“Angry at God!” – FBC Morning Light (6/27/2023)

David’s Anger at God After Uzzah’s Death

Well, good Tuesday morning to you today in our Bible reading. We're reading in 1st Chronicles chapters 13 and 14 Romans chapter 10 and then in Psalm 119 verses 65 to 72. I want to zero in on this incident with David attempting to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem in chapter 13 of 1st Chronicles.

We looked at this pat looked at this account or this incident back in 2nd Samuel when we were going through the Bible reading of 2nd Samuel. But I wanted to revisit that again today and point out something a little bit a little different angle on it.

But you remember what happened here, okay? David is settled in Jerusalem as his capital city and yet the Ark of the Covenant doesn't have a permanent dwelling place. David has his house, he has his palace, but the Lord doesn't have a house, doesn't have a place.

And he wants, David wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, the capital city. And so from its resting place away from the city, he commissions the captains of thousands and the priests and everybody to bring the Ark.

They're going to put it on a cart and carry it and there's going to be this great procession bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. So they get this thing started and then somewhere along the way, the oxen are pulling this cart, they stumble and it causes the cart to tip and the Ark about to tip and fall off the cart.

And so this one servant, Uzzah, he reaches out his hand to steady the Ark to keep it from falling to the ground and being damaged in any way. That seems like a very noble thing. But we read that when he tried to do, when he attempted to do that, that the Lord struck him and Uzzah ended up dying.

We read this in verse 9, it says, when they came to Chidon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to hold the Ark for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah and he struck him because he put his hand to the Ark and he died there before God.

That was certainly a stunning and tragic turn to this otherwise fastidious situation. They were all in a celebratory mood and then all of a sudden, this occurs, the Lord strikes Uzzah dead. And what I want to focus on is David's response here, because this is whether we fully can appreciate God's righteousness here in striking Uzzah.

God's a holy God. God prescribed very clearly, no one is to touch that Ark. Even the priests weren't to touch it when they were carrying it. They were to put poles through the rings of the Ark and they were to carry the Ark with the poles.

They weren't even to touch the Ark at all. They were to cover it so nobody could see it. Why? Because of the holiness of God. This Ark of the Covenant was the one symbol of the holiness of God, so holy that man cannot even approach him on our own.

We can't touch him or we would be struck dead. Uzzah touched the Ark and the Lord struck him dead. This was an act of judgment on God's part. The question is, how does David respond? This is the question for us to consider as well.

How do we respond when the Lord sends an act of chastening or judgment? How do we respond? There's this notion today in our world that any kind of calamity, whatever it is, whatever kind of calamity it might happen to be, one thing it could not be is the hand of God's judgment, because God doesn't judge.

I hope you who are in Christ are more savvy to the ways of God than that and realize that yes, indeed, God can send forth his hand of judgment and use whatever means he chooses to do so. But the question for us to consider for ourselves is, how do we respond to the Lord's chastening?

David's initial response in verse 11 was anger. It says, David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah. He wasn't angry with himself. He wasn't angry with the circumstance. He was angry with the Lord.

It says in verse 12 that he was afraid of God that day, saying, how can I bring the ark of God to me? How can I do this? He's angry that God acted in this way against Uzzah. He responds in anger and in fear, not the reverential fear, but the servile fear that, oh, I got to watch out for the baseball bat.

Instead of that, instead of responding in that way, what David should have done and what should be a pattern for us as well, is it ought to compel some introspection before the Lord, where we pause and consider, Lord, you're not to blame.

You may have sent the chastening, but the blame is not with you. What am I doing wrong? What have I done wrong? How have I offended you? In what areas do I need to change? I don't mean to suggest, and I hope you don't take it this way, that every time some kind of negative thing happens to us and we are suffering or we are afflicted, that it is a direct connection to some kind of sin, and we have to root out the sin that's the cause of that.

I am saying that sometimes it can be, and we ought to consider that, not necessarily jump to that conclusion, but we can't be afraid to consider that. The Lord is disciplining me. He is chastening me, and he's doing so for my good and his glory.

David should have responded, Lord, what are you teaching me here? What have I done wrong? Help me to see what I've done wrong, that I may change. That, I think, should be our attitude as well. Let's take that to heart today, and let's have a prayer.

Father and our God, I pray that when affliction comes and chastening from your hand, that we would be quick to be humble and repentant rather than lash out in anger against you. Teach us this, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. All right, before we sign off, I just want to remind you that this week, we'll be on schedule with our devotionals and Bible reading plan and so forth, but after Friday, we're going to take a hiatus for a few weeks and come back at this in August.

So, just be aware of that. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Tuesday. May the Lord bless you in it. Good day.