He sought God with his whole heart, but that didn’t make him perfect

By Dean Collins

This is the third day I’ve been thinking about our shared fantasy that in God’s Word we might discover the precise sequence of steps that allow us to know we are following God. But I suspect if we were really honest with ourselves and with each other and especially with God, we would admit part of us, maybe a big part, simply wants to be successful. We want to please God, of course, but the truth is we get that mixed up with our desires for material resources, freedom from stress, and comfortable living. Sure, we want to share Jesus with others, but in a way that allows us to maintain our pleasure.

The rest of the story

This is part of the reason we like some parts of the Bible and disregard or avoid thinking about some other passages. A good example is 2 Samuel 6. The commentators and scholars have varied interpretations of this chapter filled with fear, death, pride, and worship. It seems that even the scholars want to force this passage into something that makes us comfortable with God and makes us want to be more like King David.

But the facts of this story should probably make us realize there are no perfect people following God. We tend to focus on the part of this story where David danced before the Lord in worship freely and without reservation and shame. But what about David’s actions and thoughts leading up to this moment?

David had been declared king and he had just participated in two successful battles with the Philistines. His desire was to make Jerusalem both the residence for himself and for God. This would require bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem. The ark had been in the house of Abinidab for 20 years. And, by the way, God had demonstrated his ability to bring victory to David without the ark. Apparently, while we know of the sacredness of the ark, we must remember that God’s presence and power isn’t and wasn’t contained in a box.

David gathered 30,000 of Israel’s finest soldiers and arranged a big parade to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. But the parade came to a big halt when the oxen pulling the cart carrying the ark stumbled. The ark shifted in the out-of-balance cart, and a guy named Uzzah reached out and grabbed the ark to keep it from falling on unholy ground. Immediately God struck him dead.

Angry and afraid

This was a terrifying moment for David and for everyone else. David immediately abandoned the idea of moving the ark of God, and he became angry at God for killing Uzzah. David didn’t know the verse about not letting the sun go down on your anger (it hadn’t been written yet!), and it appears his anger had him stuck for about three months. David was not only angry, he was filled with fear.

David got word that the family of Obed-edom (the family keeping the ark of God while David worked through his frustrations with God) was prospering. I can’t say David was jealous of Obed’s blessings, but he clearly wanted some of those blessings for himself and his family and other constituents, so he found the courage to go get the ark and bring it to Jerusalem.

But this time he had someone check proper protocol. The new cart and parade he previously tried wasn’t consistent with how God had originally said the ark was to be transported. It was to be carried by men using poles (Exodus 25:12-14). David maybe should have been more angry at himself or his team for not following God’s instructions than at God for the incident with Uzzah.

Six steps

This time, to be sure they were safe, David and his men stopped every six steps and offered a sacrifice. He also took off his royal garments and aligned himself with the priests of God to demonstrate his humility and honor before God. This time the ark arrived safely, but David received sharp criticism from his wife for not conducting himself like a king. The result of this criticism was that David and Michal never reconciled and never had kids.

Scripture does say that David was a man after God’s own heart, but David isn’t the one we should imitate. In this passage (and honestly in other passages as well) we find him to be careless, fearful, stubborn, unforgiving, and possibly trying too hard to get right the steps that please God. In his case he decided on six at a time before he would stop and check to make sure he was okay with God.

One step

I’m pretty sure God doesn’t want us constantly worried that we don’t have his approval and forgiveness. Maybe there is only one step we need to take as we live our lives freely and boldly. The apostle Paul may have figured it out. Here are his words in Romans: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Not six steps to get God’s approval or permission. Just one. Offer yourself daily in worship and gratitude for what God has already done for us in Christ.

If God can use a king who was an adulterer, a murderer, and at times filled with hesitation, then he can surely use you and me!

Offer yourself to Jesus in worship and serve him with boldness. He is well aware of all of our imperfections and inadequacy. He simply wants us to trust and worship him.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭6:6-15, 21-23; ‭‭Romans‬ ‭12:1-2 ESV

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