. Obed-Edom
was not a man of great fame or noted for any particular religious
activity, yet the abundance of the Lord's blessing was made
manifest there. This blessing, which was ordained by the Lord
for Obed-Edom, occurred without any collaboration or prior knowledge
on his part. The oxen stumbled at the proper
time and the parade was halted at Obed-Edom's front door, along
with the corpse of Uzzah in an ox cart. In this I am reminded
of Zacchaeus sitting in a sycamore tree, completely surprised when
the Lord stopped and invited himself into Zacchaeus' house.
Such is the kindness and mercy of God, who sent his Son into
the world to seek and to save that which was lost. The Lord
knew Obed-Edom before he ever drew his first breath, even as
he said to Jeremiah, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee,
and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified
thee, and I ordained thee. He appointed the house of Obed-Edom
to receive mercy, and then displayed it when he saw fit. Who is sufficient
for these things? What can a man do or say at the
display of his grace, but fall upon his face and magnify the
mercy of this friend of sinners? After this visitation, Obed-Edom
could sing with all the saints, and they sung a new song, saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for thou was slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation. and has made
us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign in the earth.
He could say with David, I was glad when they said unto me,
let us go into the house of the Lord. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Obed-Edom is clearly a type of
those whom the Lord has chosen to be the heirs of salvation.
Not only has He appointed them to inherit an eternal kingdom
which He has prepared, but He does also appoint an hour when
He will visit them with the light and enjoyment of all those blessings
which Christ has procured for them by His death on Calvary's
cross. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.